New innovative products underway
LYCRA, the flagship brand of INVISTA, has become a name synonymous with comfort and style. The growing young, middle-income Indian population offers a big opportunity to global giants like INVISTA who are working closely with Indian textile manufacturers to offer clothing solutions that suit local tastes and preferences.
LYCRA is just one of the many specialized fiber brands from the INVISTA stable. We spoke to Mr. Andrew Evans, Managing Director, INVISTA – South Asia, on the company’s plans for the Indian market and future growth strategies.
TEXTILE MAGAZINE: Can you briefly outline INVISTA’s presence globally and in India?
Andrew Evans: INVISTA is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers. INVISTA operates in more than 20 countries across North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, with 24 sales offices and 16 manufacturing sites. It operates four global businesses worldwide that serve many industries with value-added chemical, polymer and fiber products. One of them, INVISTA Apparel, is the primary focus for the Indian market. Our fibers and fabrics innovations have been around in the Indian market for well over a decade. Our flagship the LYCRA fiber brand has delivered multiple breakthroughs over the years, through continuous investment in innovations launched in the Indian apparel industry, and conquering new frontiers in comfort, fit, functionality, and consumer concepts.
With our understanding of the Indian consumer needs, customer requirements and technological expertise, we aim to diversify the market and introduce newer and better products. We work across the value chain at multiple points with mills, manufacturers, retail brands and designers to take our innovation to the consumers in India.
TM: What are the products and solutions offered by INVISTA to the Indian textile and apparel market?
AE: All of us in the apparel value chain work towards meeting the desires of the ultimate consumer. As their needs and wants are constantly evolving and expanding, our sales and marketing teams regularly work with the end consumers and customers to better understand them. We have a range of specialty fibers and patented fabric platforms using these fibers. Some of our powerful trademarks in India include the LYCRA Fiber Brand which has a variety of fibers specialized for textile manufacturing processes, as well as other brands like LYCRA T400 Fiber Brand, COOLMAX Fabric brand, and THERMOLITE Fabric Brand.
TM: Which are the product segments in which INVISTA is actively working in the Indian textile and apparel market? And what are the product innovations that you offer in each of these segments?
AE: INVISTA’s fibers find a variety of uses across all production processes in India, including woven, circular knitting, warp knitting, hosiery, seamless garments, socks, flat knitting, polyfills, etc. From a consumer perspective, we are driven by apparel product categories like denims, intimate apparel, swimwear, active wear, legwear, etc. INVISTA develops product innovations that are relevant to each of the stated categories.
• TOUGH MAX LYCRA fabric enables creation of jeans that’s tough, yet comfortable, providing freedom of movement. It is composed of LYCRA T400 fiber that is chlorine-resistant and withstands bleaching and washing techniques not typically used on stretch denim and in addition to treatments such as antique finishes, whisker washing, etc. LYCRA dualFX fabric was created in response to the market demand for high stretch fabrics that keep its shape. By combining LYCRA fiber and LYCRA T400 fiber together in one fabric, denim brands and retailers can get the best of both worlds – the high stretch of LYCRA fiber and the excellent recovery power of LYCRA T400 fiber
• LYCRA BEAUTY fabrics provide the scientific foundation for essential shape wear versatility, ranging from firm control to featherweight smoothing and from understated elegance to high fashion style
• LYCRA SPORT fabric, recently launched in India, is specially designed to support athletes and active people in their sporting activities. It delivers a range of stretch and recovery power designed to help consumers move and perform at their best, and at the same time feel comfortable
• INVISTA’s COOLMAX fabric helps you stay dry and energized with its special technology engineered to wick moisture and enhance drying. It keeps the wearer comfortable not only during the day, but also through the toughest workout sessions
• LYCRA fiber with W technology is INVISTA’s recent innovation for longer-lasting whites and enable clearer, more brilliant fashion colors in intimate apparel fabrics
TM: Who are the major customers with whom INVISTA is working in different segments?
AE: We are a global company committed to creating value for us and our customers throughout the apparel value chain by with premium service delivery, relevant product innovation and technology development. In line with this objective, the company works with a number of players in the apparel industry across States in India like Arvind Ltd., Bhaskar Industries, K G Denim, Mafatlal Denim, Raymond UCO, Gokak Textiles Ltd., Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills, Ginza Industries, PS fashions, Exim Knits, and many more.
TM: How important is the Indian market for INVISTA globally? In your opinion, what are the drivers of future growth for your products in the Indian market?
AE: Our products have been selling in the Indian market for over a decade, to many leading mills and through them to leading brands and retailers from India, Europe, the US and other Asian countries like Japan. In the current scenario, our LYCRA fiber business is strong in India as we’ve seen significant increase in demand for stretch garments over the last few years.
Being a global company, we bring to our Indian customers a global reach combined with local expertise. INVISTA has extended its globally leading technological capability and excellence to India via introduction of its latest fiber and fabric innovations within the Indian textile market. Over the past years, we have received good response from our customers and the industry, a testimony to our product innovation in this sector.
India offers global opportunity for domestic business development for INVISTA. There are various reasons behind the growth of the apparel sector and LYCRA fibers: India is a young country with a growing population;
Almost 2/3rd of the population is in the working age group with an increasing number of women seeking employment; The most important socio-economic and socio-cultural trend is the emergence of the middle class in India with substantial purchasing power; An important attitudinal trend among young India is that it has no baggage of the past.
They are born in an era of open consumerism and are confident and optimistic about their future; Look for the opportunity to improve themselves; Admire & appreciate ‘Youth’ and ‘Modernity’ primarily inspired by the West. All this has resulted in a lifestyle change with the emergence of new value propositions like fashion, convenience and comfort rather than merely price. Apparel is the most accessible tool to help them live the upgraded lifestyle. We believe that LYCRA fiber is most suited to help them fulfil their desire.
TM: India being one of the major global markets for textiles, have you taken any India-specific initiatives or product innovations to suit the domestic market and customers?
AE: INVISTA is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers. It is really transforming daily life by delivering exceptional value for customers through technology innovations, market insights and a powerful portfolio of global trademarks, including COOLMAX fabric, LYCRA fiber, and THERMOLITE fabric. Our Transforming Daily Life mentality means that we strive to ensure that the products we make and how we make them benefit our customers and society as a whole. We take a global, long-term view and believe that creating lasting value, while using resources efficiently, is both the right thing to do and good business.
Our product innovations are driven by customer and consumer needs backed by strong market research. Recently we unveiled a new LYCRA fiber brand platform for Narrows, created only for India’s a response to the industry demand of LYCRA brand identification for garments that contain it only in narrows.
We are working with a number of players in the apparel field in Gujarat, as also most other Indian States in one form or other. In some cases it is with textile mills, in others with garment makers and apparel brands and retailers. Also, the consumer research conducted by Strategic Insight in 2010 shows that LYCRA fiber hangtags are a proven force at the point of sale. Consumers look for the LYCRA fiber hangtag and are willing to pay a premium for the LYCRA fiber brand.
TM: Which are the other targeted product categories with potential for future growth?
AE: While all our product categories are ever growing given that they are based on strong market research that showcases its demand, we see two categories which will grow keeping in mind the recent consumer trends – shapewear and superstretch denim.
a. LYCRA BEAUTY fabrics provide the scientific foundation for essential shapewear versatility, ranging from firm control to featherweight smoothing and from understated elegance to high fashion style. Today’s women know what they want from shapewear, but a large segment of these high-value consumers believes the industry is not providing what they want. This disturbing consumer satisfaction gap is definitively shown in a global study conducted among women at 18-49 by Strategic Insights for INVISTA Apparel. Some of the key findings are:
i. 95% of women want their shapewear to fit well, but only 59% are satisfied that it does
ii. 94% want their shapewear to be comfortable, but only 56% say it is
iii. 88% want shapewear to enhance their shape, but only 63% believe it’s working
iv. 82% want a better feeling of self-assurance from their shapewear, but only 54% say they are getting it
Considering that 93% of women said they were interested in shaping attributes when purchasing intimate apparel, there was a clear need for the industry to deliver enhanced shapewear performance and build consumer confidence in it. With its long history of technological innovation and support to the industry, INVISTA took up the challenge and developed LYCRA beauty fabrics, a comprehensive set of standards for a new generation of shapewear fabrics.
b. The advent of super stretch jeans – those with 30% stretch or more – has posed challenges for both denim producers and consumers alike. While extra stretch often yields extra comfort, it can also result in jeans with a greater tendency to bag and sag. Now, thanks to patented INVISTA technologies, consumers can get jeans with both the comfort and shape retention they desire. LYCRA DualFX fabrics were created in response to the market demand for high stretch fabrics that keep their shape. Typically, as fabric stretch increases so does the tendency for fabric growth or shrinkage.
By combining LYCRA fiber and LYCRA T400 fiber together in one fabric, you get the best of both worlds – the high stretch of LYCRA fiber and the excellent recovery power of LYCRA T400 fiber. The result is super stretch denims that are comfortable to wear and retain their shape and fit over time.