India in the Spotlight: Increased Importance of Fashion Quality and Safety

In today’s complex and changing consumer marketplace, manufacturers, brands and retailers in the textile and footwear industry need to ensure that the products they deliver meet consumer expectations, along with the required safety, regulatory and government standards. Not only do consumers focus on price and style, but they also are concerned about a product’s compliance with the prescribed safety regulations, quality requirements and chemical composition as well as durability and environmental guidelines.

India – The Preferred Sourcing Destination

Textile manufacturing continues to shift to low cost Asian countries. A growing number of major brands and retailers are making India their strategic sourcing country. India is recognized as one of the ten largest supplying countries to the textile and apparel industry. With increasing domestic consumption backed by strong economic growth and growing per capita income, India, apart from being a production hub, has also emerged as a strong consumption market in last five years.

The Indian textiles industry can be divided into several segments: Cotton, Silk, Woolen, handcrafted textiles, jute and coir, readymade garments, Home and made ups. In addition to its strong domestic textile infrastructure, the vertically integrated supply chain and expanding retail penetration make India a preferred sourcing destination in the global marketplace.

Stricter Market Surveillance for Fashion

Major exporting destinations for textiles and footwear, including the EU and the US, place emphasis on consumer product safety via legislation, such as the EU REACH (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm) and the US CPSIA (http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Regulations-Laws--Standards/CPSIA/The-Consumer-Product-Safety-Improvement-Act/), as well as various state-specific laws. Furthermore, with the emergence of the Asian nations, India is increasingly trading with its neighbors such as China. China also has imposed national mandatory safety regulations for textile and footwear products.

The vigorous market surveillance and enforcement actions of these nations, often resulting in recall cases, as well as brands’ concerns on products safety and chemical management in the supply chain, make it of paramount importance for manufacturers in India and other Asian countries to stay up-to-date on market requirements and to increase their technical knowledge and know-how to stay on top of the competition. Such goals can be achieved by ensuring high degrees of compliance and by delivering trust.

About SGS Softlines Services

As an independent quality assurance service provider, SGS helps build confidence between partners in the supply chain by providing services such as product evaluations at development and pre-production stages, and assessments for regulatory & safety compliance. SGS delivers trust among exporters, agents and retailers after verifying that their products meet national and international norms and meet the ultimate client’s expectations.

SGS has a large technical support network to further help clients to interpret testing results, provide defect analysis of customer complaint items and perform design evaluations regarding applicable regulatory and safety requirements. SGS is continually delivering textile services and solutions (http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Softlines-and-Accessories.aspx) that help clients to minimize the risk of substandard merchandise and costly customer returns, with the peace of mind to focus on moving their business forward.

Should you require more information about SGS Softlines Services, please contact the SGS experts.

SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 75 000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1 500 offices and laboratories around the world.

Contact details:

SGS Consumer Testing Services
Karen E. Kyllo, Ph.D.
Deputy Vice President, Global Softlines
SGS North America Inc.
291 Fairfield Avenue
Fairfield, NJ 07004 , USA

t +1 (973) 461 7934
Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: http://www.sgs.com/pages/consumer-testing/sgs-consumer-goods-and-retail.aspx

This release was published on openPR.