News

Rendezvous

India: 'Coolmax is the latest thing in the market and has wide potential too'

• By  Textile Excellence
• October 31, 2013

Rihanna Industries is a premium buying house and high fashion apparel exporter. In an interview with Shruti Karthikeyan, Anil Dhar, Manager, Sourcing of Rihanna Industries talks about innovations done with Invista's Coolmax, and response from buyers.

What products did you showcase at Lycra Rendezvous?

This time we have only showcased Coolmax, which has very good moisture wicking technique. Sweaty clothes will impact the performance of an athlete. Coolmax with its moisture wicking property ensures maximum comfort and performance to the player, during any sport.

What is the kind of competition you face with other brands who also use Coolmax?

We have come up with innovations in Coolmax here. We have a printing technique which is the latest in the market. It has a very good hand feel and is good in appearance too. The water-based stickers are very good and are the latest technique. The second one is the seamless pockets, which gives us an edge and nobody else in the market is doing this yet. Seamless technology is something we see a great future in. We are developing a garment which is 60% seamless.

How is your business progressing with Coolmax?

Coolmax is the latest thing in the market and has very good potential. We are getting good responses from our customers. We are using it for Kappa, which is an Italian buyer.

Kappa, in turn is using this big time, and is ready to launch its Spring/Summer 2014 collection using Coolmax technology. Apart from that, Royal Enfield has launched its own apparel brand and they are keen to use it.

What kind of orders you are looking at?

We are looking at orders for performance apparel, which is our strength. Rihanna is also into jackets and sweaters.  Apart from Coolmax, which are the other innovations at Rihanna?

Our latest fabric consists of 80% viscose, 10% Lycra and 10% wool, thus giving excellent stretch to the fabric. This is in good demand in Europe. We have a wide collection in this fabric-stoles, ponchos and more.

How do you manage to keep up with the new trends in the market?

We keep a close eye on what the West is doing. We have an integrated design studio Defacto in Ludhiana and it is operating in Mumbai too. Our designers closely follow international trends, color schemes, etc. We gather the ideas from there and keep abreast of the latest fashion trends.

Textile Excellence