What the INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY needs to do to compete internationally

My previous article made me wonder about what the Indian textile industry needs to do, to compete internationally?

One thing that stood out in my mind immediately is

“Look beyond Obvious”.

The Indian textile sector was traditionally a famous & widely appreciated one. International buyers specifically appreciated the creative workmanship & product outcome offered within stringent timelines.

Over the past few years we seem to have lost our touch & international competitors who evolved better than us have taken away the market share.

In our industry, often we can sense that each of us work in isolation, not aligning with the immediate customers. Instead of aligning as per customers needs, we are trying to sell what is being made by us. In order to compete internationally SYNERGY (upward integration) from shop to crop is necessary. In my observation, it is the other way around.

For the Indian textile industry it's time to rejuvenate & COMPETE to CONQUER.This should be our approach against competition. This transformation should be across all verticals; each of is involved in the cycle should strive hard to compete internationally. “Look beyond Obvious” can help us compete against the international players.

Let’s review some of the key SHOP to CROP approaches we should initiate for the accelerated growth of Indian textile industry.

Brands & Apparel Retailers

International brands & apparel retailers from a very early stage focussed on a global vision. This is the reason behind leading international brands like H&M, M&S, UNIQLO & GAP growing outside the boundaries of their home countries. Today we see these brands presence globally, including India. On the other hand, the Indian brands & apparel retailers have not been able to achieve similar growth. We have very little exposure to the global markets & have left very less footprint till now barring a few exceptions.

Think Big, in order to compete internationally. Its time to establish our brands/formats across various parts of the world. The vision should be to make our brands the talking point in the global markets within the next 5 years. We have the potential & our offerings are in line with international players in all aspects.

Exporters/Factories

Offering “Flexibility” in manufacturing is going to be the key. The ability to make small & micro lot orders with better efficiency & agility will set us apart from the rest. Understanding your customer’s needs & buying patterns is another area which needs serious consideration. Investment in technology which in turn throws light on customer interests there by taking the lead in predicting trends & offering quick market solutions for your buyers. Prepare & alter the infrastructure keeping the present scenarios in mind rather than demanding or looking for larger runs based on infrastructures equipped with.

Other than the above stated there are 2 more important aspects to look at

• Offering fashionable product which is in line with international competitors
• Servicing the core products with consistency.

In both the cases our Product & workmanship should speak for itself. In today's scenario the only way to achieve success & compete internationally is creating customer delight in every aspect. We should put ourselves in the customers shoes & assess whether the product offered by us is delightful. Accuracy at every stage of manufacturing, using the best quality raw material will help in building great products & it can attain customer delight with ease. I have seen several buyers who continue working with certain set of factories as they experience customer delight by working with them in terms of product outcome, fit, look, hand feel, cost etc.

Processing & Machinery Manufacturers

Having  flexible machinery with advanced technologies in manufacturing at various processing stages will help us to compete internationally. Most of the textile machineries are meant for larger & bigger manufacturing, whereas the current market needs are for shorter & smaller runs to process. Even today many of the textile machineries are imported from other countries, which is being handled & managed by Indian fitters well. It shows that we have capabilities to compete with international manufacturers. It should be encouraged & applied in making these machineries with the latest technologies in our country with international standards & advanced features.

Keeping the current demand in mind, the process houses should be able to handle smaller runs with ease so that order serviceability does not become a challenge. With this “transformation” we can compete internationally & focus on exporting the machineries to various parts of the world after fulfilling our local needs.

Mills & Raw Material Suppliers

Biggest difference between Indian manufacturers & international players is that they are good at offering “new products” in non-cottons. If we have to compete internationally we should increase our “non cotton capabilities”, focus more on offering sustainable products at competitive prices. This would include various blends of cotton with other fibres like rayon, modal, Tencel, polyester, nylon etc. sustainable manmade fibres like polyester out of recycled PET bottles with clean out come & advanced performance finishes.

In simple words we should evolve to making more fashionable fabrics. Increase our offerings in women’s wear fabrics which is the talking point in the world today & it should be in the above bases other than cotton. Shifting our focus from commodity cotton fabrics into specialty cotton fabrics (slightly better than regular) in cotton like mélange, slub, grindle etc., with competitive pricing & capability of making lesser quantities will yield desirable results.

Able to make small & micro lot orders with better efficiency & being agile. Invest in design studios which can make designs based on customer interests there by taking the lead in predicting trends & offering quick market solutions for retailers. Auto replenishment, & inventory management solutions for core & best sellers by holding fabrics are some of the key steps to compete.

Spinners

Invest more on R&D, do constant trials for continuous improvement in cotton quality (CQI) with certain land sizes as pilot projects, which in turn benefits the spinners productivity, with POC (proof of constraints) the same can be accelerated further.

Go beyond basic counts in cotton (above 50s) in large scale manufacturing. 

Manufacturing finer counts, hybrid yarns, sustainable yarns, Bci, organic yarns manufacturing in large scale will make it a commodity available in the market at competitive prices. Focus on fibre blends, look at sustainable manmade fibres as an option. Offer more variations & fancy yarn solutions to market to build a differentiated offering.

Crop (Textile Farmers)

Need of the hour is “maximising” the production of better staple length cottons, sustainable cottons, 100% organic, BCI & Hybrid crop cultivations. The way forward is to make these a commodity readily accepted in the market. This will in turn lead to a higher demand & help achieve large scale productions.

Individuals - Textile Personnel

Depending on our levels & capabilities, we should start “adopting” a textile farmer or a community of textile farmers. We should extend our support towards their survival & revival of their livelihood by all possible means. This will make them feel secured & they will continue to focus more on harvesting. We can educate, create awareness, and support them in growing. 

“To begin with I have decided to adopt one textile farmer with immediate effect”.

I would like to leave you all with this thought of “ADOPTION”. Give it a thought, I truly believe this will turn fortunes in favor of our industry.

After reading the above one could still feel that it is easier said than done. With the lack of support, infrastructure & policies it is extremely tough to compete & succeed against international competitors.  

Involved PEOPLE like us can build an ecosystem of growth in any industry. 

I have recently come across two classic examples of Indian companies who have succeeded against the competitors & left their footprints internationally in other segments. If they can succeed we can also as the scenarios are the same for every industry in INDIA. Click here to read the article.

Let’s “Look Beyond Obvious” at various stages of our industry. Let us apply ourselves better so that we can compete internationally & create a global footprint for the Indian textile industry.

RELATED TOPICS:#Sourcing,Textiles,Apparel,Fashion,design,retail,fabric,indian,textile industry,art,supply chain strategy,Ramesh Gunasekaran