Traceability crucial for Indian textile industry to scale globally

Experts recently told industry stakeholders that traceability is an important subject for textile fraternity all over the world. Recently, South India Mills Association (SIMA) and TEXPROCIL had jointly organised an informative virtual session on cotton traceability certification programme. They said that traceability has gained huge importance in the recent past on the backdrop of consumers becoming more conscious about the products they purchase from the renowned brands at premium prices. 

Traceability helps consumers trace the lifecycle of a product starting from sourcing the raw materials to manufacturing, disposing and finally the recycling of the same. Transparency and traceability will play a major role in the years to come for the Indian textile industry to scale-up its capabilities to cater to the global brands in an effective manner.

Yarn traders and exporters are concerned about the presence of the original gene of Xinjiang’s banned cotton in garments exported to the US from India. The fairness of the practices needs to be ensured as consumers are now judging garments on traceability. 

The regulatory aspect of traceability focusses on compliance of governments’ mandate. The US government has not only banned Chinese cotton originating from the Xinjiang region but also increased vigilance to comply with the ban. Indian traders and exporters are worried that if someone mixes imported cotton with the locally grown fibre, its gene can be traced from the produced yarn, fabric, or garment. The violation may attract hefty fines and other punishments by the US authority. According to experts, technology has made it easier to trace the gene in the entire value chain. 

The industry bodies are serious about tackling the issue without delays. Therefore, they organised the event where industry people were informed that TEXPROCIL in collaboration with a certification body Control Union has devised a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) programme to promote exports of Indian grown cotton. The initiative will help gain the trust of export buyers by providing traceability of Indian cotton up to the farm level. 

European Union and the US are planning to come up with certain legislations which will prevent entry of cotton from certain regions like Turkmenistan and Xinjiang. It will provide more powers to enforcement authorities. 

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)