Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA) will relaunch next month the Tiruppur Stakeholders Forum, said K.M. Subramanian, president of the association, at its annual meeting recently.
The association is reviving Tirupur Stakeholders Forum under the chairmanship of its vice-president V. Elangovan. The members include the association, ETI, eight trade unions, three NGOs, Brand Ethics Working Group, Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Labour Department, Tiruppur, and UN Women Wing.
The forum will work for the welfare of the workers and improve working conditions and help Tiruppur cluster to become a sustainable one, he said.
The association is also taking efforts to promote manufacture of man-made fibre (MMF) products. “It is a fact that product diversification is needed to fulfil the global demands,” he added. The current buying pattern in synthetic and cotton garments is in the ratio of 70 : 30. The TEA will conduct awareness programmes so that its members are able to increase their share in MMF products.
Mr. Subramanian said Environment and Sustainability Governance (ESG) is gaining focus and the TEA is discussing with experts to understand the procedures so that its members can adopt the required practices. “A circular economy can be a game-changer and we have to adopt circular business model and be a part of the transformation that is happening globally.”
The world’s leading fashion brands are increasingly committing to net zero targets and all leading global retailers have set targets to reduce their carbon footprints. The concept of reuse, recycle and reduce is becoming popular, he said.
The government should support with “sustainable finance” for the knitwear cluster to achieve circular economy, he said.
The total Readymade Garments (RMG) exports India saw 8.78 % growth in 2022-2023 financial compared to the previous year in rupee terms and 1.06 % growth in dollar terms.
In 2022-2023, Tiruppur knitwear exports increased to ₹34,350 crore compared to ₹33,525 crore the previous fiscal. Tiruppur’s share to all India knitwear exports in 2021-2022 was 55.60%. In Dollar terms, Tiruppur knitwear exports in 2022-2023 declined to $4.29 billion as against $4.50 billion recorded in 2021-2022. Of the total knitwear exports from Tiruppur last financial year, top 10 knitwear garment items had a share of 60.07%, Mr. Subramanian said.
