The 16th edition of the annual technical summit VASTRA 2019 was celebrated on February 15-16, 2019. VASTRA’19, organised by the Textile Manufacturers Department of VJTI Mumbai, is a national level technical and fashion summit devoted in creating an unforgettable experience for all its participants and simultaneously providing unique opportunities to the budding textile technologists for showcasing their talents in front of large audiences and top-notch judges. INDIA ITME Society was the title sponsor of Vastra’19 in association with Liva fluid fashion, A.T.E. Enterprises, Garware Technical Fibres and Suvin Advisors.
The event witnessed the presence of several hundreds of dignitaries from all over India, including the notable alumni of the Textile Manufactures Department and guests from the textile industry. The opening day commenced with the inaugural function wherein the audience was addressed by Yogesh Kusumgar, Chairman, Kusumgar Corporates; Dr Anup Rakshit (Executive Director- ITTA); Dr Dhiren Patel, Director, VJTI; Dr Suranjana Gangopadhyay (HoD) and Bhupendra Thakur, Head – Operations, INDIA ITME Society.
VASTRA is known for its competitive events like technical paper presentation, technical poster presentation, product marketing, technical quiz, Xpression, spontaneous sketching, garment display and Fashion Philia. Students from many colleges in India participated in all events which were judged by prominent personalities from the textile industry. Guest lectures were delivered by industry experts like Gurudas Aras, Director, A.T.E. Enterprises; Rakesh Gaikwad, National Sales Manager – DSM; Pranav Khanna, Intellecap, Mumbai; and Navin Agrawal, VP, A.T.E. Enterprises.
The Textile Alumni Meet (TAM) was organized under the banner of Vastra’19. The event witnessed the presence of prominent alumni of the department, Gurudas Aras and Vikas Sharan, Director, Saurer Textile Solutions as guests of honour along with Umesh Gupta, Chairman, VJTI Alumni Association, who graced the inaugural session. Highlights of the evening was the felicitation of the golden jubilee batch of 1969 and silver jubilee batch of 1994. Final year B.Tech and DTM batches are also felicitated on this occasion.
The Textile Department has received funding under the CSR activity from Banswara Syntex, Oerlikon India, Rieter India, Kusumgar Corporates and Saurer India. A.T.E. Enterprises has sponsored fellowships to three indigent and deserving students. Suvin Advisors has supported the department with the tender preparation, architectural and electrical designing expertise. Funds have also been received from the generous alumni for the development of the departmental infrastructure.
TAM provided a platform for interaction and networking amongst the prominent industry personnel and the students of the department. Prof. Sunil Tetambe and Student GS – Yash Trivedi thanked all participants and supports for making VASTRA 2019 a big success and they are sure that the next edition will be bigger and more eventful.