By Arun Rao
Rapid Growth since Inception
Surat headquartered Valuetex Coating India Pvt. Ltd which began operations in February 2024, has in a short period of time acquired expertise to offer not just one functional finish on a fabric, but offers various other functional finishes on the same fabric. In addition, the company has developed expertise in manufacturing fabrics which are breathable, even though they have water repellent properties.
“We are associated with vendors who supply various textile products like raincoats and tents to the Indian armed forces. Here we do coating on nylon fabrics to make it water repellent and it is also specified that fabric should have water repellent properties for 100,000 cycles. Additionally, the same fabrics are also equipped with anti-microbial and fire-resistant properties. We can add as many finishes as required by the application. Some finishes can be combined in a single process and others need separate processes,” Mr Mansukh Vagadiya, Director at Valuetex Coating explained while speaking with The Textile Magazine.
Catering to Specialized Segments
“The fabrics that we manufacture are also supplied to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Normally water repellent fabrics do not let air pass. But we have developed water repellent fabrics which are also breathable. These same fabrics are now also used in PPE kits which offer comfort to the medical team as earlier PPE kits made from nonwovens would be water repellent but were not breathable,” he added.
Wide Range of Functional Finishes
Valuetex Coating manufactures PVC and PU coated and also bonded fabrics, while also supplying fabrics with various finishes like anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, oil repellent, blood repellent, anti-microbial, fire resistant, odour- resistant, anti-dust, etc. Their PVC coated fabrics are also used in thermal wear and are very light weight.
Fabric Varieties and Applications
“We get our fabrics printed and dyed on a job work basis. Our main fabrics are mainly polyester and nylon in various GSM’s. The fabric ranges from 55 GSM to 400 GSM. 55 GSM fabrics are used in jacketing material and raincoats. Umbrellas are made from 60 GSM fabrics. 100 GSM fabrics are used for light weight bags like tiffin bags. In luggage, brands prefer 200 GSM fabrics, while smaller luggage manufacturers prefer 120-150 GSM. In school bags which are supplied to government schools, they are made from 120 GSM. Bigger trolley bags are also manufactured in up to 400 GSM fabrics,” Mr Vagadiya informed.
Manufacturing Facility
The Valuetex Coating production facility is built on 6,500 sq. metres of land, while the built up area is 4,000 sq. metres. The company has installed a Calendar line, two coating lines, embossing machine and a fabric bonding machine. All these machines are of Chinese make. The coating capacity is 2 million metres per month and the company has around 120 employees. Whenever a customer seeks a new finish, the company develops the finish through its own R&D team. The R&D team also continuously tries to develop new or multi-functional finishes through a single process.
Compliance and Sustainability Initiatives
Compliance certificates are provided by the companies from whom the company sources chemicals. But they also test these chemicals for harmful chemicals in the in-house laboratory. Again each dispatch or batch number is accompanied by certifications from MANTRA, when the fabrics are destined for domestic markets and where the final products are meant for export, a certificate from SGS is attached.
“In developed countries, there is a ban on PVC because they contain phthalates and lead which are harmful to health. So we introduced PVC, which does not have phthalates and is lead free. This is mainly for our customers who export bags using our fabrics,” he stated.
Quality Control
“We have implemented strict quality control measures. In case of coated fabrics, 100 is full rating and we supply fabrics with minimum 90 plus ratings and if it is less, then we will either not dispatch or if dispatched then we will take back the whole batch. We also do continuous testing of the fabric every 5,000 metres when the coating process is on. We also ensure that the delta rating of the dye or print colour of the fabric is within 1.1-1.2, when there is more than one batch of the same colour,” Mr Vagadiya further said.
Commitment to Excellence
“The normal rejection rate in various factories producing the same type of coated fabrics is 2-3%. But in our factory it is around 0.8%. We have installed moisture sensors on the coating machines, which help us meet challenges if heating temperature drops in the heater. If the heat decreases, then the moisture sensor reduces the speed of the machine, while giving the fabric enough time to dry. Then once the heat reaches the optimum level needed, then the machine goes back to its original speed,” he concluded by saying.