Textile Industry in India

Textile Industry in India is the second largest

employment generator after agriculture. It holds
significant status in India as it provides one of the
most fundamental necessities of the people. Textile
industry was one of the earliest industries to come
into existence in India and it accounts for more than
30% of the total exports. In fact Indian textile
industry is the second largest in the world, second
only to China.

Textile Industry is unique in the terms that it is an

independent industry, from the basic requirement of
raw materials to the
final products, with
huge value-addition at every stage of processing.
Textile industry in India has vast potential for
creation of employment opportunities in the
agricultural, industrial, organised and decentralised
sectors & rural and urban areas, particularly for
women and the disadvantaged. Indian textile
industry is constituted of the following segments:
Readymade Garments, Cotton Textiles including
Handlooms, Man-made Textiles, Silk Textiles,
Woollen Textiles, Handicrafts, Coir, and Jute.

Till the year 1985, development of textile sector in

India took place in terms of general policies. In 1985,
for the first time the importance of textile sector was
recognized and a separate policy statement was
announced with regard to development of textile
sector. In the year 2000, National Textile Policy was
announced. Its main objective was: to provide cloth
of acceptable quality at reasonable prices for the
vast majority of the population of the country, to
increasingly contribute to the provision of
sustainable employment and the economic growth of
the nation; and to compete with confidence for an
increasing share of the global market. The policy
also aimed at achieving the target of textile and
apparel exports of US $ 50 billion by 2010 of which
the share of garments will be US $ 25 billion.

Strengths of Indian textile Industry

 India has rich resources of raw materials of
textile industry. It is one of the largest producers
of cotton in the world and is also rich in
resources of fibres like polyester, silk, viscose
etc.
 India is rich in highly trained manpower. The
country has a huge advantage due to lower
wage rates. Because of low labor rates the
manufacturing cost in textile automatically
comes down to very reasonable rates.
  India is highly competitive in spinning sector and
has presence in almost all processes of the
value chain.
 Indian garment industry is very diverse in size,
manufacturing facility, type of apparel produced,
quantity and quality of output, cost, requirement
for fabric etc. It comprises suppliers of ready-
made garments for both, domestic or export
markets.
Weaknesses of Indian textile Industry
 Indian textile industry is highly fragmented in
industry structure, and is led by small scale
companies. The reservation of production for
very small companies that was imposed with the
intention to help out small scale companies
across the country, led substantial fragmentation
that distorted the competitiveness of industry.
Smaller companies do not have the fiscal
resources to enhance technology or invest in the
high-end engineering of processes. Hence they
lose in productivity.
 Indian labour laws are relatively unfavorable to
the trades and there is an urgent need for labour
reforms in India.
  India seriously lacks in trade pact memberships,
which leads to restricted access to the other
major markets.
Outlook for Indian textile Industry
The outlook for textile industry in India is very
optimistic. It is expected that Indian textile industry
would continue to grow at an impressive rate. Textile
industry is being modernized by an exclusive
scheme, which has set aside $5bn for investment in
improvisation of machinery. India can also grab
opportunities in the export market. The textile
industry is anticipated to generate 12mn new jobs in
various sectors.
Fashion Industry in India
Fashion Industry in India is in nascent stage at the
moment and has great potential to make its mark on
the world stage. Indian fashion has thousands of
years of tradition behind it. India has a rich and
varied textile heritage. Each region of India has its
own unique native
costume and
traditional attire. Fashion Industry in India is growing
at a rapid pace with international events such as the
India Fashion Week gaining popularity and annual
shows by fashion designers being held in the major
cities of India.
Indian fashion industry got a big boost by the
victories of a number of Indian beauty queens in
International events such as the Miss World and
Miss Universe. Contests such as these made Indian
models recognized worldwide. Indian fashion
designers such as Ritu Kumar, Ritu Beri, Rohit Bal,
Rina Dhaka, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya and Manish
Malhotra have also made their mark in the global
fashion arena.

Apart from the rich tradition the strength of the

Indian fashion industry also rests on strong raw
material availability. India is the third largest
producer of cotton, the second largest producer of
silk and the fifth largest producer of man-made fibres
in the world. India also possesses large number of
skilled human resources and has among the lowest
labour costs in the world.

With the end of quota regime on January 1, 2005 the

prospects for Indian fashion industry look upbeat.
India is among the largest exporters of textile
garments and fabrics. The quota regime restricted
free export of materials and garments from the
developing countries, giving an edge to developed
ones. The regime resulted in unfair trade practices,
such as hoarding of licenses for quotas and their
eventual sale in the black market, and the shipping
of low quality goods to meet contract demands.
There was little incentive for the manufacturers to
upgrade and improve either their products or
manufacturing abilities. The end of the quota regime
heralds the prospects of exponential growth for the
fashion industries of countries like India that had
faced quota restrictions earlier.

Indian fashion industry needs to take following

steps to fulfill its growth potential:
 Indian fashion industry needs to create global
image. There are various agencies that can
assist in the brandbuilding exercise. The
Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC),
other textile promotion councils, and industry
associations such as Confederation of Indian
Industries can market Indian fashion globally.
 Large textiles players must develop linkages
with small medium enterprise (SME) clusters.
Such networks would be a win-win for textile
players that can concentrate on demand
creation and branding as well as for clusters that
can focus on quality production.
 Indian fashion industry has to forge designer-
corporate links as is the norm in global fashion
industry.
  There is a large part of the novice designer
community, possibly more talented, which
remains obscure. Hence there is an urgent need
to give exposure to young and budding
designers.
If we are able to take the above mentioned issues to
their logical conclusion then there is no reason why
Indian fashion industry cannot achieve its
tremendous potential.
Textile manufacturing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Garment industry)
Jump to: navigation, search
For History of Textile manufacturing from 1750 to 1850,
see Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.
For Hand processing techniques today and before 1750,
see Textile manufacturing by pre-industrial methods.

Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based in

the conversion of three types of fibre into yarn, then
fabric, then textiles. These are then fabricated into clothes
or other artifacts. Cotton remains the most important
natural fibre, so is treated in depth. There are many
variable processes available at the spinning and fabric-
forming stages coupled with the complexities of the
finishing and colouration processes to the production of a
wide ranges of products. There remains a large industry
that uses hand techniques to achieve the same results.
Contents
[hide]

 1 Processing of cotton
o 1.1 Cultivating and harvesting
 1.1.1 Issues
o 1.2 Preparatory processes- preparation of yarn
o 1.3 Spinning- yarn manufacture
 1.3.1 Measurements
o 1.4 Weaving-fabric manufacture
 1.4.1 Measurements
 1.4.2 Associated job titles
 1.4.3 Issues
o 1.5 Knitting- fabric manufacture
o 1.6 Finishing- processing of textiles
o 1.7 Economic, environmental and political consequences of cotton manufacture
 2 Processing of other vegetable fibres- other processes
o 2.1 Flax
o 2.2 Jute
o 2.3 Hemp
o 2.4 Other bast fibres
o 2.5 Other leaf fibres
 3 Processing of protein fibres
o 3.1 Silk
 4 Processing of man made fibres
o 4.1 Discussion of types of man made fibres
o 4.2 Additional processes associated with man made fibres
 5 See also
 6 References
 7 Bibliography
 8 External links

[edit] Processing of cotton

Cotton Manufacturing
Processes (after Murray
1911)

Bale Breaker Blowing Room

Willowing

Breaker Scutcher Batting

Finishing Scutcher Lapping

Carding Carding Room

Silver Lap

Combing

Drawing

Slubbing
Intermediate

Roving Fine Roving

Mule Spinning - Ring Spinning Spinning

Reeling Doubling

Winding Bundling Bleaching

Winding

Warping Cabling

Sizing/Slashing/Dressing Gassing
 Weaving Spooling

Cloth Yarn (Cheese)- - Bundle Sewing Thread

Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, the global yield was 25
million tons from 35 million hectares cultivated in more than 50 countries.[1]

There are five stages[2]

 Cultivating and Harvesting

 Preparatory Processes
 Spinning
 Weaving
 Finishing

[edit] Cultivating and harvesting

Cotton is grown anywhere with long, hot dry summers with plenty of sunshine and low
humidity. Indian cotton, gossypium arboreum, is finer but the staple is only suitable for hand
processing. American cotton, gossypium hirsutum, produces the longer staple needed for
machine production.[3] Planting is from September to mid November and the crop is harvested
between March and May. The cotton bolls are harvested by stripper harvesters and spindle
pickers, that remove the entire boll from the plant. The cotton boll is the seed pod of the cotton
plant, attached to each of the thousands of seeds are fibres about 2.5 cm long.[4]

 Ginning

The seed cotton goes in to a Cotton gin. The cotton gin separates seeds and removes the "trash"
(dirt, stems and leaves) from the fibre. In a saw gin, circular saws grab the fibre and pull it
through a grating that is too narrow for the seeds to pass. A roller gin is used with longer staple
cotton. Here a leather roller captures the cotton. A knife blade, set close to the roller, detaches
the seeds by drawing them through teeth in circular saws and revolving brushes which clean
them away.[5]
The ginned cotton fibre, known as lint, is then compressed into bales which are about 1.5 m tall
and weigh almost 220 kg. Only 33% of the crop is usable lint. Commercial cotton is priced by
quality, and that broadly relates to the average length of the staple, and the variety of the plant.
Longer staple cotton (2½ in to 1¼ in) is called Egyptian, medium staple (1¼ in to ¾ in) is called
American upland and short staple (less than ¾ in) is called Indian. [6]
 The cotton seed is pressed into a cooking oil. The husks and meal are processed into animal
feed, and the stems into paper.

[edit] Issues

Cotton is farmed intensively and uses large amounts of fertiliser and 25% of the worlds
insecticide. Native Indian variety were rainwater fed, but modern hybrids used for the mills need
irrigation, which spreads pests. The 5% of cotton-bearing land in India uses 55% of all pesticides
used in India.[3] Before mechanisation, cotton was harvested manually and this unpleasant task
was done by the lower castes, and in the United States by slaves of African origin.

[edit] Preparatory processes- preparation of yarn

 Ginning, bale-making and transportation is done in the country of origin.

 Opening and cleaning

Platt Bros. Picker

Cotton mills get the cotton shipped to them in large, 500 pound bales. When the cotton comes
out of a bale, it is all packed together and still contains vegetable matter. The bale is broken
open using a machine with large spikes. It is called an Opener.In order to fluff up the cotton and
remove the vegetable matter, the cotton is sent through a picker, or similar machines. A picker
looks similar to the carding machine and the cotton gin, but is slightly different. The cotton is fed
into the machine and gets beaten with a beater bar, to loosen it up. It is fed through various
rollers, which serve to remove the vegetable matter. The cotton, aided by fans, then collects on
a screen and gets fed through more rollers till it emerges as a continuous soft fleecy sheet,
known as a lap.[6][7]

 Blending,

Mixing & Scutching

Scutching refers to the process of cleaning cotton of its seeds and other impurities. A scutching
machine for cotton was first invented in 1797, but didn't get much attention until it was
introduced in Manchester in 1808 or 1809. By 1816 it had been generally adopted.[5] The
scutching machne worked by passing the cotton through a pair of rollers, and then striking it with
iron or steel bars called beaters. The beaters, which turn very quickly, strike the cotton hard and
knock the seeds out. This process is done over a series of parallel bars so as to allow the seeds to
fall through. At the same time a breeze is blown across the bars, which carries the cotton into a
cotton chamber.

 Carding

Main article: Carding

Carding machine

Carding: the fibres are separated and then assembled into a loose strand (sliver or tow) at the
conclusion of this stage.

The cotton comes off of the picking machine in laps, and is then taken to carding machines. The
carders line up the fibres nicely to make them easier to spin. The carding machine consists
mainly of one big roller with smaller ones surrounding it. All of the rollers are covered in small
teeth, and as the cotton progresses further on the teeth get finer (i.e. closer together). The
cotton leaves the carding machine in the form of a sliver; a large rope of fibres. [8]

Note: In a wider sense Carding can refer to these four processes: Willowing- loosening the
fibres; Lapping- removing the dust to create a flat sheet or lap of cotton; Carding- combing the
tangled lap into a thick rope of 1/2 in in diameter, a sliver; and Drawing- where a drawing frame
combines 4 slivers into one- repeated for increased quality.

 Combing is optional,but is used to remove the shorter fibres, creating a stronger yarn.
A Combing machine

[9]

 Drawing the fibres are straightened

Several slivers are combined. Each sliver will have thin and thick spots, and by combining several
slivers together a more consistent size can be reached. Since combining several slivers produces
a very thick rope of cotton fibres, directly after being combined the slivers are separated into
rovings. These rovings (or slubbings) are then what are used in the spinning process. [10]
Generally speaking, for machine processing, a roving is about the width of a pencil.

 Drawing frame: Draws the strand out

 Slubbing Frame: adds twist, and winds on to bobbins
 Intermediate Frames: are used to repeat the slubbing process to produce a finer yarn.
 Roving frames: reduces to a finer thread, gives more twist, makes more regular and
even in thickness, and winds on to a smaller tube. [11]

[edit] Spinning- yarn manufacture

Main article: Cotton-spinning machinery

 Spinning

The spinning machines take the roving, thins it and twists it, creating yarn which it winds onto a
bobbin.[12]
In mule spinning the roving is pulled off a bobbin and fed through some rollers, which are
feeding at several different speeds.This thins the roving at a consistent rate. If the roving was
not a consistent size, then this step could cause a break in the yarn, or could jam the machine.
The yarn is twisted through the spinning of the bobbin as the carriage moves out, and is rolled
 onto a cop as the carriage returns. Mule spinning produces a finer thread than the less skilled
ring spinning.[13]

 The mule was an intermittent process, as the frame advanced and returned a distance
of 5ft.It was the descendant of 1779 Crompton device. It produces a softer less twisted
thread that was favoured for fines and for weft. It requires considerable skill, so was
women's work.
 The ring was a descendant of the Arkwright water Frame 1769. It was a continuous
process, the yard was coarser, had a greater twist and was stronger so was suited to be
warp. Requiring less skill it was men's work. Ring spinning is slow due to the distance the
thread must pass around the ring, other methods have been introduced. These are
collectively known as Break or Open-end spinning. [14]

Sewing thread, was made of several threads twisted together, or doubled.

 Checking

This is the process where each of the bobbins is rewound to give a tighter bobbin.

 Folding and twisting

Plying is done by pulling yarn from two or more bobbins and twisting it together, in the opposite
direction that in which it was spun. Depending on the weight desired, the cotton may or may not
be plied, and the number of strands twisted together varies. [15]

 Gassing

Main articles: Singe#Textiles and Gassing

Gassing is the process of passing yarn, as distinct from fabric very rapidly through a series of
Bunsen gas flames in a gassing frame, in order to burn off the projecting fibres and make the
thread round and smooth and also brighter. Only the better qualities of yarn are gassed, such as
that used for voiles, poplins, venetians, gabardines, many Egyptian qualities, etc. There is a loss
of weight in gassing, which varies' about 5 to 8 per cent., so that if a 2/60's yarn is required
2/56's would be used. The gassed yarn is darker in shade afterwards, but should not be
scorched.[16]

Clothing technology
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 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (August 2009)

Clothing technology involves the manufacturing, materials, and design innovations that have
been developed and used. The timeline of clothing and textiles technology includes major
changes in the manufacture and distribution of clothing.

From clothing in the ancient world into modernity the use of technology has dramatically
influenced clothing and fashion in the modern age. Industrialization brought changes in the
manufacture of goods. In many nations, homemade goods crafted by hand have largely been
replaced factory produced goods on assembly lines purchased in a by consumer culture.
Innovations include man-made materials such as polyester, nylon, and vinyl as well as features
like zippers and velcro. The advent of advanced electronics has resulted in wearable technology
being developed and popularized since the 1980s.

Design is an important part of the industry beyond utilitarian concerns and the fashion and
glamour industries have developed in relation to clothing marketing and retail. Environmental
and human rights issues have also become considerations for clothing and spurred the promotion
and use of some natural materials such as bamboo that are considered environmentally friendly.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Production
 2 Sports
 3 Education
 4 See also
 5 References

[edit] Production

The advent of industrialization included factories, specialized and technologically advanced

equipment, and production lines for the mass production of textiles. Globalization and advances
in trade increased sourcing of metrials and competition for wares across borders. The swadeshi
movement in India was an effort to counteract the economic control and influence that British
factories exerted over the one-time colony. Concerns have also been raised over the use of so-
called sweat shops.

Clothing lines based on famous designers have been featured and advertised in magazines and
other media. Branding and marketing are features of the advertising age. Some designers have
also become television and media personalities. In recent years fashion and design has also been
the subject of television shows.
[edit] Sports

The design and constructions of sportswear has changed dramatically over time. Swimwear used
in competitions has even become a controversial issue because the expense and features of some
of the suits can give athletes a significant advantage. Advances in safety features have also been
developed including foams, synthetic and stretchable tapes, and lightweight materials with
performance characteristics specially designed for various athletics pursuits have been
developed.

[edit] Education

Computer design is used in the production of clothing. Corporate and business training to
address accounting, trade, and finance issues has also become a significant part of the trade.
Courses and programs at Universities specialize in these fields. the Beijing Institute of Clothing
Technology and Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin are examples institutions
focused on the business. National governments have also become involved in the business with
trade rules and negotiations as well as investments such as Europe's Future Textiles and Clothing
program.

[edit] See also