India’s garment export basket contains an exciting variety of products, some of which are our inherent strengths, while others have the potential to grow in the coming years. One such product category where there seems to be a consensus among manufacturers, technologists and consultants that India has the potential to be competitive is the category of funds, both in the US and EU markets. This category consists of a wide variety of garments ranging from classic pants to boxer briefs in various fabrics and price segments. Even though 97 percent of the quota is used each year in this category, there are still the same areas that need to be strengthened to be successful in the global market. Quotas are undoubtedly the biggest constraints at present, but once the quotas are gone, the top three constraints that will hamper India’s capabilities are consistent qualities, price competitiveness and fit. These issues tie into the larger areas of productivity and limitations of the fabric. While technology and its correct application are essential to overcome most limitations, tissue will continue to be a vulnerable area for the mid-segment with no immediate solution in sight.
There are four crucial aspects involved in producing quality pants. Known as the Fabric Finish Feel and Fit elemental elements, they define a supplier’s ability to handle this product, while all three Finish Feel and Fit can be achieved through a combination of human skills and cutting-edge technology. The fourth component, the fabric, which represents 60% of the garment, is not entirely in the hands of the manufacturer-exporter. Many potential buyers reason that the main limitation to growth in this category, especially for the high-value mid-segment mass market, is a lack of competition in fabric. This has forced several buyers to shift orders for bottoms and pants. from India to other more competitive countries. But does India have any strength in this fast-growing apparel segment?
The strength of India
In genetic terms, India has some strength in funds, otherwise the quotas for this category would have been unused at almost 97%. Obviously many people are already sending funds from here. Generally speaking, there are three categories in the bottom: the low-value casual shorts, the mid-market good casual bottom, and the high-value classic pants. Speaking specifically of categories within the bottom, a category within the bottoms, a category that I think India is very strong in, is first category yarn dyed basic shorts, madras shorts and surf shorts, which are casual shorts, yarn dyed sleepwear, etc . In fact, some of the buyers ship a lot from India, which they cannot do from anywhere else in the world.
Madras plaid shorts and power loom knit causal shorts are preferred by the world market. India is basically strong in this category because there is a good variety of fabrics available for this category. The price of casual shorts turns out to be very reasonable because the fabric, which is readily available in India, costs an average of Rs 50-60 per meter. Approximately 1.3 meters of fabric is needed to cut a pair of shorts and the keyring. the value of the short would not be more than $4-4.5 which is very competitive.
Weak mass mid-market
The second category in bottoms, which is the middle market product, are the good casual bottoms, which are chino pants, twill chino shorts, and canvas with different types of washes. This is where India is quite weak and three are just a few factories exporting in this quota category. Which is largely for labels like Banana Republic, Gap Old Navy etc. Fabric for this category is not available at competitive prices in India and most of it comes from China.
The fabric used in this category is basically twill and canvas, both of which are not competitively priced in India. For this reason, the basic twill shorts that buyers are making for the mid-market and discount stores cannot be made in India at all. The price of the canvas. available in India costs about 140 rupees ($3) per meter, while from China it would cost about $1.6 per yard. Broken twill costs about 150-160 rupees ($3.4) per meter compared to $1.6-1.7 per yard from China. In a basic 20 by 16 or 16 by 12 peach twill it would cost at least 100-110 rupees from any good mill. So we’re talking over $2 per meter compared to just $110 1.35 per yard from China and that too on better quality in Chinese twill that wouldn’t and variance in terms of handling weight packaging or delivery Deliveries they are much faster, there is more time for lab dip approvals. In India, even some of the best-known mills deliver so late that buyers don’t think to order from them. In cash from other factories, the fabric is too expensive, and deliveries are a long process. In the case of bulk fabric, there are too many bulk shade batches and the widths are uneven, which makes it very difficult to work with such factories.
I would say the quality of the fabric from China is better. On your fabric lab print can be available within 7 days and approval takes about 12 days and within 30 days bulk fabric is ready for delivery in rolls. Each roll is carefully packed in cellophane with stickers indicating the number of yards and the roll size is generally 70-80 yards per roll. All the volume is similar and the packing list has many markings. Much easier to work with imported. fabric to face constant quality issues in sourcing fabrics in India.
formal bottom wear
The third category of bottoms is formal wear, which is like a dress made bottoms, the one we would wear with blazers and suits I would say that the fabric for this category is much stronger than cloth and canvas. Companies like Reliance Rajasthan Spinning and many of them, the larger ones, manufacture a large number of materials for the classic range of trousers. However, very few exporters make such pants. the technology to make pants so sophisticated so that they show their new products in the global market and it is easier to get the new developments from new york and toronto them to get them in delhi or mumbai these big companies have a good presence in canada and the usa .and many buyers now ship a large number of fabrics from India to other parts of Asia and Canada for production in India at just a couple of factories. Imperial clothing in Bangalore has state-of-the-art plants, which are very good. TCNS, I think like plants in Chennai, which is also well researched, but it’s only six or seven plants that you can count on your fingertips. So in this category it is the manufacturing technology that is missing and not the fabrics that is a sad part.
In the number one category, which is like yarn-dyed shorts, yarn-dyed pajamas, etc., the margins are very low, but orders are readily available. Here India has the fabrics as well as the technology. Therefore, most of the exporters are based on this category, which is the informal bottom, such as Chinese built soles and shorts, have the means to do it but have no fabric. Therefore, the market gets a lot. The third category is formal pants where you have fabrics but no plants to make high quality precision pants.
Indian competitors
In casual pants, the second category, which is chino shorts and pants, I think the biggest competitors, is obviously China. But then again, China is obviously our biggest competitor, otherwise also Vietnam is a very strong competitor now because of a pair of twill shorts. Which in India would not be for less than $4.50 to 4.70 Vietnam would do it for $3.5 plus it also has the advantage of quota-free access to the US Their plants are also having very good capacities. Bangladesh is not so competitive now because of the price of the quota and they are in a similar price range as India. Japan hardly has any plants that can make this kind of volume. The United Arab Emirates and Oman are slightly more expensive. Kenya is once again a great competitor. So I think from now on, when we talk about losing in terms of this product category, we are talking about Vietnam, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, OMAN and Bahrain, etc. To some extent I would not consider Malaysia or Indonesia as a competitor to India because they are making more complicated pants with better quality fabrics, better labels and more sophisticated.
