Large domestic retailers look for garment suppliers in Tiruppur

The festival season this year – Dussehra and Deepavali – saw a jump in sales for garment manufacturers in the hosiery town of Tiruppur.

There was almost a 20% jump in sales compared with the last festival season, said S. Balachandar, vice-president of the South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association. Almost 60% of the garments produced in Tiruppur for the domestic market is inner wear. The remaining are outer wear and almost 40% of these garments are now made of synthetic fabrics.

“We are able to get printed cotton fabric from the western States. They have godowns and offices in Tiruppur now and the cost of fabric is ₹20 a kg less than what is knitted and printed in Tiruppur. Though labour and power costs are high in Tiruppur, the demand is picking up and the festival season trend is expected to continue,” he said.

Among the outer wear, there is a huge shift in trend with youngsters preferring varieties of garments for movies, restaurants, night dresses, etc. With more manufacturers in Tiruppur shifting to manmade fibre garments, there is a demand for these too.

“In the last two months, several large retail brands are enquiring in Tiruppur for suppliers as they are moving away from Bangladesh. If the manufacturers are able to supply at competitive prices, production will go up tremendously,” he said.