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By:

Dr. Subrata Das

Consumer Testing Laboratories (India) Limited, Inc.No.35, irage !oint, "# $eet %oad, ST Bed, &oramanga'a,

Banga'ore 5##3*

The Indian apparel industry, which took off in the mid 60s, is worth around $15 billion

now. In fact, the industry has advanced radually in terms of technoloy adoption and

has reached a critical mass today. !ne of the primary drawbacks in India"s clothin chain

is the lack of ade#uate fabric arment processin capacity of re#uisite #uality

standards. %hile the issue of fabric processin has been debated for lon, the area of

arment wet processin has started creatin interest only in the recent past.

& sinificant part of the apparel e'port from India is dominated by (otton arments. !ut

of the total e'ports, men"s shirts, T)shirts and to some e'tent skirts and kids arments

have a lare use of cotton fabric. These are not only hih rowth areas in India"s apparel

e'port, but also e'pose themselves to a variety of wet processin options. *urther,

cateories such as trousers, shorts and denim apparel, which internationally are hih

rowth cateories, have wet processin as an interal part of its value addition. Thus,

one of the prime reasons for arment wet processin sector"s risin importance is its

ability to introduce a variety of aesthetic and functional innovations.

+arments have been subected to a wide rane of performance)enhancin functional

finishes in the recent years. -ome of the more widely used functional finishes include but

not limited to %ater !il /epellent %!/, %rinkle /esistant %/, &nti)2icrobial, &nti)

!3onate, 4 resistant, *ire /etardant, 2oisture 2anaement, -ensory erception etc. &

lare number of 7omestic 8rands have been employin the above functional finishes

#uite widely and have accepted these in their finish proram. 4nlike the aesthetic

appeal, these finishes build in a specific functional characteristic in the apparel and

hence make the arment more intellient. This helps in raisin the unit value reali3ation

and also provides with a differentiation stratey.

In recent years interest from overseas buyers in sourcin arments is been seen that

has a lare inclination towards 9wash: factor, due to the fashion trends currently invoue. *inally, a number of wet processes are bein carried out on the arment stae

rather than the fabric stae, since this ives a better control element to the arment

manufacturer. ;ence, washin which started off initially to pre)shrink arments prior to

reachin the consumer has come a lon way now to provide fashion and functionality

elements.

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years of arment manufacturin in the country. =ven till date, arment e'porters

continue to accord this department lowest priority, which can be seen from the fact that

the laundry is either manned by 9masters: or on contract basis, unlike other departments.

The wet processin sector of arment in India is hihly framented > a lare number of

small si3ed units scattered across the maor arment manufacturin centers. The

averae si3e of the units would be around 1000 ) ?000 arments per day capacity

en3yme wash cycle, which is by far very low compared to international standards.

+arment wet processin capacities even in neihbourin countries are hiher than the

Indian averae.

@aundries, with indienously developed machines which can deliver the basic functions

pretty well, lack the sophistication desired for improvin wash reproducibility, enhancinefficiencies or boostin productivities. In the Indian scenario, laundries by and lare do

not have well laid out systems since these are master)driven, who do have hih skill

level but a low knowlede level. The information pertainin to wet processin is kept

secret with few individuals who do not want to share for the arment industry as a whole.

There is lack of wash development updates or courses available and the academic

institutes too have chosen to inore this area till very recently.

!n the environmental issue, arment wet processin sector releases lare amounts of

effluents but is not eared to cater to the effluent treatment re#uirements > another

reason of bein in the small)scale sector.

7espite automations, arment wet processin has a lare component of manual

intervention that is re#uired for its efficient runnin. &part from product development, the

production facilities need trained technicians to understand the inter)linkaes between

machine)material)chemical. *urther, despite sophisticated control instrumentation, a

number of online #uality checks are in the form of visual or tactile testin and hence

necessitate the re#uisite trainin.

In order to understand the recent scenario of arment wet processin industry in India, a

-%!T analysis has been done. There is a vast scope for improvement, but proper

initiation at the end of the industry owners and policy makers in the country is hihlydesirable if one tries to achieve operational e'cellence and produce mind blowin

products to satisfy fashion needs on economic scale.