17th Garknit-X Kolkata – Largest technology show in Eastern India gets best ever response

The 17th edition of Garknit-X was organised from December 6 – 8, 2019 at the Eco Park, New Town, Kolkata in association with West Bengal Hosiery Association. Garknit-X is an international trade show on apparel, embroidery, knitting, screen & digital printing technology and fabrics & accessories.

The largest ever show in Eastern India brought cutting edge technology from Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Europe and the US. The three-day fair, saw a massive display of latest machinery for readymade garments and textile. The three-day event was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister Firhad Hakim – Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Hon’ble Mayor, The Kolkata municipal Corpn. & Hon’ble Minister Sujit Bose – Department of Fire and Emergency Services & Forest Govt. of WB in the presence of Ashok Todi, President, West Bengal Hosiery Association and Sanjay Jain, Chairman, ICC National Expert Committee on Textiles. Also present at the ceremony were KB Agarwala of Rupa, Pradeep Todi of Lux, BN Sakeseria of JJ Hosiery, BD Kothari of Kothari Hosiery, KK Gupta of Doller Ind., Pradeep Arora, Pradeep Shroff, Sudesh Agarwal, Ramesh Sonthalia, Sarad Bhatter, Alok More, Hairkishan Rathi, PL Agarwala and many more. Both the Ministers assure that they will take all the initiative to support this industry under leadership of Hon’ble West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

Organised by Vardaan Events Pvt. Ltd., the exhibition drew a large number of manufacturers and visitors from this region. This year, a total of 250 stalls and 80 exhibitors representing more than 150 brands including both international and domestic participated in the fair. Area wise the show was 50 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. “This is our first of its kind initiative where our association is supporting any technology show. The machines which have been displayed here are used by some of India’s biggest textile players, majority of which is based in Kolkata. So if such event can be organised in Delhi, Ludhiana and Tirupur, then why not Kolkata. This is the reason it has been decided that West Bengal Hosiery Association will always support this exhibition. The show will bring new innovative technologies to the doorsteps of smaller companies in West Bengal who are unable to compete in international market, so that they could install these machines and upgrade their factories,” said Ashok Todi, President, West Bengal Hosiery Association. “West Bengal is the birth place of knitting industry in India having Bangladesh nearby. If Bangladesh can reach 1 lakh cr turnover in exports, then why not Kolkata. That is the reason we have associated with Garknit-X to make this successful, and I am confident that next year this show will be double in size.”

Garknit – X has always 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 major technological highlight was the sewing segment, which comprised largest area in the show, followed by printing and embroidery segments. For the first time Rapier Jacquard Weaving machines was displayed here. Other highlights included largest collection of Hi-Speed Digital Printing & Jute Printing Machines, First time Special Pavilion of Garment Manufacturers with Fabrics and Yarn. Apart from these, display of Circular and Flat Knitting Machines, Plotter, Cutter & Spreader, Cad/Cam and Laser Cutting Machines, Ink & Chemical for Digital Printing. While speaking on the sidelines of the show, BP Mishra, Chief Executive, Vardaan Event Pvt. Ltd, organiser of the show said, “It is for the first time, Garknit-X Kolkata has been organised in association with West Bengal Hosiery Manufacturers Association. 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 event witnessed tremendous response with an increase of 30 per cent visitors, and was 50 per cent bigger in terms of size and participation, when compared to 2018.”

“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 witnessed a lot of improvement in quality of visitors and hosted around 9,500 trade customers from various parts of the country and abroad. West Bengal textile industry is witnessing a lot of improvement and is on the path of becoming the next textile exporting hub of India. 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. This edition a Buyer Seller Meet was also organized in parallel to the show, under the banner Indian Chamber of Commerce. More than 50 foreign buyers from textile and apparel sector visited this fair from more than 19 countries. The meet facilitated textile & apparel units from Eastern India, which are mainly in the MSME segment to interact with overseas buyers for sourcing and establishing markets worldwide.

Overall, the visitors’ turnout and feedback itself indicates the growth of the Kolkata apparel and textile market. Though markets all over India are going through slowdown but Kolkata market is showing steady growth as most of the players in the region are upgrading their factories and replacing their existing outdated machineries with new innovative technologies. The next edition of Garknit-X Kolkata will be organised at the same venue from December 18-20, 2020. The exhibition was supported by Bengal hosiery Tailor’s Association, Bangla Readymade Garment Manufacturers & Traders Welfare Association, Calcutta Yarn Merchant Association, Eastern India Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Federation, The Bengal Hosiery Manufacturers Association, West Bengal Garment Manufacturers and Dealers Association, West Bengal Bleaching & Dyeing Association.

Exhibitor comments…

Established in 1987, Color Service is an Italian company, leader in the development and production of automatic dispensing systems. We are the first in the world to introduce Automatic dyestuff weighing machine, Automatic dyestuff dissolving and automatic delivery to the dyeing machines, Automatic dosing of powder auxiliaries for textile, Full automatic laboratory machine for discontinuous dyeing machines etc. Our systems are completely made in Italy and give customers complete support of time of production, and production capacity, energy cost, water treatment cost. Response at the exhibition has been good.

Customers here are not so familiar with our systems and automations. However, people know us in most of the markets in India market but in Kolkata it is something new. We are trying to create awareness through Garknit- X and feel quite successful in doing so and looking forward to have some installation here in near future.

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We got very good response. Many customers have been coming to us with technology enquiries. We have in fact sold a machine in Kolkata. We have machine for raising, shearing, sueding, poloshing and brushing. Now, many customers are looking for raising to give value addition to their products. We are very confident of selling our machines into this market. Infact at Garknit-X exhibition, we met lots of interested customers. People are investing in new technologies in this market, rather than second hand machine which was a trend earlier.

We are very happy as here in India we are co-operating with A.T.E. which is a great partner and gives us possibility to be present all over India. They are giving us full advantage of pan India market coverage both on the commercial side and technical side. We already have many installations all over India, Ludhiana, Tirupur and Surat are major markets for us.

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This time we have displayed almost all the models of Jack sewing machines here suitable for different type of garments like shirts, jackets, trousers, knitwears for both light and heavy fabrics. This year we have added many new advanced machines. This year exhibition is very good, we have already got some big orders at the show. We have been regularly participating in this show, and this year response is better than earlier editions.

In East India we already have several authorised sub-dealers and channel partners. Eastern India market is doing really well, in fact last year we achieved six million sales here. The market has a lot of potential as lot of companies currently are using normal basic machines which they are looking forward to upgrade.

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We have presented almost all our technologies and telling the customers benefits of installing it and upgrading their factories. Kolkata customers have understood it and have started investing in these technologies. We have also displayed samples that could be achieved by using these technologies which is making customers more confident. We are into screen printing segment which is growing at a good pace and have also been offering digital printing solutions from leading brands worldwide. Digital segment is growing but it has a long way to go.

Kolkata is not yet ready for digital yet but slowly it is catching up here. We have been regularly participating in Garknit, but this time the show is best among all the previous editions. All the associations came together to support, and promoted it really well. Overall the show has been organised very well. Future growth will come from Kolkata as the city is having all the resources to make it the future apparel hub.

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We have displayed all kinds of sewing machines from Brother like lockstitch & bartack, Automation in sewing technologies from Kansai, Economy models from China’s biggest Shang Gong machines and HP Dye sublimation machines. Besides, we have also showcased solutions from Matsuya, RBR, Siliconi Italy, Hemway China, Bierrebi Italy along with MHM Screen printing machine, Fusing machines from our private label Anadih, Pre and Post printing machines from Unitech etc. Overall, response at the show was really good.

We had all the consumer associations supporting it, who took a lot of effort to make this a successful show, and brought a lot of people who were interested in making technology investment. We are happy and expecting good results out of the show. The organisers should work more on promotion and attract more exhibitors and visitors from Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam, so that Kolkata becomes hub for textiles exhibition.

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We are displaying two automatic screen printing machines here; first is smaller machine which is for smaller prints, back printing machine and second is garment as now trend is all over printing, it is a bigger pallet machine which can print in 30- 40 inch print area. The machines sale in this part have been growing because earlier the market was working manually mostly but now they are upgrading, so business is growing up.

All Kolkata, Delhi and Ludhiana markets are growing. Here Nilesh Enterprises is looking after our sales, and after sales services are taken care by Grafica. The show has seen a changeover because of the various associations joining over and great promotion has been done. Due to these, visitors’ quality and quantity has increased a lot.

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Cosma is an Italian company providing customize cutting room solutions in Apparel, Footwear, Furniture, Automotive and Aerospace. The founder of the company is already having more than 20 years’ experience in Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia markets. This technology can save the fabric and has very low maintenance. We have founded this company in India sometime back only but when compared to others, we are providing latest electronic technology and mechanism. As per the industry feedback, nowadays several companies going for automation have to spend a lot of money on maintenance, just after two year’s usage. So, we have concentrated on that only and our maintenance cost is very less.

We are going to close 5-7 customers deal after this exhibition. In this market, Yashoda International is representing us but our service team is available all over India. When compared to other markets pan India, I see Kolkata is growing and has good future for apparel manufacturing.

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It’s a good exhibition. Last day was actually good as we had a lot of customers. Apparently, it is way better than previous years so I am pleasantly surprised and happy about it. Highlight is laser cutting with automatic template sewing machine from Juita, China which can create pockets and stitch whatever garment you want with one operator. On this machine we are showing glove making from cutting to stitching everything can be done on one machine. In addition we have complete range for Hikari sewing machine, which has generated fantastic response. In terms of quality they are way better than leading Japanese brands.

They have certain patents which no other company in the world is having and are about 20- 25 percent cheaper than others in similar range. This year, organisers of Garknit have associated with leading associations in West Bengal which has completely changed the game for exhibitors at the show. Slowly the Kolkata industry people are realising the power of investing in new technology. Exporters are getting bigger so they are much more inclined towards buying new machines.

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From Cheran we always bring innovative new technologies as per market trend to cut down labour cost. For the heat transfer process we are making multiple stations with auto rotation so you can save a lot of manpower. At this show, our 6 station auto fusing/transfer machine got very good response.

Kolkata is regular standard market and we are working with Nilesh Enterprises as our agent. We already have many big players using our machines in Kolkata market.

Currently, the economy is going through financial crunch so our industry is also affected by the same but maybe by March things will improve. Exhibition is really nice when compared to previous two editions. There were a lot of visitors’ footfall on all three days.

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For the first time in Kolkata we have displayed automatic spreading machine from Bullmer which is a German company. We have also displayed our indigenously made TUBULAR spreading machine, which is under Orbito. We have also displayed automatic sewing machines from Siruba, Duerkopp Adler, and other brands. We’ve been making a lot of products under our brand Orbito like spreading, finishing, sewing and lot many. We don’t compromise on quality and give economical price since we have good supply chain and expertise of so many years.

The market is facing temporary slowdown, but in long run it will improve. There is lot of scope of upgrading the technology in Kolkata. We are happy with the show, have sold some of the machines displayed here. Response was good, as we received some potential enquiries.

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This edition our main highlight is rapier jacquard loom. It has very good scope, and day-by-day its demand is increasing which is the reason we have displayed it here. Now, in Eastern India especially Kolkata people don’t want to work on handlooms, and labour cost has also increased so industry want same products to be made on machines. Our machine are manufactured in Surat,India itself as per customers’ requirement. We are making it under Make in India but a few parts are imported from overseas. This gives customer price advantage and also better aftersales- service experience. The response is really good, a lot of walkins enquiring about this product.

When compared to earlier editions, the show has improved this edition. It has been publicised very well, which has increased the visitor numbers. Garment and textile makers in Kolkata are upgrading their factories which is the reason the market has huge scope.

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Technology wise Bruce always keeps on bringing something new. This year we have launched B5 computerised overlock machine with chain cutter. Other than this we have R5-S computerised lockstitch machine with sewing modes from light to heavy material, easy to adjust, anti-float stitches, short remaining thread. These are the two machines we have highlighted in this exhibition. R5-S is a multipurpose machine which is going to be the future of the industry. At this show, response on all three days was very good.

This year market is slow for everyone but Kolkata market is maintaining its standards. We are expecting more business in 2020. One thing I want to highlight that starting the show at 11’o clock is not fine. They should start by 10’0 clock. Otherwise, everything at the show is OK.

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We started this company is 2015, offerings complete cutting automations like CAD system, plotter, and spreading machine. Our spreading systems are from the US and cutting automations from Turkey. We have installed 10 spreader machines in Kolkata till now at some very big companies. Compared to other brands available in the market these systems are more user friendly. They have all latest features, and biggest advantage is that does multifunction with just one tool. Besides, our cutting technology from Turkey is having software and hardware which is better than others.

It has very less running cost and longevity is also there. We’ve been regularly participating in Garknit-X Kolkata maybe in coming year we may increase the size of our stall. It has given us good exposure as we met a lot many new customers here but everything depends on your sales and after sales service. The show is better than last edition showing good prospects of growth in our industry in coming few months.

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The show is OK. On day-one it was slow but after that it improved. Though there is lots of rush, huge footfall but positive customers, potential buyers which we used to get earlier have reduced this time. People are coming but they are not ready to invest right now.

In terms of technology highlights at our stall, we have displayed digital printing machine from Mimaki, Beworth flat knitting machine and many more.

Apart from this we are also representing Groz Beckert, BZBSembroidery spareparts. Besides, due to growing customers demand we have opened a division of garment accessories which has also been displayed here.

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We are the authorised agent of Jack for Eastern India. The reason behind our success is support from our Principal and our focus on one product i.e Jack sewing machine. Everybody who was working with older machnes till now is upgrading itself, which is a good opportunity for us.

The show was very good visitor wise and much bigger compared to previous shows. We have received good number of enquiries.

The support of various association has really helped in getting good quality visitors. There is lot of potential in this part of India with many new factories coming up in Jharkhand and Orissa apart from West Bengal.

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This time we are focusing on digital textile printing machines. We are showcasing sublimation printer only for polyester fabrics, which is a new addition to Baba’s product range. We are displaying chain stitch embroidery machines, laser cutting machines, jacquard machine and many more. Textile industry is shifting towards digital printing. Scenario wise Kolkata market is doing better than other places in the country. We are also offering direct to garment digital printing, position printing machines from Atexco. We have recently added Flat knitting machines from Steiger.

At Garknit-X we had lot of visitors pouring in who were high in quality and interested in technologies. Overall quality of customers is satisfactory. It is a very good show but we would like the organisers to make the opening timings to 10.0 clock, and it should be organised for four days.

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We have displayed many new models from Brother and Pegasus. We have recently introduced Brother’s Bartack sewing machine which has been displayed here. Besides, Elastic stitching machine from Pegasus for undergarments is another highlight. Though market scenario is not good for last five six months, but Kolkata market is still doing better.

Here domestic market is doing very well but bigger exporters are facing some difficulties, which is expected to improve by next two- three months.

In future Eastern part of India is expected to grow more. it’s a tough for all technology providers but we are hoping to perform better next year. Garknit-X Kolkata is a very good and very wellorganised show.

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We have been working in textile machinery industry for last 15 years. Earlier we were importing from China, then we developed our own product here. When compared to Chinese, our products are number one in quality, service and price.

We are mainly manufacturing rapier and jacquard products. This is for the first time any such technology has been displayed at Garknit-X, which generated a lot of interest.

The market in Kolkata is developing now; earlier handloom was in, then shuttle looms and now rapier is in trend. We met many customers who are regular shuttle looms user and looking forward to upgrade. Garknit-x Kolkata has really been a good show for us.

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SPI is one of the pioneers in bringing out innovations in textile and laboratory equipment since 2001. We have a strong team of dealers, distributors and channel partners not only in India but also in all the corners of the world. We have recently started in this region, and Volstart Texnet Services is our agent for Eastern India. This is for the first time we have participated in Garknit and quite happy with the response.

Here we have displayed our Automatic Laboratory Dispenser is volumetric with a very high dispensing accuracy of 0.02ml for solutions, and 0.2ml for water and color Lab Dyeing apparatus suitable for dyeing of any type of fibres at high temperature. There is a lot of development in this region but very few companies are using these system. They need to upgrade their dye houses, so we explained them the benefits of our machines and are expecting some installations in future.

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We are displaying a revolutionary lockstitch sewing machine from Bruce where all light, medium and heavy works can be done in one machine. It is a patented technology and Bruce has brought many other models also. Infact they have introduced same technology in overlock. We have also introduced Supreme brand which has expertise in pattern sewer and elastic joining machine. Besides, we are also focusing on our hanger systems form INA which is a breakthrough technology. We have COSMA for cutting room solutions, which is an Italian company.

We want to provide complete solutions for garment making. The show is really good as we met customers from very first day. Almost all major small and big players have visited the same. We are very happy with the feedback. Today, global economy is down, but if you are talking about Eastern part of India, the boom is there.

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