Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd., the flagship textiles company of the illustrious KK Birla Group is one of India’s largest spun-dyed yarn manufacturers led by C S Nopany, Executive Chairman. Having successfully carved out a niche for itself, the company holds a leadership position in the dyed yarn and cotton mélange yarn segment. From a total spinning capacity that stands at 4.2L spindles to the installation of modern technology, Sutlej, therefore, emerges as the only one-stop textile solutions provider which has led to enhanced economies, efficiency, and quality.
Having evolved into an all-inclusive brand with various types of yarn and a premium range of exclusive, innovative textiles crafted for home fabrics, Sutlej hosts a superior position with marquee clients in India and a global clientele base spread across 65 countries. With units located across Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat, over the years, the company has exponentially scaled its capacities. The modern, state-of-the-art manufacturing units comprises of a vertically integrated mill, equipped to undertake an entire spectrum of pre-requisites for home furnishing textiles. Moreover, broadening its mission to usher a state-of-the-art premium décor brand of the century that inherits a legacy of over 75 years in the textile industry, Sutlej also launched “Nesterra” in 2020 that has revolutionized the décor space with its indulgent color palettes and contemporary designs of home furnishings from upholstery to drapery for the modern day consumer.
This year, Heimtextil – an internationally unique platform that serves a global range of product innovations in textile interior design, is going witness the pioneers in producing yarn – Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. Setting its sights on becoming a global textile front-runner, Sutlej aims to provide a wide spectrum of solutions to the textile industry, thereby maximizing value for the client and in turn becoming their preferred partner.
Sutlej sees a significant shift in the Indian Textile Industry
The Indian textile industry is perfectly poised yet going through a significant shift especially given the various national, economical and geopolitical developments. Leveraging its ongoing leadership, Sutlej is following suit with a range of trends it foresees in the Indian Textile Industry.
Retail continued to be under pressure in the home and apparel trade and that can be seen in various segments at different periods. The rise in cost immensely affected the bottom end of the market as it shifted the commodity prices across the board thereby shifting the retail price points. The mid to high-end segments continued to hold turf and grow since the disposable income of that customer group continued to be stable. Spinning boomed for almost 8-9 months with the prices soaring very high only to be met with a loss in demand for the home textiles segment. Various textile segments have been hit or benefitted differently however companies with agile, flexible and robust infrastructure backed with technology/automation will continue to grow. The growth in awareness and ask for sustainable manufacturing and product lines are increasing and will continue to be a key trend for the years to come.
ITME held in India recently also showed a trend where machinery manufacturers focused on energy, space, and sustainability in their innovations are the key areas impacting the cost the most.
Sutlej’s major mantra – Sustainability
One of the key and emerging phenomena witnessed in the textile industry and undertaken by Sutlej is sustainability. In the recent past, sustainability in the textile industry has gone beyond just organic materials and eco-friendly processes. Championing this move in India is Sutlej which has been an early mover with its “Green Fibre” plant where the company recycles 7 million PET bottles to produce 120 Mt per day of recycled polyester fibre. The company has always believed in a sustainable manufacturing process and operates on zero-liquid discharge manufacturing. It has solar panels at its spinning facilities in Rajasthan and RO setups to recover water to the tune of 94%.
Sutlej is embracing sustainability even in its day-to-day processes by minimizing carbon waste thereby reducing its carbon footprint. Also, with sustainability as a key focus for the Government as well, Sutlej will be introducing fibres like hemp, and linen in its blends, increasing the usage of dope-dyed materials, reducing reprocessing, and digital & transfer printing. The company’s business processes will include less paper and hard waste will be dealt with in an environment-friendly manner.
Sutlej gears up for a thriving 2023
Speaking about the company’s performance in 2022 compared to the previous year in the Indian textile industry, Updeep Singh Chatrath, CEO and President – Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd., said: “Sutlej constantly aims to evolve, making superior spun yarn that has set industry benchmarks for innovation and design, working with leading domestic and international brands to create designs consumers have loved across the world. Hence, 2022 was a compelling year for Sutlej’s home textiles business as it grew almost 40% Y-O-Y considering that we are still in the building phase which is extremely promising.”
He further added: “With a focus on a consumer-first approach, Sutlej has also broadened its sight and mission to bring in one of its foremost premium home furnishing brands – Nesterra that allows consumers to step into a world where fabric, texture, and color come together to tell a story. Keeping this in mind, 2022 also witnessed a transformation in the repositioning and redefining of Sutlej’s home furnishings business in the upholstery and drapery segment through Nesterra – a brand with a distribution network of over 400+ stores across India. Through its strong retail presence across Tier I & II markets, the brand aims to soon expand pan-India to cater to the Tier III markets as well.”
While 2022 has been a promising year for the company, in the upcoming year, Sutlej foresees certain challenges in R&D and product development given the global surges in costs. Product engineering will need to be focused on cost and sustainable manufacturing practices. The manufacturing will have to be agile, flexible, and capable of being able to experiment with various things and course correct on the go. Capacity utilization across all manufacturing processes will be a challenge and will need to be offset with value addition and the creation of better-value products. While long-term business strategies are important, all businesses will need to keep a close check on the current business scenarios and those in near future.
To combat these challenges and continue to upscale the textile business while building on meaningful innovations, Sutlej’s strategies include dialing up on sustainability and functional attributes in product offerings and not just aesthetics. The company continues being bold and taking chances on product differentiation. Sutlej has been able to emerge as an industry leader owing to the fact that it has been listening to the “ask” of the market and knowing the consumer pulse. Moreover, with Nesterra as part of its portfolio, it has already begun producing quality and aesthetic-driven designs with timely service to the Indian sector. Having launched over 20 new collections and expanded to 400+ retail locations across India, Nesterra hopes to carve out a niche in the premium furnishings segment that epitomizes your personality in your home. Hence, Sutlej continues to strengthen the brand Nesterra through the addition of products and sales points.
Speaking on what differentiates Sutlej from the competitor brands and help meet the expectations of the modern-day consumer, Smita Joshi, Vice President International Sales said, “In the home textiles segment, Sutlej offers a distinct signature of a casual style which is best suited to some prominent markets than others. Sutlej brings a flavor that is unique in handwriting to the competition selling in the same category. Our vertically integrated manufacturing in the sustainable area is a key highlight. The group has core values of long-term partnerships and those relationships have helped us grow our footprint and will continue to remain a key reason why customers will come back to us time and again.”
Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. at Heimtextil 2023
At Heimtextil, Sutlej will be putting out a wide variety of products for drapery, multipurpose and upholstery end-use. With sustainability at the helm of its innovations, Sutlej will be showcasing a large offering of its sustainable fabric collection displaying its commitment to championing sustainability from fibre to fabric. Its key highlights will include functional attributes of performance fabrics, FR, outdoor, dimouts, and blackouts, to name a few. Melange products in 100% cotton and blended categories are a must-watch. Plains and textures, curated compilations of products, design and color themes, novelty prints, multi-color jacquards, etc. will be showcased as well along with some finished products for the visitors to know the fabric better.