Arvind, India’s leading denim producer, has installed the nation’s first Monforts Eco Line denim finishing machine for faster production, greater savings in energy, and better flexibility in design and innovation.

Monforts Area Sales Director for Southeast Asia, Hans Gerhard Wroblowski, said that Arvind’s early investment in this new technology gives the company at least a year lead ahead of the competition from other Indian mills.

The Eco Line, which can handle fabric widths of 1800 mm and operate at high speeds of up to 80 m/min, is operating alongside four Montex foam finishing stenters, which are also able to handle this same width of material, the company reports.

Denim revolution

Aamir Akhtar, CEO of Arvind Lifestyle Fabrics’ Denim division, said that in India the denim industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13 to 15%.

Arvind says it is rated in the top three denim producers in the world, and sees further export potential. The company’s own export-domestic output is around 60:40, with some of the domestic production worked up into garments and exported.

Arvind had been founded in 1931 as a maker of traditional Indian clothing, but in 1984 modernised and brought denim into the domestic market, thus starting the jeans revolution in India. Today it retails its own brands like Flying Machine, Newport, and Excalibur, and licensed international brands like Arrow, Lee, Wrangler, and Tommy Hilfiger, through its nationwide retail network.

“We have our own major R&D facility, and we eat, think, sleep, and breathe design,” explained Mr Akhtar. “For all this, we need the best in technology. Having been a Monforts user from the earliest days, we had no hesitation in investing in the new Eco Line. Not only does this make us even more responsive to customer needs and demands, and more creative in our design and production, there is also the very great energy saving advantage and tight control over emissions.”

Energy savings

The Eco Line was manufactured at the Monforts production facility MONTEX in Austria and installed by Monforts’ representative in India, ATE Enterprises Private Ltd.

C V Babu, ATE’s General Manager for Sales at the company’s Ahmedabad office, said: “The Eco Line system reduces energy losses and energy use, increases thermal transfer and keeps the drying energy on the textile material longer, so that it can be used very efficiently. As a result, energy savings of up to 50% can be achieved. Exhaust air energy can also be reduced to a minimum, which has a positive effect on the emission load into the atmosphere.”

Arvind’s current annual denim capacity is 110 million metres, with prominent products including ring denim, indigo voiles, organic denim, bi-stretch denim and fair trade certified denim. This is apart from regular light, medium and heavyweight denims. They come in various shades of indigo, sulphur, yarn-dyes, in 100% cotton and various blends.

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