Lack of adequate diversification into value-added winter garments forced, garment manufacturers in Tirupur to depend more on wool to maintain the momentum round the year.

Garment manufacturers in Tirupur knitwear cluster will explore the possibilities of using wool more in knitwear production to sustain the business all through the year.

“Exporters here are now planning to collectively focus on research to develop knitwear with wool or wool-blended fibres reducing the over dependency on cotton. This move will help avoid slowdowns presently encountered by many factories in the cluster, due to lack of adequate orders for winter garments,” T. R. Vijayakumar, chairman of research and development wing in NIFT-TEA Knitwear Institute said.

He said currently only less than one per cent of the knitwear produced from the cluster use wool as raw material.

M. Veluswamy, an apparel exporter, said that around 85 per cent of the apparels made from the cluster still use cotton as the main raw material. He pointed out that use of wool would help retain heat better than cotton in the garments.

Meanwhile, the NIFT-TEA Institute is planning to team up with Woolmark, a global authority on Merino wool and pioneer in investments in R&D, to encourage research activities with wool and wool-blended fibres in Tirupur cluster itself.

“Once self-sufficiency is obtained in making value-added winter garments, the Tirupur exporters will be able to challenge the dominance of Chinese garments in the winter apparels segment,” Vijayakumar said.

Chinese winter wear has gradually been increasing its footprints across north India with customers saying the products are better and cheaper than those made in the country.