Tiruppur's sustainable fashion materials gain traction in global market

Seeing interest from Primark, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Decathlon

‘Made from recycled materials’ is a tag that’s hard to miss in branded stores while shopping for anything from apparel to accessories. As recycled fashion moves from being niche to mainstream in India, the country’s largest textile industrial cluster Tiruppur is upping its game in that space.

Taking a cue from international brands, companies in Tiruppur are targeting as much as 30 per cent of their business to come from recycling sources within a few years. Having started out on sustainable fashion recently by manufacturing garments using recycled fabrics and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, Tiruppur is already seeing interest from European majors including Primark, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Decathlon.

Tiruppur’s exports are pegged at Rs 34,350 crore in 2022-23 and the domestic business at around Rs 28,000 crore, taking the total to Rs 62,350 crore. Of this recycled products account for around Rs 1,000 crore worth of business.   Though the concept of recycled clothes was started in India way back in the 1980s by Futura Polyesters, it gathered steam in Chennai only in the last two years.
 

According to the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA), a team of officials from the UK-based Primark recently visited the city to investigate the sustainability norms followed by the company. Others such as M&S and Tesco are among the prominent buyers of the sustainable range. “They have invested in sustainability and recycled products. Among the recycled products, they are looking at cotton with polyester mixing, PET bottle recycling, and recycled fabrics,’’ saidK M Subramanian, president

of the Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA).

At present, Tiruppur accounts for 90 per cent of the country’s cotton knitwear exports and 55 per cent of all its knitwear exports. 

“European companies will have to meet certain sustainability standards. It includes a 360-degree approach that looks into the management of water, waste, and energy in a sustainable mode. They are looking at recycled plastics and recycled clothes, among others. However, for them, sustainability goals need all the above benchmarks,” said Sanjay Kumar Jain of Delhi-based textile producer TT Ltd.

In fact, sustainable fashion got a boost when Prime Minister Narendra Modi sported one such brand, Karur-based EcoLine Clothing (EcoLine). Early this year, the company told Business Standard that EcoLine is all set to raise its capacity twofold, from recycling 1.5 million PET bottles per day to 4.5 million bottles per day. Shree Renga Polymers, which owns the brand, is likely to invest Rs 250 crore over the next five years.

Another company that Subramanian cited as an example of a successful sustainable fashion venture is Sudarshana Mills.

According to Senthil Sankar, Managing Partner, Shree Renga Polymers and Co-Founder, Ecoline Clothing, in the Kongu belt, many manufacturing units play a role in transforming pet bottles into recycled polyester fibers and yarns. “The region has the capacity to recycle 400 tonne per day, equating to approximately 15 to 20 million pet bottles.  The growth for this industry is promising, driven by the demand for these textiles in the West, where consumers are increasingly conscious,’’ Sankar said. The process results in considerable savings of both water and energy. ‘’As a case in point, PM Modi’s waist coat which we made from recycled materials, saved 6.8 kg of CO2 emissions,” he said.

This comes at a time when the industry faced a 17 per cent decline in sales during the first six months, amounting to Rs 15,241 crore, compared to Rs 18,253 crore during the April to September period of 2022-23, mainly due to a dip in global demand.