Maral Overseas Limited, is a leading textile company with 35 years’ history and fully integrated production, starting from cotton processing to ready-made garments. Maral’s integrated township is located in Madhya Pradesh. Maral possess a strong infrastructure with precisely chosen state -of –the- art machinery using latest advanced technologies, and is a professional organization with scientific business approach. Annual capacities running at Maral are 21000 MT of grey yarns, 3000 MT of dyed yarns, 25 million meters of dyed knitted fabric and 5.0 million pieces of garments. The company recently ventured into the latest technology of digital printing and after its successful implementation, it is expanding in digital printed knit fabrics.
The company offers a wide range of yarns under its umbrella. The focus has always been on sustainable yarns- BCI yarns, Organic, Fair-trade certified yarns and various special yarns- Miyabi thermal yarns, Acrylic -Viscose yarns, Supima cotton yarns, US Cotton yarns, Slub yarns, Bamboo blend, Modal Blend, Tencel Blend, Linen Blend, contamination free yarns, ‘S’ Twist yarns, Air rich yarns, Injected Slub yarns & Eli twist yarns and many more.
As part of the fabrics division the company offers fabrics in various structures and blends with special finishes such as moisture management, wrinkle free, Teflon, enzyme/bio wash, anti-viral, Anti-microbial, UV protected & stain release finishes.
Maral exports as well sells in the domestic market to very discernible customers, who are mainly nominated suppliers to international brands. Its conviction in leadership through quality and best business practices has enabled Maral to emerge as reliable supplier for world class products in markets like USA, Europe, Japan, Asia and Middle East countries.
Maral is a leader in exports of knitted garments to USA, Canada, Germany, japan, Middle East etc. to major brands for ladies and men’s casual wear, lounge wear, night wear as well as kids wear.
According to Mr. Shantanu Agarwal, Joint Managing Director of the company, annually Maral consumes 30,000 MT of fiber annually and approx. 93% of this is cotton.
“We use around 90% of Indian cotton and 10% cotton imported from USA. We have been using US cotton for more than 22 years and the main reason for using it has been that it is contamination free and also long staple (Supima), which has helped us in meeting requirements of our premium overseas customers,” he said.
Shedding light on Maral’s experience of US Cotton over the years in terms of quality, delivery and service, Mr. Agarwal mentioned:” Despite higher prices of US cotton, we continue to purchase cotton from USA as we find US cotton to be more production friendly with better recovery. It is also a solution for our continuous struggle on contamination in light & white colored fabrics. There are many retailers who insist for use of USA cotton to offer overall superior experience to their consumers. Overall, the experience has been relatively good, and the suppliers have been dependable.”
Given a pandemic like the COVID, does Mr. Agarwal foresee any changes in cotton sourcing? Is there increasing preference from global brands and retailers on quality, reliability and sustainability and how does US Cotton address to this change? Replying to this question Mr. Agarwal observed: “In recent years the trend has shifted towards sustainability and comfort. US cotton is a reliable solution to both these requirements. For hygiene & health reasons, consumers are getting more conscious towards traceability of raw material and again, US cotton gives a good solution for this too. Retailers want to highlight their supply chain at the sale point and get good response with COTTON USA logo on their garments. Consumers feel much more secured buying cotton garments. Global brands are sharing their concern towards the environment and are mapping the supply chain path from procurement of raw material to finished garments which show their concern towards the welfare of society and initiatives taken by COTTON USA at farm levels which synchronize well with the changing requirements of brands & consumers.”
Sharing his views on cotton consumption in the future looking at the challenges due to Covid-19 and on the categories in the company’s product mix he sees consumption of US cotton, Mr. Agarwal pointed out: “Cotton was always the most preferred fiber for consumer and shall always remain so. Soft feel of cotton cloth is now getting complemented with high class new chemical finishes. These finishes keep getting updated as we now even have finishes that keeps you fresh for whole day or even kills dangerous virus for your protection. With lockdown in most part of the world and restrictions at work place, we have noticed a major shift in clothing style. Consumers are putting more focus on comfort and there is a shift from formal wear to casual wear. A shift from Woven fabric to Knits fabric and with this shift, we foresee an increase in consumption of cotton over a period of time. Maral, being a producer of only knit fabrics, is getting increasing number of enquiries in fabrics and garments; most of this is in 100% cotton. Home Furnishing segment, which mostly consumes 100% cotton is also eyeing for increased set of demand and consumers tend to make more frequent changes on products of hygiene and this is also helping to increase demand in cotton.”
Mr. Agarwal reiterated that Maral will continue to have a strong connect with US cotton in the future. “Maral has had a longstanding relation with COTTON USA and will continue to do so. Customers around the world have preferred it for high value products, especially long staple cotton like Supima, and new applications in sportswear, loungewear, etc. USA happens to be a major market for us for this reason,” he said on a parting note.