-By Ankita Dutta
Cotton price increases have harmed the garment sector so greatly that business owners are looking for alternate sources of income.
Many textile businesses in Ahmedabad, historically known as the Manchester of the East and the cotton capital of India, are shifting to polyester and viscose materials. In the past year, the clothing industry in this country saw cotton blending, and now some participants in the value chain have switched to polyester and viscose.
Diamond Textile Mills Pvt Ltd. MD Dhruv Patel stated, “With integrated spinning, weaving, and processing capabilities, we had a successful cotton textile industry for more than five decades. We have entirely switched over to polyester yarn alongside viscose during the past nine months.”
We obtain the fibre, create the yarn, and then weave it into the fabric, he explained. “We additionally supply yarn to companies in Surat. Due to the high cotton business totally, we had no alternative but to switch to polyester and viscose, but we decided to diversify since we felt the time was not right for cotton.”
According to market sources, cotton textile factories just need to make a few adjustments to begin producing polyester and viscose.
Industry estimates indicate that at least 5% of textile companies that exclusively used cotton have switched to synthetic fibres. The cost of cotton hit an all- time high of Rs 1.10 lakh per sweet (356kg) last year. Prices have decreased to a median of Rs 60,000 of revenue this year. Recent projections from the Cotton Association of India (CAI) indicate a reduced crop output, which, according to analysts, will result in greater price volatility for cotton.
Kankariya Textile Industries Pvt Ltd. is another instance. “In the beginning, we bought polyester in Surat and viscose in South India. This year, we added rayon, polyester, and viscose to our product line-up, and we even got offers for exportation from China. We have begun printing viscose home textiles, women’s clothing, and shirting fabric,” according to P R Kankariya, the company’s chairman. “We arranged this grey material here after spending a significant amount of money on it in Surat.”
Director of Akash Fashion Pvt Ltd Akash Sharma stated, “We started printing polyester and viscose three years ago. Previously, we preferred materials made entirely of cotton, but lately we have begun blending. Previously, we printed 12 lakh metres of cotton shirting per month, but capacity utilisation fell as a result of high cotton prices. While we only print one lakh metres of pure cotton shirt fabric each month, we currently print seven lakh metres of hybrid shirting fabric.
