The ‘BHARAT TEX 2024’, the country’s largest textiles mega event, saw the participation of 3,000 buyers from over 100 countries, with global experts discussing various cloth brands and sustainability imperatives.
The four-day event from February 26-29 also saw the coming together of thousands of artisans, weavers, students, factory workers, NGOs and producer companies. The event was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Bharat Mandapam here.
The mega event was organised by a consortium of 11 Textile Export Promotion Councils and supported by the Ministry of Textiles.
“Built on the twin pillars of trade and investment and with an overarching focus on sustainability, the grand event attracted besides policymakers and global CEOs, 3,500 exhibitors, 3,000 buyers from 111 Countries and over one lakh trade visitors,” a press release said on Friday.
Leading textile states, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, were enthusiastic participants with dedicated pavilions and government representations.
Other highlights of the event included a farm-to-fiber full value chain expo and retail high street focusing on India’s fashion retail market opportunities, dedicated pavilions on sustainability and recycling showcasing actual work done by individual industry as well as clusters like Panipat, Tirupur and Surat, an Indi-Haat showcasing India’s traditional sector of handicrafts and handlooms.
“Over 10 fashion presentations spread across 4 days on diverse themes ranging from Indian Textiles Heritage to sustainability and global designs, art demonstrations by master craftsmen, interactive fabric testing zones and product demonstrations and showcase of global fashion trends and special Indian trend books were other significant attractions of the show,” the release stated.
A global scale conference with 70 sessions and 112 international speakers saw engaging discussions on key textile issues of the day including Textile Mega Trends, Sustainability, resilient global supply chains and Manufacturing 4.0. Pressing issues of the global value chain such as green financing, resilient supply chains, waterless dying, and innovation were among the other topics.
Over 10,000 artisans, weavers, design and fashion students, factory workers, NGOs and Producer companies visited and participated in the Bharat Tex 2024 as special invitees. The exhibition at Yashomboomi reflected diverse and intricate artistry. It received positive public response.
Bharat Tex also emerged as Launch Pad for various initiatives and Projects such as IndiaTEX, Launch of Textile Grand Innovation Challenge, Announcement of 63 MoUs including with international institutions focusing on collaboration in research, innovation, entrepreneurship, new product development, skilling and sustainability.
The event also saw the release of the UNEP Report for Sustainable Textile Hub in India and 8 books on various technical topics and a Documentary on Women Empowerment in the Silk sector. Winners of the hackathon held on “Fostering Innovation in Technical Textiles” were announced and awarded during Bharat Tex, it said.
The event reported launch of the IndiaTEX Project. The project ‘Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain in India’ (IndiaTex) is a four-year UNEP project IndiaTex aims to accelerate the transition of the Indian textile sector towards circularity.
Additionally, announcement for the Textiles Grand Innovation Challenge was also done. The Ministry of Textiles is launching an innovation challenge along with Startup India, DPIIT to leverage the pool of untapped innovation opportunities to identify new and innovative futuristic circular solutions, with proven concepts, with high potential to be replicable and scalable in India’s Textiles and Apparel industry.