The Karur textile cluster, a cornerstone of India’s home textile sector, took a significant step towards a sustainable and circular future on June 6th, 2025, by hosting a crucial awareness workshop on “Advancing Sustainability & Circularity in Karur Textile Cluster”. The event, held at the Legend Hall, The Residency – Karur, brought together local manufacturers, exporters, industry associations, and government officials to discuss and commit to greener practices.

The Karur Textile Manufacturer Exporters Association (KTMEA) along with Karur Handloom Export Cloth Manufacturers Association (KHEXMASS), CII, Karur Knitting and Weaving Factory Owners Association and Karur Dyers & Bleachers Association welcomed the Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) and Intellecap for the workshop. The workshop aimed to introduce initiatives designed to work with the Karur textile cluster as the focus on developing a more sustainable and circular textile sector intensifies.

Eminent speakers from Government and Industry set the context for the discussion at the workshop. Mr. P. Gopalakrishnan, President, KTMEA, delivered an inaugural address, emphasizing the need for sustainable growth, to stay updated with the latest international and national developments and to showcase the strength and the potential of the Karur cluster. Mr. M. Prabhu, Chairman of CII – Karur District, delivered an industry address reaffirming CII-Karur’s vision & commitment and shared good practices from other sectors that could be applied to textiles.

Mr. R. Kaliyappan, President of the Karur Handloom Export Cloth Manufacturers Association (KHEXMASS), reminded us the spirit of sustainability and the responsibility we owe to future generation to leave a cleaner and greener planet. Mrs. C. Tamilselvi, Regional Deputy Director (Karur), Department of Textiles, Government of Tamil Nadu, delivered a keynote address, underscoring the importance of the MSME sector and elaborated government’s support for sustainable initiatives. She appreciated the Karur textile cluster’s proactive uptake of the various schemes and further invited the industries to take maximum benefit from the state government schemes to facilitate sustainable developments. Mr. S. Sukumar, Secretary of KTMEA, delivered the felicitation and vote of thanks to the inaugural speakers.

Industry insights were also shared by Mr. M. Palanivel Rajan, Chief Operating Officer of Asian Fabricx Private Limited, who spoke on “Sustainability in Practice at Karur,”. He not only provided the information about the progressive practices at Asian Fabricx but also highlighted the sustainable practices that the Karur cluster adopts. Mr. M. Perumal, Vice-Chairman, CII – Karur District, stressed that as the industry develops more awareness about the sustainable and circular practices, they should make all efforts to integrate sustainability into practices. Mr. S. Periasamy, a Senior Textile Expert and Sustainability Advisor for the Tirupur Exporters Association, addressed the workshop on “Global trends and relevance of Sustainability & Opportunities for SMEs”.

He explained the concepts of circularity and sustainability and enumerated how these practices can help the industry and clusters be environmentally competitive, citing Tirupur as an example. He further explained how scientific tools and data a powerful solution can be to achieve sustainability in clusters. Dr. Prabhat Bhuddha Dev from CRB and Mr. Siddharth Lulla from Intellecap detailed their initiatives and invited the SMEs to actively participate in the programs.

Key discussions revolved around two major programs:

InTex India: This project with the technical guidance from UNEP, endorsed by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, is dedicated to promoting sustainable and circular practices within the Indian textile sector. Participants learned about the importance of global tools like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-innovation, which aim to help textile clusters transition towards environmentally sound and resource-efficient production systems. Notably, the project will provide hands-on support for LCA to at least 15 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Karur cluster.

The program will also work with key stakeholders to develop and implement the vision for a sustainable and circular textile cluster in Karur. Further, a knowledge sharing mechanism will be developed to facilitate exchange of knowledge, experiences and success stories across different textile and apparel clusters the country.

EU Switch Asia – SME Decarbonization: Intellecap, through its Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF) initiative, is implementing the program “Catalyzing the Green Transition of India’s Textile & Apparel Value Chain”, with support from European Union under their Switch Asia Initiative. The program seeks to empower SMEs with knowledge, tools, resources and financing to align with global sustainability standards, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in global supply chains. This 42-month initiative focuses on reducing the environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions of 250-400 SMEs across key clusters in India’s textile and apparel value chain, while promoting circular economy practices and ESG compliance through capacity building workshops, solution showcases, technical assistance and handholding for solution adoption, and access to green financing.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan the President, KTMEA closed the proceedings by reiterating the need for sustainable and circular growth. He also emphasized the role of each stakeholder and the collaboration that is key to sustainable growth. He reaffirmed the cluster’s commitment for the successful implementation of the programs and achieving the vision for a sustainable cluster.

The workshop saw active participation from nearly 100 participants across industry, training institutions and government and served as a vital milestone to escalate and institutionalize the sustainability agenda in the Karur cluster. Local stakeholders gained a deeper understanding of the programs’ objectives, tools, and benefits, helping to build local ownership and momentum for sustainability and circularity in textile value chains.

It is evident that sustainability is the business imperative and an urgent need of the hour. Karur is all
set to meet this head-on through collaboration and achieve the vision of elevating the Karur textile
cluster.