Press | 02 Nov 2018

The 15th edition of Garfab-TX Surat, one of India’s leading trade shows on textile and apparel technologies was held at the Surat International Exhibition & Convention Center (SIECC) from April 9-11, 2018. The show was inaugurated by Ghanshyam Soni, Deputy Commissioner of Custom, Suratin the presence of leading players from the Surat textile industry.

Garfab-Tx provided an ideal platform to all the companies wanting to reach out to huge market in Surat and nearby areas. Compared to previous editions, the show this year was better both in terms of no. of exhibitors and visitors. This edition more than 90 exhibitors from all over the country participated in the same. According to the organisers, this was the best ever Garfab in Surat with highest no. of exhibitors and visitors till day.

The exhibitors who took part in the expo were from the companies dealing in embroidery machines, electronic jacquard rapier looms, water jet looms, digital textile printing machine, knitting machines, sewing machines and many more. The three-day show, organised by the Vardaan Events Pvt. Ltd. hosted around 27,393 visitors from Surat, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and other nearby regions.

This year, the show witnessed many new product launches like Position Printing Machine by Sarjan International and High Accuracy Precise Digital Printing System by Colorpixel & Navrang Jari. Other highlights were Six-lakh rupee rapier with jacquard machine and Mini Dobby machine by Synergy and Signature, Airjet and high speed Jacquard machine by Pifron. Besides, this year the show had largest collection of waterjet looms in the history of any show in Surat, and also 20 leading players from digital textile printing segment participated in the show. Moreover, variety of circular knitting machine, jacquard knitting machine, single and multi head embroidery machines, both sublimation and direct digital textile printers, Effluent Treatment Plants for waterjet were the main attractions at the show.

While speaking after the show BP Mishra, CEO, Vardaan Events Pvt. Ltd said, “In terms of exhibitor participation and visitors footfall this was the best ever show organised by Vardaan Events in Surat. This year’s focus areas were knitting, embroidery, digital printing and weaving. Inspite of low market sentiments, we have been lucky to draw such large number of visitors to the show. Infact some of the exhibitors were apprehensive about customers’ footfall before the show but when they came here it was far better than their expectations. The visitor turnout was huge and all the exhibitors reported very good response. So, again Garfab-TX proved itself as the best platform in this region.”

Commenting on the industry scenario he said, “The market for textile and weaving is doing good in Suratbut embroidery is little weak due to which machine purchases have gone down in last few months. Due to GST and E-way bill introduction the embroidery sector has got affected. As per industry sources the market is expected to get stabilised by August end but I expect it to improve within next 30-45 days in Surat. So, it’s going to be a good year for Surat textile industry.”

Surat, an emerging city in the State of Gujarat, is known as the textile city of Gujarat. And, the epithet is perfectly suited to the city. The textile industry is one of the oldest and the most widespread industries in Surat.The industry of Surat is mainly engaged in the activity of polyester yarn production, weaving, processing as well as embroidery. It is well-known for its production and trading of synthetic textile products, dressing up entire regions in India and exports printed polyester fabrics to all over the world.

According to an industry report, the city has 600,000 shuttleless looms consuming 2,700 tonne of yarn per day and 400 textile mills which manufacture 40 mn mtr of fabric every day, or 65 per cent of national requirement of polyester fabrics. Nineteen per cent of polyester yarn used in India comes from Surat. The industry employs 1.4 mn workers. What’s more, there are over 75,000 shops and 40,000 wholesale outlets, spread in about 12 large and 60-odd small and medium markets. Everywhere you look there is cloth as the industry produces 30 mn mtr cloth per day.

The industry has realised that new creations are the only way to success and hence started investing in value added machines. The explosion of embroidery as the most wanted embellishment has brought about the biggest turnaround in Surat while the market for embroidery has been grown from an almost negligible amount to the around Rs. 50,000 mn. There were 1,000 embroidery machines in Surat till 2003, now there are more than 125,000 machines making the city the biggest center of embroidery machines in the country. The embroidery machines suppliers are continuously developing new technology with their sourcing factories in China. Now high speed long (more heads) machines with mixed value added features like chenille, cording, taping, khatli, aari and stone are in demand.

Further, the industry has taken a big leap forward in digital printing technologies to meet the demand in domestic and international markets for innovative designs on fabric, saris and dress materials. As per the industry sources, there are more than 200 digital textile printing machines in the industry currently. In the last four-five years many big players have already invested in this technology and planning to expand their capacities.

The Surat textile industry has grown considerably over the times. According to a recent data, textile production of Surat has grown by 10 per cent in the last 10 years; one of the main reasons behind the growth is the ability to adapt to changes and the latest trend. It is also known necessary to update the technology used at the industry as well as the infrastructure. The current supply and demand factors provide very conducive and favourable business and market environment for the technological investment. In such scenario, there is a big need to the industry to upgrade itself with the latest technological developments taking place worldwide. That is why for providing these technologies under one roof Garfab-TX Surat was organised recently in Surat.