Punjab fashion park signs MoU

Ties-up with Knitwear Club, Shawl Club, Ludhiana Textile Integrated Park Ltd

To provide designing facilities to industry in Ludhiana, and also to get manufacturing done from the industry, the upcoming Fashion Technology Park (FTP) at Mohali signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Knitwear Club, Ludhiana, Shawl Club, India and Ludhiana Textile Integrated Park Ltd on Friday.

CEO of the FTP, Jagjit Singh Kochar, explained that the FTP was made because of opening up of the global fashion market to the Indian industry. The park would facilitate the Indian fashion industry with intellectual as well as physical infrastructure.

"Ludhiana fashion industry lacks designing and innovation. By signing this MoU, we will provide them with fashion designers who will provide them latest and original designs. This step will bring value-addition of at least 30 to 40 per cent for Ludhiana industry."

"After this MoU, the industries will get umpteen benefits such as trend forecasting, design inputs and a platform to showcase their products in the international market. Signing the MoU with these three organisations will go a long way in creating a basic relationship between FTP and others, which in turn will help form a congenial ground for developing Punjab as a fashion hub," he added.

Vinod K Thapar, managing director of Ludhiana Integrated Textile Park Ltd, said the MoU would be very helpful for the fashion industry. "Earlier we used to go to other countries to get the latest designs, for which we had to spend a lot of money. But now, FTP will provide us with the latest and original designs and production will de done in Ludhiana. A lot of time and money can now be saved."

Design studios will be set up for the designers. Already 500 designers have registered with FTP, which will be ready in another couple of years.

Arvind Merchant, president of Business School of Fashion, the knowledge base of FTP, said it would reach out to professionals, specialists, artisans and the industry to collaborate to develop a value chain.

"The three vital nodes of value chain of fashion are design, production and market. We aim at projecting Punjab as a single-stop destination for garment and textile industry giants and provide a huge platform for small and medium scale industries as well as rural artisans to prosper. FTP has also tied up with around 3,500 self-help groups in villages all over the state who are being trained by fashion designers."

FTP has hired five Ludhiana- and Chandigarh-based fashion designers who will produce 100 exclusive designs for 15 industries of the city. Their team leader will be designer Ritu Agnihotri. There will be 20 designs each for shawls, women's wear, kids wear, sports wear and men's wear.

Suraj Bhan Jain, chairman of Knitwear Club, Ludhiana, said, "Till now our industry was copying designs. But after this MoU, we are hopeful that the whole world will copy our designs. It can also help us survive the Chinese onslaught."

Charanjiv Singh, member of Shawl Club, India, said the this MoU would bring all textile and knitwear industries of the city under one umbrella.