With the winters setting in, prominent knitwear brands in Ludhiana are churning out their latest winter wear collection. Brands like Juelle, Oner, Blueman, Bodyguard Jacket Co., Duke and Shingora have launched their Autumn Winter range that are available in all major MBOs and e-commerce portals.
All these brands are based in Ludhiana, which is a leading produces of of woollen and knitwear apparel. It satisfys the demand of the domestic market and produces a wide range of winter wear like pullovers, cardigans in all blends, jogging suits, socks, jersey, gloves, shawls, sweat shirts, inner wear, grey fabric, etc.
Women apparel brands, Juelle is offering rich colour palette ranging from hot pink, popping yellow, fluorescent green to the turquoise blue; while Oner has launched latest collection for women in sweat shirts, sweaters, coats, jackets, track suits and active wear.
With Shingora, a renowned brand offering innovative shawls, scarves and stoles for men, women and kids; Blueman and Bodycare Jackets, the oldest brands to offer jackets and coats for men and women also unveiled their winter wear collection.
Sudershan Jain, president, Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana (KAMAL), said “The knitwear industry of Ludhiana is more than a century old and it has all the requisite infrastructure needed for a knitwear business to grow.”
Consisting of both registered and unregistered units, almost 99 percent of the ready-made garments, textiles and knitwear industry in Ludhiana are small scale. Apart from these, there are a large number of ancillary and supporting units like dyeing, printing and embroidery etc.
Knitwear industry is largely labour intensive. “Earlier the industry was dominated by local labour. Around 80 percent were local labourers and 20 percent migratoey labourers from Uttar Pradesh and eastern regions worked in these small scale industry. Now, it is the other way round 75-80 percent is the migratory labour from Bihar, West Bengal and and other states who work in these industries. These labourers have made the region a manufacturing and labour hub with skilled and semi-skilled labours,” explained Jain.
Even with all these facilities Jain feels, the region lack the infrastructure to boost its industry. According to him, the Ludhiana knitwear industry needs a substructure where it can showcase and exhibit their produce and collections. “With the changing lifestyle, today each business unit is producing more than four seasons. As a result, we need frequent events and showcasing. Hence, we want our own infrastructure in the city,” he concluded.
