Arvind to scale up organic denims

Arvind Mills one of the biggest manufacturers of denim is planning to scale up its organic denim

production. Currently its churns out half-a-million meters of organic denim per month, Arvind is keen to scale it up to one million meters in two years, taking the share of organic denim fabrics up to 10 per cent of its 110 million meters capacity. Arvind has been supplying minuscule quantities of organic denims to global retailers for two years. But with global retailing giant Wal-Mart knocking on its doors for organic denims, the company is gung-ho about the exercise. Wal-Mart wants 100 per cent of its denim merchandise to be organic and wants Arvind to double its organic denim supplies. Wal-Mart currently has 70 per cent organic denim stocks on its shelves and is eager to take it to 100 per cent.

For the first time since the Rs 2,500-crore Ahmedabad-based Arvind Ltd introduced denim in India in 1984, its Naroda plant has taken to manufacturing organic denims. Arvind is working with over 1,000 small and marginal farmers in Akola to grow organic cotton. The relationship works on the contract-farming model, wherein Arvind provides the farmers know-how on organic farming and a guarantee to buy back the cotton produced directly from the farmer.