Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Feb 24, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Feb 24, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Readymade Garments `Modal' stirs interest among garment makers G. Gurumurthy
COIMBATORE, Feb. 23 MODAL, the wood pulp-based cellulosic fibre, has caught the imagination of domestic garmenting units, especially the knitwear makers who are on the lookout for specialty fabrics for producing high-end apparel/non-apparel products. With several multinational garment labels unfolding their plans to outsource garments from India in the coming years, the domestic textile companies producing intermediary textile products such as yarn and fabrics have evinced greater interest in using this new generation fibre both in 100 per cent pure form or in blends to add value to their products. Major national upmarket garment makers such as Madura Garments (for the Allen Solley label), Bombay Dyeing (for bed linen range) and Siyaram (for trousers) and WellSpun (for terry-towel range) have started using modal fibre and its blends in their products. According to market sources, in the South a few textile/clothing majors such as K G Denim and Precot too are said to be working on using modal/modal blended fabrics in their manufacture of finished textile/clothing items. Cotton yarn major, Lakshmi Mills, is also said to be toying with the idea of going for spun yarn made of modal fibre for its range of finer count yarn hoping to catch up with the market mood which is changing towards spotting newer apparel material. Though it belongs to the generic viscose fibre family, certain special production process imparts specific fibre characteristics and properties to modal and makes it an independent fibre group by itself. The high rate of polymerisation, lower elongation, higher wet modulus and improved dimensional stability sets it apart from the conventional cellulosic fibres available in the market. "With garment procuring agencies increasingly looking for applying newer fabrics in ready-made garments, South Indian garment producers, especially the knitwear garment suppliers from Tirupur, will find modal a best bet to enhancing the value of the garments. Extra-softness/ high suppleness and its physical characteristics akin to cotton makes modal an ideal stand-alone /blending fibre and its compliance to the `Oko Tex standard 100' ensures that it is a globally acceptable fibre to produce intimate garments," Mr T.A.S. Dhanddabani, promoter of Hallmark Fabrics, a garmenting company in Tirupur, told Business Line. Hallmark Fabrics, which is a part of the 50-year-old cotton/cotton yarn enterprise, A Ganapathe Chettiar Yarn Agency, has recently launched its branded men's/ladies' knitwear products including under-garments made of modal fibre. The modal fibre for the Indian market is catered to by Lenzing AG, Austria which produces the cellulosic fibre on global scale. The Austrian company has tied up with Rajasthan Textile Mills which produces and markets the modal spun-yarn range which consists of 100 per cent modal yarn, modal milange yarn and the modal blended yarns (with cotton and polyester). Mr Dhanddabani's yarn agency has an agreement with Rajasthan Textile Mills to market modal spun-yarn for the South Indian markets and it supplies grey/milange and dyed modal yarns for hosiery sector. "Last year we started selling modal yarn in a small way. With major hoisery exporters shifting to value-added products and many of them entering into manufacturing new product ranges, the off-take of modal yarn too has been increasing this year," he said.
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