16th Garknit-X Kolkata Show

Becomes bigger, attracts huge visitor footfall at new venue

The exhibition was inaugurated by the Ex-Chairman of WBTIDC, Dinesh Bajaj in presence of industry leaders in the city. The fair, organised by Vardaan Events Pvt. Ltd., drew a large number of manufacturers and visitors from this region. This year, a total of 200 stalls and 57 exhibitors representing more than 100 brands including both international and domestic participated in the fair. Area wise the show was 20 per cent bigger than the last year. The expo was attended by eminent professionals, senior corporate executives and industry decision makers. It featured live demonstrations to help visitors to know about the latest technology developments in this sector.

Garknit – X has been playing a key role in spreading the technological revolution in Eastern region of India. This time again, it provided a perfect platform to the participants, to gain foothold in the fast growing market, as Kolkata is witnessing improvements in manufacturing capacities along with huge investments. The industry here is growing every year and plays a very important role in the economy of the capital city of the State of West Bengal.

West Bengal has the potential to emerge as a major textile center in the country. The State has a rich heritage of skillful workmanship and artistry in the textile industry. The region is also well-known for its well-developed hosiery knitting and garment industry. More than 2 mn people are directly employed by the region’s textile industry and another half a mn indirectly. If the size of the industry can be increased in the next 10 years, as per estimates, the employment could reach 10 mn people.

The five sub-sectors of the textile value chain in the state today are hosiery and innerwear, linen, workwear, textiles machinery, and technical textiles. Of the five segments, textiles machinery manufacturing could also lead to substantial import substitution and save precious foreign exchange for the country. India imports almost all the textiles machinery it needs and so the govt. is looking at developing this industry in the State. West Bengal has some advantage in the labour-intensive textile sector due to availability of a large number of skilled personnel.

Today, leading exporters, domestic innerwear brands and many kidswear brands originate from this region only. The metropolitan city of Kolkata houses a number of varied textile manufacturing and distributing companies. The textile industry here contributes to the industrial output, export and employment sectors of the city. Apart from hosiery, handloom, cotton, Jute and silk are other major industries flourishing in Kolkata.

Since Kolkata is a gateway of this region as well as countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, Garknit-X is very popular to buyers who are keen to adopt modern technology to the respective units to boost production capacity. During the show many leading players from the industry presented their latest innovations to the customers. The fair presented live demo of knitting, sewing, embroidery, digital printing and screen printing machines, CAD-CAM, spreading, fusing, laundry & washing, finishing, processing, testing equipment, leather garment machinery, fabrics, yarns, dyes & chemicals, accessories & trims.

Some of the prominent names from the industry who participated in the show were Jack China, BRUCE China, Brother International, Anaadih Vincom, Sat Tex Agencies, IIGM, India Agencies, Colorjet India, Baba embroidery, Jaysynth Group, Magnum Resources, Mehala, Diana Impex, DCC, CK Trading, IMA Systems, Impress Apparel, SR Tech, SP Trading, Silkflex Textrim, Smilex International, Sree Balaji Industries, Sudharshan Import, True Colors, Vishal Enterprise, Yashoda International, Zydex Industries and many more.

While speaking on the sidelines of the show, BP Mishra, Chief Executive, Vardaan Event Pvt. Ltd, organiser of the show said, “Garknit-X Kolkata, which was started in 2004, hosted its 16th edition in the city this time at a new Eco Park Venue. The show provided an opportunity to the leading technology providers from all over world to showcase their latest offerings together under one roof, and giving a boost to the industry’s growth in this region. The show, this year crossed all the previous standards in terms of exhibitors and visitors numbers. Prior to the show everyone was apprehensive about the response as the industry was under the impact of GST and new venue, but to our surprise it got encouraging response from the visitors. The event witnessed tremendous response with an increase of 15 per cent visitors, and was 20 per cent bigger in terms of size, when compared to 2017. The major highlight was the sewing segment, which comprised largest area in the show, followed by printing and embroidery segments. Besides, we had the biggest participation from digital textile printing segment till day at Graknit-X and Oval printing machine attracted major footfall.”

“The show generated a lot of enquiries for the new products on display and in fact very good number of on-the-spot orders was placed. In total, the show hosted around 10,750 trade visitors, from in-and-around Kolkata, Ranchi, Bhilai, Patna, Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Surat, and even Bangladesh and Nepal. The visitors’ response and feedback itself shows the vibrancy of the market. The market has huge potential for printing and embroidery machinery manufacturers due to presence of kidswear and sarees segment. In all, the presence of important apparel and knitting professionals from various segments and associations has proved it to be a good show,” said Mishra.

Overall, the visitors’ turnout and feedback itself indicates the growth of the Kolkata apparel and textile market. Besides, the infrastructure of the show was very well-appreciated as the new venue was close to airport and had concrete flooring which was favourable for machines placement. The Eco Park was a little far from the old venue, which resulted positively as the show was majorly visited by serious high quality customers who were interested in doing business.

Some of the Technology Highlights

Some of the technologies on the display were: Sat Tex Agencies Pvt. Ltd. displayed Embroidery machine with 4 in 1 sequin in Machine Model 912, Real Hi-Speed (RHS) Embroidery Machine which can run at a speed of 1200 RPM (Model: 921), Its Flat Knit Tech Partner “BEWORTH” had displayed flat knitting machine with 2 system and 3 system with FULL JAQUARD. It had also displayed GBOS Laser Cutting Machine with Camera and Roller System. Its Digital Print Partner AURA China had shown printing on Cotton T-Shirt which was unique in Kolkata and many others; Trieka Innovations Pvt. Ltd presented Schenk Walz, Automatic screen Printing machine form Germany; Latest innovations in the field of 2D/3D CAD CAM software solutions by EFI Optitex was another major highlight.

On the other side, Magnum Resources presented Digiflex Technology and IOT system from Brother and Largo flat simmer machine and Right & left differential feed technology from Pegasus along with its existing sewing machine range; Nilesh Enterprises which had two stalls presented Oval screen printing machine from Grafica Flextronica and 4-head fusing machine and Embossing machine from Cheran Machines; India Agencies showcased latest sewing machine range from Jack Sewing Machines; Mehala presented Overlock, flatlock, multi needle cylinder bed overlock/ interlock machine with auto thread trimmer from Siruba, Eye hole button hole machine from Duerkopp Adler, and Spreading machine, Band Knife, Steam Iron, cutting machine, CAD and many others from Orbito; DCC presented wide range of digital textile printing solutions; Perfect Textile displayed Flat Knitting Solution; Studio Next presented CAD/CAM solution; Diana Impex presented Dynamic brand embroidery and digital textile printing solutions; Smilex displayed Digital direct fabric printer and Complete solution for screen printing and inks; Anaadih Vincom presented wide range of sewing machines from Juki, CAD/CAM solution from IMA, and Flat knitting machines from Matsuya Japan;

Colorjet showcased Vastrajet printer, which is a commercial grade entry level digital textile printer; Brother displayed PR1050X which is a 10 needle single head embroidery machine and all models from its industrial sewing machines range; SR Tech displayed cutting machine technology; Zydex presented new products for screen printing; SP Trading showcased BZBS embroidery machine spare parts; True Colors presented Belt Textile Printer, which is equipped with 8 epson dx5 print head, speed upto 1200 m/day with 8 colours, well design degassing system, blanket washing system, high performance and versatile ink delivery system and many other highlights; Grafica Flextronica presented Oval printing machine; Sudarshan Embroidery Solutions presented computerized multi-head embroidery machines; Baba Textile Machinery presented Multi-head embroidery machines; CK Trading displayed entire range of Jack sewing machines including latest 1906 Small pattern sewing machine and 3020 big pattern sewing machine.

JISL presented two printers: Digicolor D8 printer which has 8 Epson printhead for direct print on fabric with speed upto 72 sq mtr and is good solution for Kolkata and Varanasi saree based market. It also presented Fedar fd-5193e which is a 3 Epson print head base sublimation printer and has speed upto 65 sqmtr.

Yashoda showed the INA Hanger system, and superior Bruce models including Bruce Single Needle Lock Stitch Short Trim UBT Machine (R5 Model), Overlock system – B5 Model with sensor based complete automation and many others. It also displayed Pegasus T-Shirt front placket machine and Brother Single Head multi-needle embroidery machine with sheer technicality.

Some of the major exhibitors at the show…