Luthai will retail stitchless shirts in India

With India fast becoming one of the biggest consumption markets of the world, China-based fabric major Luthai Textile has set its eyes on this market. The company is all set to woo domestic apparel retailers and brands with its

readymade shirts. “We are very positive about the Indian market,” says Leo Wang, Vice Director, International Marketing at Luthai Textile. “In the next 12 months, we plan to enter the Indian retail space and sell our brand over the counter (OTC). We would like to retail our finished garments in the country,” Wang adds.

With innovations like ‘no stitch’ garments, tobacco free and bamboo fabrics, the company is certain of establishing a strong footprint in the country. So far the biggest supplier of fabrics to Indian garment players through the R K Group, Luthai aims to launch its exclusive fabric range in direct competition with leading domestic players like Raymond, Arvind and Madura Fashion and Lifestyle.

Putting India plan in place

Wang says their foray into ready to wear segment is the natural value addition to a fabric company like Luthai. Over the years they have been getting requests from customers for finished garments. “Because of our innovation in fabric, we were best positioned to manufacture apparels out of these such as, wrinkle free and fine yarn count fabric to name a few,” explains Wang.

The company would continue working with its brand customers by expanding and improving its technology and innovation, build its OTC business system and explore the possibility of Luthai shirt brand sales in India. Wang sees India as one of the fastest growing markets. “And we see a huge demand in the mid-high counts luxury products. India currently is the fifth largest contributer to Luthai’s revenues. We see this changing and India becoming the third or fourth market in the next 12-24 months,” he adds.

More on the innovations

While making a wrinkle-free shirt, sewing is the most difficult part to overcome. Luthai innovated with ‘no stitches’ thereby giving a solution to the problem of wrinkling. Elaborating on the tobacco free fabrics, Wang says, “This is a feature we developed exclusively for the Indian market. We noticed that Indians, who consume tobacco, leave unfinished tobacco in their pockets which creates stains while washing. To overcome this, we came up with the novel idea of removing the stain of tobacco by simple dipping it in water. We have also developed bamboo fabric, which will be suitable for Indian weather conditions since its far more absorbent than cotton or any other natural fabric.”

And for the premium segment in India, they have developed special selvedge with high yarn count. Selvedge is the end part of a fabric which usually bears the brand’s name. “Selvedge is particularly relevant for the made-to-measure market and we were the first to come out with the concept of selvedge in India,” opines Wang.

Luthai began its journey in 1994 with the production of yarn dyed fabrics. With 5,80,000 spindles and 2073 looms they make 16 million meters of fabric per month along with two million shirts, which are then sold in 50 company-owned outlets in China. Nearly 90 percent of its business comes from exports to the US, Europe, Japan, Turkey and India.