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Knitted garments from eri silk
| ‘These are user-friendly, all-season clothes’ |
Comfort cloth: Knitted garment made of eri silk developed by NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion with the funding support of Central Silk Board.
Tirupur: Researchers of NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion, an institute promoted by Tirupur Exporters Association, has carved a niche for themselves by developing a technology to produce knitted garments from ‘eri silk spun yarn’.
Eri silk, a wild silk reared by tribal communities, is previously used for making only woven garments.
The institute team led by K.V.Kumar, head (apparel fashion design), has developed the technology with the funding support of Central Silk Board under Government of India, under a product development project.
“Our aim has been to tap the enormous tensile properties of eri silk and develop knitwear products out of it to help the exporters in the knitwear cluster of Tirupur fetch higher unit value realization (UVR) for their produces,” said Mr Kumar. “Once started, the commercial production of knitwear garments from eri silk will in turn help improving the economic condition of the tribal people, who are the main cultivators of eri silk in the wild,” he added.
‘These are user-friendly, all-season clothes,’ Mr. Kumar says regarding the knitted products developed out of eri silk. The good ‘moisture management’ properties possessed by eri silk makes these garments an ideal choice as summer and sports wear, while its excellent thermal properties makes it a perfect winter wear. Another salient feature is its medicinal value since eri silk is a natural protein fibre.
The launching of this novel product is slated to be held in Tirupur shortly.
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