India witnessed a double-digit growth in apparel export to the US and can grow further with more focus on blended and value-added products, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) recently said. Apparel exports to the US were worth $1.764 billion in January-May last year and saw a 10.83 per cent growth to reach $1,955 billion in the same period this year, it said. n a tweet marked to textiles minister Smriti Irani, ITF said an eco-system needs to be created to nurture manufacturing of high value-added apparel as 43 per cent of the top 30 export items in this sector are fetching a revenue of below $6 per piece. Few Indian players are demonstrating their capability in value-added product exports by earning more than $9 per apparel. An alternative is to motivate small and medium enterprises to set up large scale units to compete in low-value apparel, it said. Exporting clusters like the one in Tiruppur should focus more on the US market to grow further, it said. A few ITF member companies are trying to brand their products as sustainable fashion items to command better preference in global markets, ITF said. Whatever space China is vacating in the home textile space will be shared by several countries, but India continues to maintain the second-largest supplier status in this sub-sector, according to ITF.
