Over 150 companies showcased around 300 brands at Gartex 2018, India’s popular event dedicated to garmenting and textile manufacturing solutions and technologies. The three-day exhibition that began on August 18 allows industry stakeholders to get an insight into the new trends and business opportunities.
The first day of the event GARTEX was the day of visitors from small towns and emerging manufacturing centres like Ludhiana, Saharanpur, Surat, Kolkata, Kerala, besides a flow of students from various institutes. Of the few exporters who did visit the fair, the general feedback was, that there is business in the market for those players who were committed to the trade, but sadly not everyone wanted to make the effort. It was pointed out by many of the exhibitors that the slow phase in business had helped companies to put focus on R&D, so the industry was seeing many innovations, whether in fabric or technology.
Among the technology, printing was the obvious focus, with digital printing being the highlight. Swiss company – Mouvent held a special press conference to introduce their printing technology to the Indian market. Many of the small garment manufacturers with 20-40 machines were at the event to seek out options to expand and explore new areas of business.
The young generation from many export companies also visited the fair. While talking to them, Team Apparel Resources found out that most of them were interested in digital printing.
Companies showcasing digital printing machines garnered much attention, however most of them were sublimation printers. Only two companies namely Tanya Enterprises, exhibiting its model TE-1600 and Colorjet exhibiting its model Vastrajet were the ones that were showcasing direct to fabric printing machines.
Entry level sublimation printers were another major attraction among the visitors that attended the three-day long event. Ahmedabad- based Mehta CAD CAM Systems and Gurgaon-based FIT Technology were the ones that launched their sublimation printers for the first time at the event.
Among the gamut of innovations and technology, sustainability was not forgotten. Abhinav Arya, Director – Planning, Fabcare showcased its garment dyeing machines with Fabcare Splash technology. He said, “The technology helps in cutting down on water requirements by 70%, energy requirement by 50% and chemical usage by 50%.”
The event saw lots of apparel manufacturers from small centres like Ujjain, Jaipur, Panipat, Coimbatore, Surat and Hapur. Rajesh Gupta, MD, RMP Fab Sourcing, which does an annual turnover of Rs 300 crore and calls itself as an innovative fabric supplier, was looking for latest digital printing technology. Most of them said that apart from knowing the latest in technology, the event also gave them an insight into where the business was heading.
While the players from the export segment were talking of 20% decrease in business, players from the domestic segment are excited about the future. Sandeep Gupta, Head of Business Development Asia Pacific, Solunaris, averred that in next 5 years, apparel business will grow at a rate of 30% annually. Ankur Nahar, Owner, LS Enterprises spoke about relevance of cost-effectiveness and how important it is for business growth of apparel sector. Overall most of the visitors looked content and believed there is always something interesting coming up in technology every year.
Source: https://in.apparelresources.com