Tirupur: The technical committee of Union ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) has approved to set up a designer studio at NIFT-TEA college of knitwear fashion in Tirupur to provide opportunities for MSMEs to develop designs at low cost. The Rs 15-crore facility awaits the final approval of the steering committee.
Earlier as a part of the cluster development programme, industrialists sought the Centre to provide assistance to set up the designer studio. “After the approval, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) would grant up to 80% of the cost, as sought,” said T R Vijayakumar, general secretary of Tirupur exporters’ association.
“The studio will have state-of-art facilities in design development, from communications to information. Display of latest products in fibre, yarns and fabric, and its allied technologies will also be part of the studio. In case of sampling development, there will be facilities like virtual prototype samples or e-samples,” said CB Senthil Kumar, technical coordinator. “Many industrialists said buyers wished to have such designer studio here, so that the designs can be developed where the goods are manufactured,” Senthil added.
“In foreign countries, the apparel companies would invest heavily on the design development, which can be done cheaply in the planned studio. It will help to take the industry to new heights,” Vijayakumar said.
The apparel companies in the dollar city would not generally work either on design development or research and development but depend on buyers for the same. However, industries based only on manufacturing would not make them competitive.