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THE TEXTILE MAGAZINE
AUGUST 2011
ech and agritech, to name a
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focused market. In these seg-
ments although there are op-
portunities it is very competi-
tive and limited, whereas in
the case of consumer prod-
ucts there are limitless op-
portunities with relatively less
investments.
Where to go for
opportunities?
A careful look at day-to-
day life products will reveal a
number of opportunities for
small and medium-scale en-
trepreneurs. Even an existing
home textile and commodity
textile manufacturer can venture into small ticket items
with large volume. For example, the baby comforter (blan-
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seat in an automobile has polyester batt stuffed inside a
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These are a few examples of how new products which
are very relevant to the consumer needs can be made. An
existing home textile manu-
facturer can be converted into
a reusable grocery bag manu-
facturer by simply diversifying
the product line from devel-
oping a woven home textile
material to a technical textile
material such as a shopping
bag or a side sleeping pillow.
As the primary infrastruc-
ture in this situation is cutting
and sewing, the home textile
manufacturer in this case is di-
versifying within his realm of
core competency. The need of
the hour is to diversify within
the limits of a manufacturer’s
core competency and comfort
level with minimum invest-
ment.
With the recently revamped
TUFS such investments are
possible in India which has
the necessary knowledge
base and basic fabric (roll
goods) manufacturing capa-
bility needed for spearhead-
ing the growth of the con-
verting sector. For instance,
the entrepreneurial commu-
nities in Surat, Tirupur and
Karur can think of any num-
ber of products which will
enhance the functionality,
applications and consumer
appeal with their existing in-
frastructural capabilities. For
example, products such as
baby sling, hospital stretch-
ers, body bags, etc., to name a few, involve proper thinking
and combination of multiple products and processes such
as nonwovens, wovens, cutting and sewing, coating, etc.
The need of the hour is to create an understanding on
such converted products and a critical mass of people who
will be able to advise entrepreneurs and industry associa-
tions in India and grow the important converting sector
of the technical textiles industry. It is extremely important
for the Government, indus-
try associations and research
organizations to promote the
development and growth of
the converted technical tex-
tiles product in India.
The global technical textile
industry is based on produc-
ing and selling products that
are relevant to consumers,
such as wipes, diapers and
medical and hygiene prod-
ucts. Developing this partic-
ular segment of the techni-
cal textiles sector, which will
develop huge volume-based
consumer products, must
now receive priority atten-
tion of the Indian textile in-
dustry.
In the Indian context, to give room
for all segments to participate, it
would be logical to broadly catego-
rize technical textiles into consumer
products, institutional products and
government/national procurement
products. Such a classification allows
opportunities for any number of in-
dustries to individually or collectively
participate in the growth equation of
the technical textiles sector. For ex-
ample, if the thrust is given to one
product such as geotextiles where the
market is niche and limited, it will
jeopardize the growth opportunities
for a number of small-scale players
with limited investment capabilities.
teChnICAL textILeS