India’s Knitwear Capital Strives to Ensure Its Future

TIRUPUR, India — Over the last 20 years, this small town in southern India has grown from a nondescript hamlet to become the country’s knitwear capital, providing more than a quarter of the nation’s garment export revenues. Home to more than 5,000 garment factories — mostly small to medium-size — the city is a sourcing base for both Indian retailers and global brands, including Puma and Gap. But in the last year, Tirupur has seen an 8 percent decline in production and the industry’s executives have been forced to examine ways to ensure its future. Revenues of the Tirupur-based garment industry were 240 billion rupees, or about $4 billion at current exchange rates, in the financial year 2017–18, out of India’s total apparel export revenues of $17 billion. Nearly 40 percent of Tirupur’s production is exported to the European Union, 35 percent to the U.S., and the remainder to other parts of the world, including Russia. A. Sakthivel, a large and powerful man, owner of Poppys Knitwear and former president of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), has been keeping a close eye on the changing ethos in the city for the last 35 years, making representations to state and central governments, and keeping in

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