Sarla Performance Fibers is engaged in the manufacture and export of polyester and nylon-textured twisted and dyed yarns, covered yarns, high-tenacity yarns and sewing threads. It focuses on niche end-user applications in India and supplies high value-added yarns to leading global apparel brands and companies
Foraying into the textile industry as a manufacturer of commodity yarns, Sarla Performance Fibers Limited shifted focus and established itself in the domain of specialised and higher value-added yarns. Today, the company is not just a supplier of yarn but an important partner for its customers, right from the development of products to ensuring their success in the marketplace. This is evident from what Rohit Pal, Managing Director, Infiiloom India, has to say: “When we went into business our vision was to make speciality socks that would represent new standards. We approached several companies that could provide the necessary yarn. Eventually, we chose Sarla Performance Fibers because we wanted a vendor who would do more than merely manufacture and deliver.”
“We needed a partner instead, a company that would share our vision, would be driven by passion, would keep striving for making things better and one that would be fuelled by the prospect of deepening our competitiveness. Sarla Performance Fibers fulfilled these requirements and the result is that we have been working with them for more than two decades without a break. Around 30% of all our procurement comes from this one company,” he adds. Infiiloom is India’s largest and globally recognised sock manufacturer. Sarla Performance Fibers, formerly known as Sarla Polyester Limited, has three manufacturing facilities at Silvassa, Dadra and Vapi in West India, of which the Silvassa facility is a 100% export-oriented unit.
Trusted Partner
Sarla Performance Fibers is engaged in the manufacture and export of polyester and nylon-textured twisted and dyed yarns, covered yarns, high-tenacity yarns and sewing threads. Sharing his experience of sourcing from Sarla Performance Fibers, a spokesman for the second-largest sewing thread manufacturer says: “There are many advantages of sourcing from Sarla Performance Fibers but the most important factor is trust. As a focused sewing thread manufacturing company, we research new thread applications and features all the time which need to be shared with credible vendors. Most of these insights are privileged and proprietary. As such, we need to work with a partner who can be completely trusted.”
“Such a partner has to be someone who will not share our proprietary insights with our competitors or will not utilise those insights to graduate to the production of sewing threads itself. In this respect, Sarla Performance Fibers can be completely trusted. The company has evolved into an extension of our enterprise and nearly 80% of our nylon yarn requirement is sourced from them,” he adds. With exports to 60 countries, Sarla Performance Fibers started operations 28 years ago as a commodity manufacturer of man-made fibre. As a yarn producer it now has an installed capacity of 11,900 tonnes per annum for manufacturing yarns. Alongside, it has the capacity for manufacturing 20 tonnes per day of nylon POY at Silvassa, 3,000 tonnes per annum of high-tenacity twisting at Dadra and 3,200 tonnes per annum at its dyeing unit at Vapi.
Product Portfolio
Sarla Performance Fibers offers products for the manufacture of narrow fabrics, hosiery applications, medical bandages, knitted and denim fabrics, leather goods, soft luggage, automotive seatbelts and trims, automotive air bags, upholstery etc. The company produces high-tenacity, low shrinkage, covered spandex and lycra yarns. It also produces threads for specialised applications in automobiles, premium footwear and high-end apparel and embroidery. It produces more than 250 varieties of value-added yarns and threads. The nylon yarn is used in active wear, swimwear, narrow fabrics and tapes, hosiery, undergarments and the medical sector.
Sarla Performance Fiber’s unique products possess the softness and feel of nylon unlike what most competitors are able to deliver. It is the most vertically integrated textured sewing thread manufacturer in India and its speciality sewing thread portfolio comprises embroidery thread, mattress thread, bonded thread and denim thread. It is the first company in India to set up HT Nylon 6 and Nylon 6.6 spinning for sewing and other applications and has invested in establishing the largest manufacturing capacity for air covered and conventional covered yarn in India.
Manufacturing Operations
Elaborating about the company’s production philosophy, Ashok Ranagol, Head (Production), Sarla Performance Fibers, says: “We follow the discipline of interplay of the three Ms that are fundamental to our business – men, machines and materials. We train our people to engage in a business that may be relatively low in volume but considerably higher in value over the usual textile industry average. We buy raw materials from select vendors who focus on quality consistency. We invest in capital equipment that conforms with the best standards in the world and we maintain these machines so that they can deliver superior uptime and operating efficiency. The coming together of these production factors has translated into the company’s outperformance.”
The company’s plants are vertically integrated right from spinning to the latest technology for high bulk, high-stretch polyester and nylon muffs to its yarn dyeing plant, in-house bonding and spool winding. This complement of activities makes it possible for the company to produce more than 250 varieties of value-added yarns and threads. It has the largest capacity of air covering, single and double conventional covering yarns in India. The upgraded dyeing facility at Vapi is equipped with the latest technology to dye the perfect colour in any fibre from stretch nylon to textured sewing thread to high-tenacity yarns. The company’s laboratory develops multiple new colours every single day.
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Ending on an optimistic note, Neha Jhunjhunwala, Director, Sarla Performance Fibers, states, “Our optimism is derived from an increasing preference for quality and the end-consumer’s willingness to pay more for a better product. Let me give you an example. About 20 years ago, you could find people using socks that had lost their shape and you could see socks being folded from the top because the elastic had lost its strength. This reality has largely disappeared. Most socks now retain their elasticity and shape longer. This indicates that consumers are willing to buy better quality products, which in turn is prompting manufacturers to turn to companies like Sarla Performance Fibers for enduring yarns.”
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“In India, the millennial effect is becoming increasingly visible. The proportion of India’s population under 35 was estimated at 897 million in FY 2020-21. This is the largest economically active population in this particular age group in the world that is distinctive in its consumption preferences. They need to be fitter, look younger and wear trendier. This is catalysing the growth of the athleisure segment where our yarns are being increasingly used. A number of innerwear brands in India are extending from the broad bulge of their product mix towards the premium and our yarns are used here. Besides, our yarns can potentially replace the use of rubber in the elastic used in innerwear. The Indian market is coming of age and opening up a new dimension in our business.
– Krishna Jhunjhunwala