Role of Women in the Knitwear Industry

Women have proved there potential in every field of work, so is the Knitwear industry where involvement of ladies has helped tremendously in solving the issue of lack of trained workforce. Due to their enthusiasm, great energy level and quick learning power women are becoming a great contributor in the garment industry. Tirupur knitwear cluster has been growing at a high pace, explicating its opportunities in both international and domestic market. Ladies play a vital role in the development of Tirupur Knitwear Cluster. More than any other industry ,garment industry has got more women workers involved. Unlike other industries, Knitwear industry has got 50% or more women involvement. There is a huge demand for well trained shop floor level employees in the cluster. Women are playing double role and their well being, both physical and mental is really important.

Every year, 8^th of March is celebrated as “international women’s day”. For the development of women various awareness programs, seminars, training programs for their economical well being & self development are being conducted worldwide. This program is also a contribution for the well being of women especially for achieving the desired output at the work place. Hence a mass training program was conducted in the cluster to take care of these necessities. 300 women workers were trained under this initiative. This has helped the workforce to gain basic knowledge on their official and personal well being.

Women were guided on

· Mental and Physical health and its relation to productivity and quality at work place.

· Importance of women in the knitwear industry.

· Managing role conflicts

· Proper financial management

· Balanced diet to keep the body fit and energetic to ensure consistent performance.

· Family welfare and social responsibilities etc.

It is a fact that women work hard, day and night and this make them face a lot of physical and mental issues. For the welfare of Tirupur based ladies “Pothigai” human resource development & training centre” is planning to conduct a grand function. There is a requirement of training women workers for their physical and mental well being. Women are required to be trained in skill development also , not only on the shop floor level but also on management level too.

Designer’s Club

To support and promote the designers in the cluster and to built industrial linkages through the experts, A Club for Designers named as Designers club has been found .The club consists of designers from the Industry, Alumni of NIFT TEA, Final year designing students of NIFT TEA and various other fashion institutes from the cluster. The main objectives behind the formation of this club were:

• To promote local designers nationally and internationally.
• To equip the designers in the cluster with the knowledge and skill to tap international market.
• To create a platform for the designers to share their views, thoughts and knowledge.
• To create opportunities for designers.
• To help the designers in achieving competency with world class designers by helping them to improve their skill in fashion/colour forecast, new technologies and tools used for designing, freelancing opportunities etc.

The Designer’s club is proving to be a huge success in the cluster, as it is providing a great help for the aspiring and the upcoming designers of the industry. The following outcomes show the success and importance of the formation of Designer’s club.

· Formation of a club for designers with prominent designers and NIFT TEA alumni as members of the club has made the students interact with the designers through various programs, meetings etc.

· It has encouraged the students and existing designers of the cluster to stay updated with the recent trends and enhance their skills.

· Designers have been placed in various firms along with the help of F.A.

· The Community formed has been showing remarkable growth and it is named as “Fashion Invaders Tie-up” on popular demand from the club members.

· An album has been created under the club with various designs targeted to specific fashion markets.

The club has helped the designers who were scattered here and there in the cluster by bringing them under a common platform. This activity has helped the designers a lot in getting an idea to equip themselves with the knowledge and skill to tap the international market. They have got a common platform to share their common issues and constrains. This has also helped them in finding new opportunities in their career.

Workshop on energy conservation

Apart from international competition exporters in Tirupur Knitwear Cluster are facing a lot of problems. One of the reasons is the inability of the cluster to utilize and manage the available resources properly. A lot of wastage occurs throughout the production system due to improper monitoring and control. Energy wastages and loses both in terms of thermal and electrical, is one among them. In the present day market where the buyer is more concerned on cleaner and responsible production the area of energy utilization to its optimum level gains high attention and importance.

The cluster does not have much BDS Providers in the area of Energy Conservation and Energy Audit. Applying the measures for conservation of energy and it benefits, in the garment industry will spread the knowledge about the energy/cost saving principles among the entrepreneurs and will create demand for similar services from the other units in the industry. This will increase the reach and establishing linkages of the BDS providers among the firms in the cluster which are looking for similar services in the cluster.

In the workshop conducted by ACDS along with WISE Management Systems, which is an established brand now in the cluster for energy audits and have been associated with the project since they were formally introduced in the cluster as a strategic BDS, the energy saving potential in all specific points of the value chain from spinning of cotton to yarn, Knitting, Processing, Garmenting and all associated services has been separately explained to the participants.

As a part of the program a New BDS named M/s. Pothigai HRD was also introduced as a strategic BDS provider for serving the industry by organising similar events for improving the competency of the cluster. Important personalities including the MLA, Mayor, Dist. Collector, Association Leaders etc., were present who emphasised the need of such initiatives. The need for properly utilising the project opportunities was also discussed.

Alumni Meeting at EFAI

“Visiting back the place which has made most of us the person we are today is always a wonderful experience. The memories of all those moments we have spent at the place bounces back in our mind. Who ever we are today whether manager, entrepreneur or simply a good person is something we have acquired from that place.”

Such a meeting of old students of NIFT-TEA was organised on 26^thJanuary 2011 which was conducted under EFAI. Mr. S. Dhananjayan CEO of MSS & Co, Tirupur and a reputed chartered accountant was the chief guest. Mr. Raja. M. Shanmugam, the chairman of NIFT-TEA presided over the function. CDM of ACDS Mr. Shabeer Ahammed K.M was the guest of honour who explained the Alumni about EFAI, Designers club etc and their area of functioning. He also gave a brief explanation on the project we do with the aid of SIDBI.

This Program was conducted under EFAI .This helped to make the executives of Tirupur more familiar with the activities of EFAI. The members could use EFAI as a platform for knowledge sharing As many as 200 Executives took part in the event. Lot of alumni talked about the Project and thanked ACDS as well as SIDBI for executing the same. Few of them also mentioned that these Programs under the Project helped them a lot to sharpen their skills.

Mr Raja M. Shanmugam explained the students how to get benefited from the project. He pointed out the importance of continuous knowledge sharing. He also requested the members to share the knowledge with students so that they can have more industrial exposure. He also stressed about the importance of industrial institutional linkages. He also added that the alumni can play a rather important role in strengthening the industrial institutional linkages.

Chief guest Mr. Dhananjayan requested the students to make use of the project to the maximum. He also mentioned about continuous knowledge sharing and importance of industrial institutional linkages.

Mr. K.J. Shivagnanam, Vice Principal of NIFT TEA thanked everyone.