With growing emphasis on innovation, sustainability and fashion design worldwide, Arvind Mills, India’s top composite textiles player, tied up with globally acclaimed technology giant INVISTA. And Aamir Akhtar, CEO, Arvind Mills is optimistic their partnership will lead to bigger things as he says, “We have seen the partnership with INVISTA grow. Together, we will be unfolding a lot of things.”
A power house partnership
Endorsing Akhtar’s views, Huw Williams, Global Marketing Director, INVISTA, observes, “One of the most important things about strategic tie-ups is the culture fit. If you are working for a company that’s culturally aligned with you, this is a fine collaboration. We are trying to put premium products in the market. We have a common strategy and a common culture. Arvind has a huge industrial capability. They can make things efficiently as they have design capability, fabric innovation capability and can sell very effectively in a fragmented market. Our capability is fibre and fabric innovation. If you bring these two sets of capabilities together you create a win-win combination. Working with Arvind in western markets we have had great success with western brands and retailers.”
Innovative denim in the limelight
Giving an insight on Arvind’s innovative offerings Akhtar explains, “Arvind’s share in the value added segment is 55 per cent. We have launched a new technology. This is a new way of dyeing denim on the surface. It is not printing but indigo dyeing. With this, we can create deep dark indigos. Using this technology, we can come out with a whole range of knit denims, which has a strong demand now. Then there is ‘Neo Bubble’, which is lightweight denim for women’s wear, tops and ethnic wear. We have new dyed corduroys with stretch in different colours.” Throwing more light on ‘Arvind Stretch Denim powered by Lycra HangTag’ concept, Akhtar said, “Earlier, the fabric used to be sent out to different places through a complex supply chain and was difficult to tag. Now, ‘Arvind Lycra’ tag will go along with the fabric. The end user of the fabric, the cutter, the garment maker can convert it into garments when the tag is there. Once he sees the value in this brand, and its strong value proposition, as a promise, he would like to use the tags. The tag Arvind Lycra is also for B2C promotions.” Williams further explained the idea “The Arvind Lycra hang tag is an example of our collaboration. We are using Arvind’s distribution channels in India. The hang tag will be rolled out through their distribution channels in an easy to access way. We hope to see these hang tags appear on high quality garments.” The tie-up of these global brands in India is looked up to as a new era of innovation in textile industry. With the high profile tie-up between Arvind Mills and INVISTA, Indian textile industry has got a new dimension to face challenges in global as well as domestic markets.
