New Delhi, Jul 16 (KNN) The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) held a webinar on ‘Sourcing of Polyester Fabric’ in association with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Thursday.

Speaking at the webinar attended by about 50 key players in the segment of manmade fibre (MMF) based garments, AEPC Chairman Dr A Sakthivel said, “From day one, we felt that we have enough MMF fibre and yarn but we do not have the proper fabric. I thank Reliance for coming forward to fill the gap.”

Ritesh Sharma, Head, Brand & Retail at RIL, said, “Our company runs the Hub Excellence Program (HEP) to support the value chain. There are more than 55 high-quality, value chain players across spinning, weaving, knitting and processing. More partners are being added.”

The company has a presence across all textile hubs and end-applications, he said, “Through this program, the entire value chain, including brands, will be able to take advantage of manufacturing and technical support, quality and supply assurance, access to innovative products, manufacturing support, and one-stop solution for all requirements,” Sharma added.

The webinar was organized to promote import substitution of polyester fabric and to explore new sources. Reliance Industries partners shared their fabric supply chain to India and updated on new fabric sourcing at the webinar.

Roshan Baid of Paragon Apparels said, “MMF fibre textiles all over the world are increasing as a substitute for cotton amid changes in global fashion trends. World trade in MMF fibre garments is estimated at 500 billion dollars.”

MMF dominates global textile fibre consumption with 72:28 ratio i.e. MMF 72 per cent and 28 per cent is natural fibre. The share of MMF garment in India’s total apparel export is 1.6 billion dollars, which is only 10 per cent of India’s apparel export, Baid added.

Harvinder Singh of Saachi Processors informed that their company uses Fukuhara, Mayer & CIE, and Jiunn Long machines for fabricating knit fabrics.

“These are all brand new machines. The fabric produced from these machines have no cloud or line formation. Even oil stains on the greige fabric are controlled,” he said.

Raj Kumar Agarwal of SVG Fashions said, “SVG is a rare textile company which has in-house every possible form of fabric formation.”

Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman, Export Promotion Sub Committee, AEPC, said, “I appeal to people at Reliance to look at the production of high-end fabrics very holistically and not just concentrate on fibre production.”