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Most Tirupur units limping
back to normalcy
industry news
According to Mr. A. Sakthivel,
President, Tirupur Exporters Asso-
ciation (TEA), the first hosiery fac-
tory with hand-operated machines
was set up in Tirupur in 1935. For
more than 30 years, garment man-
ufacturers in the town were pro-
ducing mainly grey and bleached
banians(vests). It was in the late
1960s that the industry started di-
versifying into manufacturing other
inner garments, including banians
and underwears consumed largely in
the domestic market. But Tirupur’s
fortunes took a dramatic turn in the
late 1970s when it began exporting
its products.
Tirupur has a number of factories
which export all types of knitted
fabrics and garments for kids, la-
dies and men. Some of the world’s
largest retailers like C&A, Switch-
erSA, Walmart, Primark, Oviesse,
Switcher, Polo Ralph Lauren, Die-
sel, ARMY, Tommy Hilfiger, M&S,
FILA, Respect, H&M, HTHP,
Whale and Reebok import many tex-
tile and clothing items from Tirupur.
It earns over Rs. 10,000 crores in
foreign exchange. The annual forex
business in Tirupur for 2008 stood
at Rs. 8,000 crores. This crossed the
Rs. 12,000-crore mark in 2009.
Of course, since 2009, the Tirupur
textile industry has been in doldrums
due to a number of reasons. Starting
Tirupur, popularly re-
ferred to as the Dollar
City or Banian City,
excels in knitted ready-
made garments. It has
spurred the textile
industry growth in In-
dia for the past three
decades. Its economic
boom boosts the morale
of Indian industrialists,
and it accounts for huge
exchange earnings.
Mr. A. Sakthivel,
TEA President
FDI and FTA are the game changers
By Ganesh Kalidasan
48
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The Textile Magazine
DECEMBER 2011