‘Opportune moment’ for India on global fashion stage

During an exclusive chat with Just Style, Gilmartin explains India’s apparel and textile industry and the Indian government have identified a “very opportune” moment to put “a shoulder to the wheel” and promote Bharat Tex globally before it takes place in Delhi on 14-17 February 2025.

The goal for India’s Ministry of Textiles, who is the organiser and export body, is to make Bharat Tex the equivalent of global textile trade show Heimtextil and global apparel sourcing trade show Premiere Vision.

Gilmartin shares India “wants it to become a major event” in the global textile and apparel calendar, which is why it has organised roadshows in New York, Spain, Australia and the UK. 

Gilmartin’s role was to ensure the right individuals were invited to the UK roadshow and gala dinner, which took place in London at the end of November. He boasts that a broad cross-section of the UK’s apparel and textile industry attended as well as investment bankers and members of the media.

He reached out to the usual suspects such as major UK fashion brands like Marks & Spencer, but crucially he also contacted key industry associations who work with textile machinery makers and furniture manufacturers. He explains he was determined to ensure all guests would be able to do “meaningful business in India”.

The event featured speeches by prominent members of the Indian government, including the chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, Sudhir Sekhri and the chairman of the Export Promotion Committee, Premal Udani. The specific details in each speech were different, but Gilmartin points out the overarching message was the same – Bharat Tex is the event to attend in 2025 and India will be a key place to source from. 

Insights were also provided on the latest UK-India free trade talks given the outcome could impact future sourcing decisions.

It was revealed that since the UK’s change of government in the summer “things are ramping up again” and there is optimism that it won’t be too long before a Free Trade Agreement gets signed.

This supports the UK prime minister’s announcement on 18 November, which confirmed UK-India trade talks would relaunch in the new year, following a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit.

UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said at the time: “India is the fifth largest economy in the world and a vital trading partner for the UK. We believe there is a good deal to be done here that works for both nations.

“Whether it’s lowering Indian tariffs to help British firms export to this dynamic market or boosting investment which already supports over 600,000 jobs across both countries, striking a deal is important to deliver this Government’s core mission of driving economic growth.” 

Gilmartin explains the upcoming show will highlight the versatility of India’s supply base, as he puts it bluntly: “It has and does everything” within the textile and apparel supply chain. It has fibre manufacturers, synthetic manufacturers and it’s the world’s third largest grower of cotton.

It also has what he describes as a “very vibrant” textile machinery manufacturing sector with spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing.

There will be a special exhibition at the show about hand weaving because it’s still an important sector for India, but overall he says: “It’s going to be a complete end to end exhibition about the capabilities of the Indian textile sector,” before adding: “And those capabilities are really great.”

Gilmartin is clearly a genuine advocate for India’s apparel and textile industry and declares: “There are India mills spinning fine counts of yarn in cotton that nobody else is spinning.” 

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Gilmartin highlights India has established innovative textile industrial parks and has encouraged all segments of its supply chain to locate to them. The benefit is that it has been able to reduce its logistics costs from double figures down to single ones.

He also points out 2024 is ending with a degree of global uncertainty, which is making India even more attractive as a sourcing location.

For instance, the US is now testing cotton for any traces of China’s Xinjiang region and it is also looking to remove its de minimis loophole to stop overseas fashion goods from China reaching end consumers without being inspected.

Plus, 2024 has seen a lot of change in Bangladesh, which is another very popular fashion sourcing destination.

Gilmartin says: “I don’t think anybody can forecast what’s going to happen in Bangladesh and Bangladesh has been so important to the UK in terms of sourcing so people would rightly be concerned about what might happen there.”

And then there’s India, which is “probably the most stable environment” in the region.

He continues: “India can rightly say ‘look, we’re here’. It has a great industry, a very well-educated management team and very well invested ownership.”

If Gilmartin were to flag one criticism, it would be the need for India to ramp up its sewing workforce. He explains a few people he’s spoken to are considering moving supply from Bangladesh to India, and have commented that India can’t take on the volume they would like in order to move.

But, he says “if this is an opportunity for them, they will obviously answer. As an independent consultant, if someone asks me where to look for anything within the sector, the first place I would start looking is India.”