TUV Rheinland is working with big garment retailers

In this competitive time, consumers would like to invest in a product which suits their requirement and is durable and affordable. Brands regularly and proactively evaluate their product to ensure that it satisfies their end consumer by all means. TUV Rheinland India helps brands to ensure the quality of a product from raw material to final one, to ensure that it lasts long. The company offers testing and certification of textile products through its state-of-the-art labs in India.

In an interview with Samuel Joseph, Editor of The Indian Textile Journal, Charan Singh, Country Head – Softlines, TUV Rheinland India spoke about how over the past 20 years, the independent testing and certification of textile products has assumed significantly greater importance and the companys plans in garment testing and certification.

ITJ Editor: A brief introduction about the company? Tell us about how the company came to be where it is today?
Charan Singh: The TÃœV Rheinland Group is a leading provider of technical services worldwide. Founded in 1872 and headquartered in Cologne, the Group employs more than 17,200 people in 500 locations in more than 65 countries and generates annual revenues of ?1.53 billion. The Groups mission and guiding principle is to achieve sustained development of safety and quality in order to meet the challenges arising from the interaction between man, technology and the environment.

TÃœV Rheinland India, a subsidiary of TÃœV Rheinland Group, Germany, commenced its operations in India in the year 1996 with local headquarters at Bangalore. We have a nationwide presence with 32 locations spread over 30 cities in India, employing over 600 highly skilled professionals.

Being a prominent service provider in the Testing, Training, Inspection, Consulting and Certification Industry (TIC), we have the most advanced testing capabilities including the Photovoltaic, Softlines (Textiles and footwear), Material Testing, EMC, Food and Product Safety, etc cater to the growing demand of our customers and have also presence across India to provide other services to our customers.

ITJ Editor: For the garment industry, which are the major focuses of TUV Rheinland?
Charan Singh: There are many types of risks that retailers and brands face when dealing with multi-layered supply chains, especially when that risk is multiplied by a large number of different products. Risks can range from receiving sub-quality products, receiving late/partial orders, having a major accident/social responsibility concern at the manufacturing site, etc. To overcome this challenge and meet the global demand, we at TUV Rheinland focuses on providing various services like Testing, Inspections, Social Compliance Audits/Certifications and customised Trainings in line with the requirement of textile industry. Testing of products will cover all the three main areas of safety, performance and legality. We carry out inspection services at various stages of product manufacturing starting from yarn, fabric to inline, during production, final random inspection and also factory evaluation to ensure product meets all the requirements. There are various initiatives taken by retailers/associations globally in the area of social compliance and we provide all the services including SA 8000, BSCI, WRAP, Ethical trade initiative and specific code of conduct audits customised by various retailers.

ITJ Editor: Where does India stand in issues like testing & standardisation of materials used with regard to garments?
Charan Singh: Over the past 20 years, the independent testing and certification of textile products has assumed significantly greater importance. This is due<