By Arun Rao
Rooted in Tradition, Driven by Vision
Surat based coated fabrics manufacturer AJY Tech India Pvt. Ltd. goes beyond fabrics. It weaves trust, sustainability, and innovation into every thread, shaping a greener future for technical textiles. Although there are several segments in the technical textiles sector like Agrotech, Buildtech, Geotech, Hometech, Meditech, Packtech, Protech, etc, the company decided to concentrate on mainly the Packtech segment. The vision to focus on the Packtech segment came from the family business of trading in lining fabrics for leather goods since 1986.
From Anti-Fray Beginnings to Coated Fabric Pioneers
“In 2010, a trend started of Anti-Fray Coating on fabrics, which prevents the ends from fraying when the fabric is being cut. We also decided to start something similar and so purchased the land on which this factory has been built. In 2013, we began commercial production of coated fabrics,” CEO ,Mr Ajay Mundhra said while speaking with The Textile Magazine.
The company began with installing a coating line which had a capacity of 30,000 metres per day. With passage of time, Mr Mundhra gained further knowledge about various other coated fabrics and also the chemicals used in the coating process and increased the company’s product range to supply to the luggage segment.
Expanding Backwards for Better Control
“In 2018, we backward integrated and started a weaving plant with 27 waterjet looms and continued to expand weaving capacity with passage of years and reached 42 looms with a capacity of 10,000 metres per day. In 2022, we started a dyeing unit under the same roof which has a capacity of 30,000 metres per day. We later also added a second coating line and so now have a daily coating capacity of 40,000 metres,” Mr Mundhra added.
Diverse Offerings for Luggage and Beyond
In the luggage segment, AJY Tech India supplies outer fabric for backpacks, soft luggage and also inner lining for these products, but still continues to manufacture and supply inner fabrics for the leather industry. Since the last one year, the company has ventured into athleasiure fabrics.
Advanced Coatings and Functional Finishes
“Within coating we offer various coatings like acrylic coating, anti-fray coating, polyurethane (PU) coating, etc in which there are several applications like luggage, breathable coating for rainwear and also for winter clothing. We also offer functional finishes like anti-static, anti-microbial or water repellency in which we provide C6 as well as C0 chemistry. C6 contains fluorocarbons, while C0 is non-hazardous,” he stated.
AJY Tech India’s major portion of business comes from developing customised fabrics for its customers. In earlier years, new developments in coated fabrics used to come from China. But now the company has started offering new or customised products, whether in the form of fabrics, designs or finishes.
Quality at the Core
The company has a state of the art quality control laboratory and is equipped with a Tensile Testing Machine to measure fabric strength and elongation; Spray Rating Tester, which tests water resistance under spray conditions; Tearing Testing Machine, which assesses tear resistance; Hydrostatic Testing Machine which evaluates water resistance and Spectro Photo Meter Machine which analyzes color consistency and accuracy. These equipments ensure top-quality results. Additionally, the company has impressive compliance certificates like Global Recycled Standard (GRS), ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001, Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) and ZDHC.
Committed to a Greener Tomorrow
According to Mr Mundhra, sustainability has become an important factor in the textile industry as it is one of the most polluted industries in the world, so AJY Tech India tries to adopt sustainable measures wherever possible. “For our boilers, we have started using bio-coal instead of wood or coal which helps us in reducing our carbon footprint. We also continuously try to reduce water consumption in our dyeing plant. The polluted water from our dyeing plant is discharged into a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) after primary treatment. In our new upcoming plant, we are planning to install solar panels which will account for 100% of our electricity consumption.”
Scaling Up to Meet Rising Demand
The current plant has reached optimum production capacity so AJY Tech India is now in the process of setting up a new plant which will double its production capacity when compared with existing capacity and will produce the current product range. The current plant has a built-up area of 100,000 sq. feet while the built-up area of new plant will be 250,000 sq. feet
Unlocking India’s Technical Textile Potential
“The technical textiles segment in India is still at a very nascent stage although the space as well as application area is very huge and growth opportunities are abundant. Production in India can still not meet the demand of the Indian market. “In case of the Indian luggage industry, all Indian manufacturers like us can meet just 25-30% of the demand and so 70% of coated fabrics are still being imported majorly from China and Taiwan. There are many global brands which are still not sourcing from India,” he informed.