Day 3 at Gartex India 2018, despite being a Monday, had a very impressive footfall. In fact, the day witnessed the best turnout in last 3 days as there was good participation from many decision makers and company heads. Many exporters from Delhi NCR also visited the fair and most of them had similar views on the industry – ‘do or die’ seemed to be the survival mantra.
There would be nothing wrong if the concluding day of the Gartex India 2018 could be renamed as the ‘Denim Day’. The day started slow but gained momentum when the conference ‘Denim Talks’ started. Bigwigs like Ritesh Sharma, Retail Lead, Reliance Industries Ltd.; Sartaj Singh Mehta, Director – Design, PEPE Jeans; Ashish Pateria from EY; Anuraag S, Founder, Pencil Box; Manuj Kanchan, GM-South Asia, Jeanologia and Dr. Christina Raab, Global Implementation Director, ZDHC were the key speakers at the event.
Denim, being an iconic product, has been everybody’s favourite. With the least scope of modifications in the product and changing millennial demands, the speakers focused on areas which can innovate the denim. Sustainable fabrics like R-Elan by Reliance, modifications in denim tailoring or patchy and ornamented denims, and switching to digital and sustainable washing technologies are some of the measures that one can take to offer something innovative to their customers.
A crowd-puller was the Unix booth, as Sanjay Jha, Director, Unix Stitch Machines who is known for his embroidery machines in the industry has now entered into digital printing as well, seeing a great demand of digital printing in the market.
It was interesting to see lot of sportswear manufacturers/companies attending the event – yet again showing the growing prominence of sportswear. Many felt sportswear has been booming in last decade. Substantiating further on above, Yoginder, Owner, Aerotech Wears Pvt Ltd said that sportswear industry has been doing well and the Indian apparel industry was seeing year-to-year improvement. He however added that Indian fabric quality needs improvement. Kamal Kumar, Purchase – Engg & Project, Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd., said that though apparel industry in India was stable, he expected Government to help domestic companies by giving rebates on machines, tax benefits, etc.
The general response from most of the visitors was that they were happy with the machines that got to see at the event. Some said it is getting better each year. The event again saw companies from small centres like Indore and Jaipur.