Birlas stitch mega plan to spur women's wear exports

Aditya Birla Group, the world's largest viscose staple fibre (VSF) manufacturer, is creating a one-stop platform for fabric-makers to reach out directly to women's wear exporters and international brands.
The move is being driven by the group's fibre business arm Birla Cellulose.
It is an expansion of its ongoing LIVA Accredited Partners Forum (LAPF) initiative to aggregate the top talent in fabrics industry.
Birla Cellulose would bring together LAPF partners and international brands at Delhi-NCR tomorrow, which is also the country's garment industry capital.
The mega event is being held in collaboration with the Society of Noida Apparel Export Cluster, Manohar Samuel, Birla Cellulose President for Marketing and Business Development, told PTI.

The initiative is part of the USD 41 billion group's ongoing efforts to nurture various textile value chain partners in the garment export sector, amid struggling garment exports from the country, as the world markets see lots of cheap imports from China and other South Asian manufacturers.

Samuel said around 40 LAPF partners would be attending the Noida conclave and showcase their innovative products to over 160 garment exporters, including global brands like Marks & Spencer, Macy's, and GAP, apart from domestic players like Shahi Exports, Orient Craft, Pearl Global and Richa & Co.
Leading global buying-houses such as Triburg, Impulse, Li Fung, and Asmara, and domestic brands such as Biba and ITC are also attending the event, he said.

The Noida leg is the third one in the LAPF series. The first conclave was held in Jaipur in association with the Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan last August, whereas Coimbatore witnessed the second LAPF conclave early December 2015.
Leading domestic brands like Pantaloons, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, People, Global Desi, Lifestyle, Melange, Shoppers Stop, Reliance Trends, Wills Lifestyle, Desi Belle Chemistry, 109F, Fusion Beats, FBB and Max use LIVA-branded fabric, he said, adding Birla Cellulose enjoys 93 per cent share of the global VSF industry.
Of the overall garment exports of around USD 13.3 billion, women's wear market constitutes 80 per cent. Out of this, man-made cellulose fibre-based garments constituted USD 1.85 billion during the January-September 2015 period.

During this period, the total textile exports inched up 3.6 per cent, while man-made cellulose-based garments exports rose by 34.5 per cent, according to industry data.