IIT Delhi-based startup on mission to make ‘all-weather’ national flag

NEW DELHI:  In order to develop an advanced textile solution for the national flag, SWATRIC, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi-based startup has collaborated with the Flag Foundation of India to engineer a fabric suitable for the country’s diverse climate conditions.

The startup was launched by researchers from the IIT’s Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering to develop state-of-the-art technologies to help Indian domestic textile and garment industries in commercialising new and competitive categories of smart and functional products. 

It has also signed an MoU with the FITT, IIT-Delhi and the Foundation to execute the associated activities via the startup. “Given India’s diverse climatic and geographical conditions, developing engineered fabric for the flag is a big challenge. The materials have to be designed specifically to make it durable for extreme weather conditions without being too heavy,” said Professor Bipin Kumar, Textile and Fibre Engineering department, IIT Delhi and mentor, SWATRIC.

“It is the need of the hour to help manufacturers with a proper standardisation and skills on technical yarns to improve the quality of the flag fabric,” Kumar said. Flag Foundation of India is a non-governmental organization, which aims to popularise the display of Tricolor by more and more Indians, with a great sense of pride, said officials.

“We have always been facing a challenge of obtaining good quality flags. It is indeed a proud moment for us to work with IIT Delhi’s experts on developing appropriate technologies, which are relevant to the country’s pride,” said Ashim Kohli, Major General (retired), CEO of Flag Foundation. 

“India has the potential to be the global leader in technical textiles. The Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering at IIT has been constantly working in the field of smart and functional textile projects, actively supporting the National Technical Textiles Mission to empower textile sector through ‘Make in India’ technologies for various applications ranging from geotextiles, defence, sportswear, smart wearables and others,” said Professor Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT-D.