The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : UK fashion retailer unveils Rs. 100 crore plan for Tirupur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 06, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

UK fashion retailer unveils Rs. 100 crore plan for Tirupur

M. Gunasekaran

KNITWEAR: Gwyn Williams, Regional Director of NEXT Sourcing Limited, explains their apparel requirements to knitwear exporters in Tirupur on Thursday. — Photo: M. Balaji

TIRUPUR: It was a pleasant surprise for a group of leading knitwear exporters who gathered at the conference hall, here on Thursday. A leading British fashion retailer, Next, which has over 400 chain stores in the UK and Ireland, listed out sourcing plans in Tirupur. It explained its profile, sourcing pattern around the world and future plans it would offer for the hosiery town.

Say R. Rajkumar of Best International and P. Parthasarathi of Tubeknit Fashions: "It is entirely a new experience for us. So far we were wooing the buyers. Now, they are in search of good manufacturers. Perhaps this is the first time such a leading buyer inviting us and explaining their requirements here itself. It is indeed a recognition and honour for our hard work and entrepreneurship.''

Next, till recently was outsourcing its apparel requirements mainly in China, Turkey, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Romania and Thailand. Itspresence in India is meagre.

The fashion retailer has rolled out a whopping Rs.100 crore plan for knitted garments from Tirupur for the year 2006. "We have find out over a dozen exporters here. The first consignment shipped from Tirupur was in last August. We plan to source 40 lakh pieces, each costing around $6 , this year. We want to strengthen our supply base here," Next's regional director Gwyn Williams, told The Hindu .

What impressed him in Tirupur was the size of investment that is taking place in last couple of years. "We were hesitant so far to source garments from India because we faced problems in quality and delivery. Now things have improved a lot. We are more confident to increase our business in India. Particularly Tirupur, which has a good reputation in maintaining standards and whose production facilities are good," Mr. Williams added.

Increasing budget for India by more than 60 per cent, he said says price in Sri Lanka had becomes expensive and it has shifted its increase in cost price to India.

The company assured to extend design, commercial and technical support to the apparel exporters.

They insisted guaranteed capacity, dedicated teams, on-time delivery and flexibility. Next plans a $ 200 million business in India for next five years.

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