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An introduction and reflection on the selected papers at the 2021 Textile and Place Conference. Written by Uthra Rajgopal, Independent Curator, during her Curatorial Residency at the Shrujan Living and Learning Design Centre, Kutch, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA), which had governed the global textile and apparel trade was replaced by the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) on January 1, 2005. The removal of quota restrictions has brought comparative advantage back to significant surplus economies such as China and India, and has also provided significant opportunities as well as challenges to the developing economies. Compared to its competitors, the Indian textile industry enjoys certain advantages, but at the same time, the industry also faces numerous challenges in the changed trade scenario. In this context, the present study analyses the performance of the Indian textile industry in terms of its export performance changes in the composition and destination of textile exports in the post-MFA period. The analysis period is from 1990-91 to 2020-21, divided into a transition period (1990-2004) and a post-MFA period (2005-2020). The annual growth of textile exports from India registered fluctuations both during the transition and post-MFA regime. The mean values of the major subsectors of Indian textiles, viz, readymade garments, cotton textiles, and manmade textiles were higher in the post-MFA than during the transition period. The regression results show improved performance in the exports of textiles, readymade garments, cotton textiles, and manmade textiles in the post-MFA period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, economic historians have revisited the Industrial Revolution in a global context. Their interpretations rely mostly on comparative methods. This article shows instead that there is a profound and significant relationship between industrialization and global exchange, and that consumption of cotton textiles was central to such a relationship. Yet, historians should not consider global trade in the context of separate world regions. The history of cotton textiles reveals the extent to which the worldwide integration of different spaces of commerce and consumption, most especially those of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, brought advantages to European traders and manufacturers. Taking this view, the article argues that the demand and consumption of textiles were important in determining the scale as well as the shape and specialisms of European textile production. This was not only the demand generated by European consumers — as supported by much of the European 'consumer revolution' literature — but also the demand of a wider group of users in the Atlantic region. The reshaping of trade and consumption in turn had important consequences for the production of cotton textiles both in India and in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at bringing out the cultural, economic, and political importance that Khadi has for India from pre-colonial times, during the colonial rule and after independence till the present times. The paper brings out Khadi's potential in rural development by solving the pressing concerns of unemployment and working conditions in developing countries like India. In spite of this, Khadi's potential at rural development is subsided by the contemporary threats the industry faces due to the different agents of neoliberalism, discussed in the paper. The questionnaire report on workers collected at the Cheriyakonni production unit and information collected at the District Project Office Trivandrum; brings out that rural women are the largest workforce victims of these threats, as the industry is slowly showing signs of degradation. Methodology: The research paper is based on both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Data is collected from Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) Project Office Thiruvananthapuram through interviews. Questionnaire is conducted on workers of Cheriyakonni Production Unit, Thiruvananthapuram that operates under the board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every nation treasures its handloom heritage, and in India, the handloom industry safeguards cultural traditions, sustains millions of artisans, and preserves ancient weaving techniques. To protect this legacy, a critical need arises to distinguish genuine handloom products, exemplified by the renowned "gamucha" from India's northeast, from counterfeit powerloom imitations. Our study's objective is to create an AI tool for effortless detection of authentic handloom items amidst a sea of fakes. Six deep learning architectures—VGG16, VGG19, ResNet50, InceptionV3, InceptionResNetV2, and DenseNet201—were trained on annotated image repositories of handloom and powerloom towels (17,484 images in total, with 14,020 for training and 3464 for validation). A novel deep learning model was also proposed. Despite respectable training accuracies, the pre-trained models exhibited lower performance on the validation dataset compared to our novel model. The proposed model outperformed pre-trained models, demonstrating superior validation accuracy, lower validation loss, computational efficiency, and adaptability to the specific classification problem. Notably, the existing models showed challenges in generalizing to unseen data and raised concerns about practical deployment due to computational expenses. This study pioneers a computer-assisted approach for automated differentiation between authentic handwoven "gamucha"s and counterfeit powerloom imitations—a groundbreaking recognition method. The methodology presented not only holds scalability potential and opportunities for accuracy improvement but also suggests broader applications across diverse fabric products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega FTA's are majorly driven by a complex nexus of economic and political factors often reflecting protection of sale, a state-centric objective, which pays attention to local societal players. The consecutive pursuit of multilateral trade negotiations and agreements by a small group of economies has positively contributed to boosting the dynamics of international trade. Due to the diminishing economic importance of North America and protectionist sentiment rising in the European Union, economic integration and regional cooperation have been initiated among the East Asia and South East Asia region. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is considered one of the largest economic integration in Asia, functional as a trade bloc. India opted out of the RCEP with raising concerns from certain sectors like agriculture, textile, and allied sectors, among other sectors. However, a question needs attention - Is the decision to retract from RCEP a smart move by India? The current paper aims to answer this question by sermonizing concerns raised by two crucial sectors, i.e., Agriculture and Textile. To achieve this objective, set for the particular study, parameters like Volume of Exports and Imports of India and RCEP, Exports and Imports between India and RCEP nations in fields of Agriculture and Textiles are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste management in the textile and clothing (TAC) industry is a challenging issue due to high resource consumption and pollution generation. Therefore, the adoption of industrial symbiosis (IS) is the need of the hour for the TAC industry. However, the adoption of IS in emerging economies like India, Brazil, Bangladesh, etc. is limited due to various impediments. The present work aims to identify and analyse these barriers and develop mitigation strategies in the context of Indian TAC industry. Eighteen IS barriers have been identified and validated; and the interrelationships among them are studied by applying the 'weighted influence non-linear gauge system (WINGS)' method, which not only estimates the intensity of influence but also takes the self-strength of barriers into account. The results show that lack of trust amongst supply chain partners, lack of financial incentives from the government, lack of guidance from regularity bodies and industry associations and lack of consumer awareness are the most significant barriers. Additionally, the strategies to mitigate these barriers are developed based on a quadruple helix framework considering academia--government-industry-society as the main actors. The findings of the study will be helpful for the TAC industry, policymakers and other concerned stakeholders in framing suitable strategies to improve the long-term waste management practices of the industry and to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs)., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This paper presents a hybrid model of teaching and learning that proposes new possibilities for exchanging tangible and intangible cross-cultural knowledge in textile craft education. The paper aims to demonstrate how online platforms can be used creatively to disseminate traditional craft knowledge and skills in new ways. The discussion centres on a unique virtual global studio between fashion and textile undergraduate students at the University of Technology Sydney and on an artisanal woodblock print studio, Tharangini, based in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India. The hybrid workshop was an adaptation of the studio in response to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. The author argues that while the internet cannot replace the immersive cultural experience of studying in another country, digital platforms have a place alongside teaching to offer otherwise impossible opportunities. This paper explores a methodology for disseminating craft knowledge and skills across cultures through a combination of online and in-house practicum. Classes were structured around weekly Zoom sessions with Director Padmini Govind, where sustainable approaches to print production were disseminated through a suite of commissioned films and hand-carved woodblocks to explore on campus. The results show how this unique adaptation allowed students to interact with the artisan craft of woodblock printing in rich and varied ways, and it proposes that this novel hybrid model can be creatively adapted to future craft education in the 2020s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was performed to assess the physicochemical properties of textile effluents collected from different sampling points (industrial park, Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India) and also evaluate the multiple metal tolerance efficiency of pre-isolated Aspergillus flavus. Moreover, their textile effluent decolourization potential was investigated and quantity and temperature required for effective bioremediation was optimized. About 5 textile effluent samples (S0, S1, S2, S3, and S4) were collected from various sampling points and noted that certain physicochemical properties (pH: 9.64 ± 0.38, Turbidity: 18.39 ± 1.4 NTU, Cl - : 3185.38 ± 15.8 mg L -1 , BOD: 82.52 ± 6.9 mg L -1 , COD: 342.28 ± 8.9 mg L -1 , Ni: 74.21 ± 4.31 mg L -1 , Cr: 48.52 ± 18.34 mg L -1 , Cd: 34.85 ± 1.2 mg L -1 , Zn: 25.52 ± 2.4 mg L -1 , Pb: 11.25 ± 1.5 mg L -1 , Hg: 1.8 ± 0.05 mg L -1 , and As: 7.1 ± 0.41 mg L -1 ) were beyond the permissible limits. The A. flavus, showed remarkable metal tolerance to Pb, As, Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd, Hg, and Zn on PDA plates with elevated dosage up to 1000 μg mL -1 . The optimal dosage required for effective decolourization was found as 3 g (48.2%) and compare to dead biomass (42.1%) of A. flavus, the viable biomass showed remarkable decolourization activity on textile effluents in a short duration of treatment process. The optimal temperature for effective decolourization by viable biomass was found at 32 ᵒC. The toxic effects of S4 samples treated at 32 ᵒC on O. sativa as well as brine shrimp larvae were significantly reduced. These findings show that pre-isolated A. flavus viable biomass can be used to decolorize metal-enriched textile effluent. Furthermore, the effectiveness of their metals remediation should be investigated using ex-situ and ex-vivo approaches., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Our study is based on a workplace ethnography conducted between Jan-May 2020 in an AI research lab of an Indian service-based IT organization, whose operations shifted from co-located work to work from home (WFH) owing to the recent pandemic. The field notes of the ethnographer, working as a full-time intern in a running AI project within this lab, is the basis for the qualitative data for this study. We discuss the socio-technical aspects and the specific challenges of distributed team-working due to the WFH norms facing such emerging research units, which are rapidly diffusing across the IT industry in the offshoring context, particularly in India. We rely on work system theory as a map to bring out key findings from our ethnographic observations. The findings point to the importance of having workflows compatible with the specific work roles in such emerging work systems – particularly for the beginner roles in the AI space. Our study contributes to the IS literature by depicting the challenges of distributed teams in a relatively novel setting emerging in offshoring contexts like the Indian IT sector, and suggests implications for managers handling AI projects and tackling employee-focused Human Resource practices in such settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interests of scientists in the natural dyes for not only textile colouration but also clean production of functional fabric materials, has led to the development and application of ancient nature-based sources of colourants. Historical textiles are considered as important artefacts that present the culture and society from antient time to contemporary centuries, as well as the database to develop the functional materials. Study of organic colourants in ancient textiles is an effective approach to investigate the historical dyeing science and technology, likewise evolve the bio-colourants for modern applications. Plant-based colouring matters were widely utilized since the early textile civilization until the early 20th century. Currently, several anthraquinone colourants are discovered from vegetation, especially the morindone which was widely used in traditional fabric dyeing techniques of Southeast Asia, India and the Pacific Islands. In this context, the principal focus of this study is anthraquinone-based morindone dye, started from a brief overview of natural anthraquinone dyes in historical textiles, followed by the detailed discussion on biological sources, extraction of morindin, modification to red morindone pigment, as well as the summary of mordanting and dyeing method. For intensive investigation of the practical utilization of organic morindone in historical textiles, some recent works using analytical methods including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), are thoroughly discussed. Furthermore, the potential antimicrobial and ultraviolet protective performances of morindone dye are analysed with respect to effective application of morindone in functional textiles. • Anthraquinone-based morindone dye extracted from Rubiaceae family. • Morindone in the interaction with metal mordant and textile fibres. • Intensive investigation of morindone in historical textiles by HPLC and SERS. • Antimicrobial and UV protective properties of morindone dyed textiles. • Future perspectives of historical natural colourants for functional textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Bharat Tex 2024 event, which showcased India's textile industry and emphasized sustainability. The event featured over 3,500 exhibitors and 3,000 buyers from around the world, with a focus on sustainable textiles and innovation. It also included live demonstrations of traditional crafts and highlighted the handloom and handicraft traditions of various regions in India. The event was organized by a consortium of textile export promotion councils and supported by the Ministry of Textiles. Additionally, the article mentions a collaboration between Henkel and Samsung to offer a custom wash cycle in South Korea that combines superior wash performance with energy efficiency. The cycle utilizes Henkel's Persil Deep Clean enzyme technology and Samsung's AI Bubble technology to deliver a deep clean while reducing energy consumption. [Extracted from the article]

This study emphasizes the policies, strategies, trade agreements, and export promotional activities undertaken by the Indian government to develop the Apparel and Textile Industry. The government's emphasis is on improving textile manufacturing by building the best quality manufacturing capability, improving technology that fosters creativity, and enhancing competencies and conventional strengths in the textile sector to ensure inclusive and participatory growth for India. The primary data has been collected through a questionnaire to analyze exporters' views and opinions on various issues related to government textile policies, promotional strategies, impact of national and international affairs on the textile export market, and on questions about problems and suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removal of synthetic textile dyes poses a challenge to the textile industry and a threat to the environment's flora and fauna. These dyes are recalcitrant and not very amenable to physical and chemical techniques of degradation. Hence, several studies on alternative bioremediation methods involving plants, plant roots, single microbes, or a consortium of microbes for the decolorization of dyes have been carried out. In the present study, potent bacteria for dye decolorization were isolated from rhizospheric soil of mangrove plants collected from Kamothe, Navi Mumbai, India. Of the 20 isolates obtained after enrichment, seven isolates were used for further screening of efficient decolorization ability in minimal basal media containing 10% glucose, 2.5% trace metal solution, and 0.1% of Methyl Orange (MO) dye concentration. Physiological parameters to optimize the decolorization of dye at optimum pH, temperature, and incubation time were studied for all the seven isolates. UV–vis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to investigate dye decolorization. The seven isolates were characterized morphologically, biochemically, and molecular identification of these bacterial isolates was performed by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. The isolates were identified as Bacillus paramycoides, Pseudomonas taiwanensis, Citrobacter murliniae, Acinetobacter pitti, Exiguobacterium acetylicum, Psychrobacter celer, and Aeromonas taiwanensis. Out of these, Aeromonas taiwanensis has shown exceptional capacity by ~ 100% decolorization of azo dye in minimum time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gum karaya (GK), which is produced by Sterculia urens trees, is complex carbohydrate exudate. This natural gum is commercially important global commodity, produced mostly in Asian and African countries. It is nondigestible and forms high viscosity solution in water. It is an ideal choice for applications in several foods and pharmaceuticals due to its binding, emulsifying, stabilizing and shelf-life improving properties. It has been found successful in drug delivery, drug microencapsulation, bioremediation and nanotechnology applications, and there exists further scope for exploring, unexplored area. The production of GK has declined in Asian countries like India, due to reduction in the resource base as a result of over-exploitation. The demand of natural products is increasing. To meet the future demand, there is a need to increase the resource base and propagate sustainable methods of GK production. The decreasing production of GK needs to be increased for sustainable livelihood of poor tribal people living in resource-constrained areas in Asian and African countries. Current literature documents research work carried out in determining its composition and properties, its application in food, pharmaceutical, bioremediation and other industries such as textile, tannery, plant micropropagation and paper making. This review emphasizes the scope of GK in various applications and its future prospects as a natural polysaccharide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly dealt with the technical and economic feasibility of an off-grid hybrid power generation system for a remote rural Turtuk village of Ladakh, located in the northern part of India. The study showed that the proposed configured renewable integrated hybrid system, using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, efficiently met the energy demand, exhibiting optimum performance with low investment. The proposed PV(115 kW)/Wind(1 kW)/Battery(164 strings of 6 V each)/DG(50 kW) hybrid system was a highly commendable, feasible solution preferred from a total of 133,156 available solutions resulting from HOMER simulations. The net present cost and energy cost of the proposed configuration were $278,176 and $0.29/kWh, respectively. The proposed hybrid configuration fulfilled local load, with 95.97% reduced dominant harmful carbon dioxide emission, as compared to the sole us of a diesel generator power supply system. The technical performance of the hybrid system was ensured, with advantages including the highest renewable penetration and least unmet load. Furthermore, the analysis exclusively evaluated the impact of the system's economic parameters (namely, its expected inflation rate, nominal discount rate, and project lifetime) on the net present cost and cost of energy of the system using a noble single fix duo vary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of disposable face masks increased rapidly among the general public to control the COVID-19 spread. Eventually, it increased the disposal of masks and their associated impacts on environmental pollution. Hence, this study aims to analyze the impact of nonwoven fabric structural parameters and weathering on the microfiber release characteristics. Spunbond polypropylene nonwoven with four different weights and meltblown nonwoven with two different weights were used in this study to analyze microfiber release at dry, and wet conditions to simulate improper disposal in the environment. Exposure to sunlight significantly increases the microfiber release from 35 to 50% for spunbond fabric and 56-89% for meltblown fabric. Weathering in sunlight structurally affected the tensile properties of the polypropylene fibers due to photodegradation. The study showed that each mask can produce 1.5 × 10 2 and 3.45 × 10 1  mg of microfiber/mask respectively in dry and wet states. In the case of structural parameters, a higher GSM (grams per square meter), abrasion resistance, bursting strength, and thickness showed a positive correlation with microfiber release in both fabrics. Significantly a higher microfiber release was reported with meltblown fabric than the spunbond for a given GSM. The presence of finer fibers and more fibers per unit area in meltblown fabric was noted as the main cause. Nonwoven fabric GSM and the number of fibers in a specific area showed a higher influence on microfiber release. Based on the mask consumption reported in the literature, India alone can produce around 4.27 × 10 2 tons of microfibers/week as an average of dry and wet conditions. The study suggests that the proper selection of physical parameters can significantly reduce the microfiber fiber release at all stages., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The defect classification of knitted fabrics is a challenging area of research. Most of the defect detection works in India; Bangladesh is being carried by manually trained inspectors. The long working hours and the working environment at the company induces the fatigue, lack of concentration, and triteness to the workers due to this they may not able to detect the defects on the clothes after it is manufactured. To overcome this problem, a computer-aided defect detection system is being developed using digital image processing and artificial neural Network methods. The two types of artificial neural networks were applied to compare the results obtained. The networks were: a back propagation based feed forward neural network and the other was Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm based back propagation network. Experimental results predicted detection of a high degree of variety of fabric defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has a long history with textiles, and its handcrafted textiles and costumes are its greatest assets. The purpose of this study is to investigate potential uses for the Indian fabric Khadi and how they might be adapted for garments. Additionally, the government's targeted and advantageous policies, supported by design inputs, would boost the Khadi industry. Khadi product diversification has enormous promise since it can help the textile and apparel industry's "Make in India" and "Skill India" efforts succeed. The paper makes a contribution to the field of sustainable design for the benefit of society, the economy, and the environment. The purpose of the paper is to reposition Khadi as a fashion textile product that is both sustainable and compatible with contemporary Indian and global customer lifestyles. The global economy is expanding, and consumers now recognize their obligation to protect the environment and are prepared to take genuine steps to do so. The stakeholders must raise awareness, create a brand identity, and reposition Khadi in both Indian and international markets in order to give the movement more traction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]