Established in 2014, Joyous Trendz Limited is one of the largest producers of digital printed and dyed polyester and viscose fabrics (both woven and knitted). The company serves brand and garment manufacturers by being their fabric ‘manufacturer’ to ensure that they are able to create products for their consumers with complete ease and focus on their core activity. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, Director Shreemann Paliwal discusses Indian textile industry, trends and challenges.
How would you describe the present demand in the global apparel market?
From the order intake point of view, 2022 has been positive, and in line with pre-COVID era.
Especially since June, we have seen a sharp increase in demand in almost all major markets. We expect a promising and rebounding recovery in 2023. The global demand for apparel category mix is predicted to increase by $2 trillion by 2026 as compared to $1.5 trillion in 2021. And this forecast is looking quite encouraging as the textile sector is regaining its strength.
In 2022, Joyous Trendz Limited itself recorded a 300 per cent increase in orders income compared to the same period of the previous year. And this is totally in sync with forecasted growth. The major hindrance in growth of the market is supply, which is the issue of scattered fabric sourcing and reliance on vendors. Manufacturers are not directly entering the game. This is where we have
entered as manufacturers to ensure robust supply to meet demand.
Which are your major markets in India and abroad?
In the domestic market, Joyous Trendz is heavily investing in the retail sector that has experienced a rapid growth in the past decade with the entry of several international players like Marks & Spencer, Guess, and Next. The growth in domestic textiles is strongly supported by robust demand, rise in disposable incomes and consumerism, increasing population, competitive advances, policy support and increasing investments.
The quota countries, mainly the US, EU-15 and Canada constitute 80 per cent of Joyous Trendz’s textiles exports. In non-quota countries, which includes UAE and others, our market share is 20 per cent of textile exports.
What kinds of colours, prints and fabrics are trending for autumn/winter 22-23 in woven and knits?
The research and forecasting done by our in-house fashion designing team suggests that the colours which will be in are Samoan Sun, Orange Tiger, Rose Violet, Amazon, Caramel Cafe, Midnight, Martini Olive, Nosegay and Waterspout. Wave prints, some collections in psychedelia, kaleidoscopic prints, abstract forms, celestial, ombre and 80s vintage to name a few are some prints that will be seen. Fabrics such as corduroy, tweeds, lace, shiny leathers, velvets and fabrics with herringbone patterns will be most used.
How have global inflation and the Ukraine crisis impacted the market? Have you witnessed a fall in orders from the export markets?
Russia's conflict with Ukraine has definitely impacted the apparel sector. The main effects from the Russia-Ukraine conflict can be classified into three categories: transportation as shipping companies no longer dock in Russia and Ukraine ports and closure of airspace by the western world; sanctions, boycott and payment system regulatory disruption; and inflicting price hikes on raw material.
This scenario has substantial indirect risks but except for the marginal price rise Joyous Trendz has not seen any major drop in orders volume directly. The reason being that US companies have low direct exposure to Russia (around 0.6 per cent for those in the Russell 1000 index) and Ukraine (<0.1 per cent) based on disclosed revenues.
What is the demand like in the domestic market? Is it increasing?
Even after accounting for the inflationary trend, domestic fashion consumption has grown nominally due to expansion of GDP and opening up of the economy. The current size of $85 billion will expand by at least 5 to 7 per cent by FY 2023-24.
Domestic demand for all the textile sub-sectors has continued to improve from July 2022, after a slight dip in April-June quarter. The increased demand momentum along with the supply chain issues has increased the realisations. However, the inflation trend has resulted in a shift in buying pattern as the demand for MMF (man-made fibre) has increased. To an extent, the rise in cotton prices has led to a shift of demand from cotton to MMF.
What is the design process? What kind of research goes into deciding the colours, prints and fabric compositions?
We start with mood board/inspiration based on which fashion sketches are made, which mostly consists of silhouettes. The next stage is print development, which is done on the basis of the mood board and the silhouettes. After this, our sourcing team gets onto fabric sourcing, which is developing a range of fabrics that can be used for the garment. We then start with the development of samples. Our clients usually create the garment out of the fabric and go ahead with the fitting and review. After this the designs which click are approved and sent for bulk production. When we talk about research, we pull inspiration from resources like music, art, history, architecture and fashion trends. Demands of the client is a very important factor. Fabric and print selection is done according to the silhouette of the garment like what kind of weight and thickness will do justice to the design/garment.
Colour is the first thing people notice when they look at any garment. So, we try to choose the right colour palettes to ensure that they depict the appropriate mood and story for the garment. All this effort is done by us for the brand which is very rare in the fabric industry.
What new innovations and technologies are you investing in?
Innovation in the textile industry is extremely important for the fashion industry. We are heavily investing in technologies that can eliminate waste from the textile industry completely to achieve sustainability in fashion. One major step in this is that we are heavily expanding our digital printing capacity, which saves a lot of water that is otherwise wasted. There are also no effluents which are released both in water and the air in the conventional rotary printing. Apart from this, digital printing makes lead times, minimum order quantities and sampling a child’s play helping us to operate efficiently for our clients.
What challenges is the Indian textile industry facing at the moment? What kind of government support can help boost the sector?
Similar to other industries, the textile business in India faces significant obstacles. The textile sector is under intense pressure due to frequent policy changes at the national and state levels. For example, clothing has become more costly due to the application of the GST.
Another difficulty is the textile industry’s lack of access to the newest and most advanced technologies, as well as its inability to fulfil global export market criteria. In addition to these concerns, the Indian textile sector also confronts obstacles such as competition from neighbouring nations in the area of low-cost clothing, and personal safety regulations.
To overcome these obstacles and accomplish the anticipated worldwide market objective, the government should implement schemes to boost production, by laying a greater emphasis on technological upgrades and weaving capacity expansion. Additionally, state governments should provide clearance for effluent treatment facilities.
What is the annual production capacity of woven and knit fabrics at Joyous Trendz? What percentage of this is exported and how much is meant for the domestic market?
We produce 2,50,000 metres a day in woven and around 50 tonnes a day in knitted fabrics. If we break down further, we are producing around 35,000 metres a day in digital printed fabric, 80,000 metres in rotary printed fabric, and about 1,00,000 metres dyed fabric.
Currently, 70 per cent of our production is for the domestic market and the rest for the international market. However, we have devised strategies to increase the portion of international sales in order to contribute towards increasing the export revenue of our country.
What are the future plans at Joyous?
We are expanding our designing and merchandising team. We have onboarded industry professionals in our team including textile engineers, quality inspectors, technicians, merchandiser etc. Our core vision at Joyous is solving fabric sourcing, procurement and manufacturing issues for brands, factories and buying houses. We have the backing of the right people to deliver the same. And for that reason, we are now planning to departmentalise the team according to apparel category so as to focus on each type of client. Apart from that, we are also exploring fabrics like Lyocell, Tencel and rPet very closely.
Published on: 02/12/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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