India is one of the leading countries in the world textile market. From an unorganized sector in the 1980s, it has transformed into an organized top player. Thanks to the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991. And Tirupur had become an international player from its obscurity with the help of the entrepreneurs who understood the dynamics of the market and adapted.
The textile units in this town had dealt with numerous obstacles and bounced back strong. But this time, it's an overpowering problem. The chemical processing units in the town had been shut down for the last three months due to the mooting of environmental degradation in the Noyyel River. It has been festering for more than a decade now.
One question that has to be answered about Tirupur before throwing light on the environmental issue faced is how this small town became an international phenomenon.
Genesis of a Billion Dollar Town
The first knitwear unit was started in the town in the year 1925. In fact, the growth in the first forty years was very slow and started to grow in the late '60s, and by 1980, it started exporting knit products. The first-ever export was to Italy. The Italian garment exporter Verona came to Tirupur in 1978 to buy T-Shirts and amazed at the underlying potential of this great town's production capabilities; he started sourcing his requirement from here. The rest is history.
The exports were at 10 crore in the year 1984, soared to a whopping 11,000 crore in 2006-07. Today, the hosiery town accounts for nearly 38 per cent of the country's total apparel exports of $10.5 billion. Nike, Cutter & Buck, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, GAP, FILA, Arrow are some of the big names which source from this knitwear production cluster. Another significant feather in the cap for this developing international hub is declaring it as a separate district in February 2009. According to the new notification, Avinashi, Palladam, Dharapuram, Kangayam, Udumalpet will come under the new district of Tirupur.
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