| The association has just completed a project to design protective gear for soldiers in Siachen and is currently working on another to design anti-bacterial gear for doctors, using state-of-the-art technical textiles. |
| Technical textile production in India reportedly lags way behind other genres of textiles produced in the country. |
| "Of the 48,000 million square metres of fabric produced every year in the country, technical textiles form a miniscule two per cent. Even China, which entered the technical textile production after India, now produces technical textiles equalling 50 per cent of its total textile production," said R M Sankar, principal scientific officer, ATIRA. |
| Commissioned by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dehradun, ATIRA's project has brought down considerably the cost of technical suits for army personnel. A suit designed by ATIRA costs a mere Rs 10,000 as against Rs 90,000 for an imported one. |
| The association is now working on production of protective gear for doctors using chitosan, a product derieved from sea insects with superior anti-bacterial properties. |
| The protective gear, which is normally imported at $4 per unit is expected to be produced by the association at half the price, at around Rs 90 per unit. |
| "In India, technical textile production is largely specific to products like bandages, filters, wipers and others. The market for technical textiles assumes huge significance with its wide use in automobiles, construction work etc. However, we still lag behind due to the unavalability of the right machinery which is quite expensive, " said Sankar. |
| In a bid to encourage research and development in technical textiles as well as other fabrics, ATIRA is planning to tie up with institutes like IIT-Delhi, Anna University and DuPont. |
| It is also mulling technical textiles and newer variants of fabric in its six-month diploma in ginning technology which will commence shortly. |
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