Orders for t-shirts to party flags, Tamil Nadu urban local body polls help Tiruppur limp back to normalcy

Speaking to indianexpress.com, N Mayilsamy, the CEO of Fibre to Fashion, one of the leading manufacturing units of the town, said orders have considerably reduced in comparison to the previous years.

The manufacturers say they are finding it difficult amid rising yarn prices in the last two years. (Express)

“We used to manufacture close to 10,000 t-shirts in the election period but now we barely make 2,000 pieces. This time we got orders only from DMK and AIADMK. National parties like BJP or Congress or other regional parties have not shown much interest. The trend has changed, people now are not interested like in the older times and see wearing a party t-shirt as a prestige issue. The parties tell us to provide t-shirts which are more or less like one-time use because no one would be interested in wearing them for a longer period. Parties now order items like towels in bulk as it can be used for a longer period and it won’t differentiate them from the crowd as a t-shirt does,” he said.

Saravanakumar, who owns a small manufacturing unit in Tiruppur town, echoed similar views. He says the orders for the flags have reduced.

“DMK and AIADMK order bulk quantities of the flags and t-shirts. Our flag prices start from Rs 14 for the 20 inch x 30 inch size to Rs 100 for the 4 to 6 feet. For the general elections and assembly elections, we used to manufacture around five thousand flags per constituency and for the civic polls, it would be around 200 to 300 flags per ward. But, due to Covid restrictions, the number of campaigns has reduced, door-to-door canvassing is also not seen in large numbers. What we are manufacturing today is two folds lower than what it used to be during the pre-pandemic days. But something is better than nothing in the Covid-19 scenario,” he added.

According to a recent report in The Hindu, units in the Tiruppur cluster produce goods worth Rs 200 crore per day and use approximately 30 lakh kg of yarn a day.

Saravanakumar further explained the number of orders they used to receive during the polls and what has been the most sought-after items.

“Tees and flags are our main focus. Caps are sold at Rs 30 to Rs 50 per unit. Usually, we receive Rs 3 lakh worth of orders per constituency for manufacturing all the items, including cloth badges. For the civic polls, we receive orders worth around Rs 50,000. The rising sun (DMK logo) badge with Chief Minister M K Stalin’s picture on it is one of the items we had manufactured in large numbers in the last two years. We ship DMK, AIADMK flags and t-shirts across the state. For national parties like Congress and BJP, we used to ship the items where they are most sought,” Saravanakumar explained.

The manufacturers also say they are finding it difficult amid rising yarn prices in the last two years. According to a recent report in The Hindu, units in the Tiruppur cluster produce goods worth Rs 200 crore per day and use approximately 30 lakh kg of yarn a day.

Saravanakumar, who owns a small manufacturing unit, explained the number of orders they used to receive during the polls and what has been the most sought-after items. (Express)

An office-bearer of the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association said, “The business has picked up post-Covid-19 but the hike in raw material prices has hurt the production at garment units. We are facing a lot of difficulty in matching the price right at the beginning of the season. The MSME units are struggling and are unable to find a solution to this issue. We did protest against this hike and the government said they will sort out the issue but nothing has been done yet.”

Venkatesh, who runs a small t-shirt print unit in Boyampalayam in Tiruppur says only selected manufacturing units print t-shirts for elections. He added that BJP orders are comparatively higher than other parties.

“In Boyampalayam, we receive bulk orders from BJP. T-shirts with Prime Minister Modi’s image on them are most wanted by the saffron party. It is followed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s symbol and lotus. BJP orders t-shirts not only for the Tamil Nadu elections but even during other polls across the country. We printed about 20 lakh t-shirts during the Tamil Nadu assembly elections last year. Once we had received orders from YSR Congress to print Jagan Mohan Reddy’s picture on the t-shirts. The order numbers may vary due to logistics and other issues but BJP orders are comparatively higher than other parties in Boyampalayam. It is followed by DMK and AIADMK. Our manufacturers receive the orders from intermediaries or agents and we divide the workload accordingly,” he said.

Interestingly, the manufacturers of Boyampalaym shipped around 50 lakh t-shirts with Nelson Mandela’s face printed on them to South Africa after his demise in 2013.

The manufacturers say that with outstation workers yet to return to the units, the recent orders have given sufficient workflow for the available local labourers.

“If they return to take their older positions, most of the Tamils living here would become jobless again. In the last two years, we have seen many small manufacturing units and ancillary units of garments shutting shop due to lack of orders. No new manufacturing units have come up. The election orders have given us a new ray of hope,” Venkatesh said.