Shaping the Textile Future: A Collaborative Dialogue Between India, Germany, and EU Textile Leaders

Dr. Gloy & Ant­on Schu­mann

At the pres­ti­gi­ous Heim­tex­til 2025 in Frank­furt, a vibrant meet­ing of minds took place, unit­ing glob­al lead­ers from India, Ger­many, and the European Uni­on to dis­cuss the future of the tex­tile industry. The event, spear­headed by Uni­on Min­is­ter Giri­raj Singh of the Indi­an Gov­ern­ment and organ­ized by Gherzi Ger­many, served as a power­ful plat­form to address the crit­ic­al themes of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, digit­al­iz­a­tion, and cross-bor­der invest­ment in tex­tiles.

Key gov­ern­ment and industry stake­hold­ers, includ­ing Rohit Kansal, Addi­tion­al Sec­ret­ary (Tex­tiles), Nar­en Goen­ka, Chair­man of BTTF, and Bhad­resh Dod­hia, Co-Chair­man of BTTF, joined forces with vis­ion­ary cor­por­ate lead­ers to forge a sus­tain­able path for­ward.

Highlights of the Dialogue: Perspectives from Global Leaders

Deepali Goen­ka – CEO, Welspun Indus­tries (India)

Deepali Goen­ka pas­sion­ately emphas­ized sus­tain­ab­il­ity as the corner­stone of future busi­ness prac­tices, announ­cing Welspun’s ambi­tious goal of achiev­ing CO₂ neut­ral­ity by 2030. She high­lighted the company’s open­ness to innov­at­ive tech­no­lo­gies and sup­ply chain trans­form­a­tions to drive effi­ciency and envir­on­ment­al respons­ib­il­ity.

Wern­er Moser – Head of Sales, MATTES Group (Ger­many)

Rep­res­ent­ing one of Germany’s lead­ing tech­nic­al tex­tiles pro­du­cers, Wern­er Moser praised the tech­nic­al expert­ise and reli­ab­il­ity of Indi­an part­ners, not­ing their advanced cap­ab­il­it­ies in sup­ply chain man­age­ment. He expressed keen interest in pur­su­ing joint ven­tures in India, espe­cially with­in the auto­mot­ive and tech­nic­al tex­tiles sec­tors, where col­lab­or­a­tion could unlock unpar­alleled growth.

Sebasti­an van de Loo & Kai Timpe – Lead­ers, DMIX Col­or­di­git­al (Ger­many)

The DMIX team show­cased their cut­ting-edge col­or-match­ing soft­ware, which stream­lines sup­ply chain oper­a­tions while con­serving water, energy, and resources. They expressed an eager­ness to part­ner with Indi­an firms to revo­lu­tion­ize digit­al­iz­a­tion in the tex­tile sup­ply chain, fos­ter­ing sus­tain­able innov­a­tion.

San­jeev Gre­w­al – Head of MEAP, AMANN Group (India)

Hav­ing launched oper­a­tions in India in 2024, AMANN Group was recog­nized as India’s Sus­tain­able Com­pany of the Year 2024. San­jeev Gre­w­al out­lined plans to deep­en part­ner­ships in India, striv­ing for CO₂ neut­ral­ity and con­tin­ued advance­ments in sus­tain­able prac­tices. Fur­ther talks are planned at the Bhar­a­tex for­um in New Del­hi, mark­ing a pivotal moment for India-Ger­many tex­tile col­lab­or­a­tion.

Prof. Thomas Gries – Dean, Tex­tile Depart­ment, RWTH Aachen Uni­ver­sity (Ger­many)

Pro­fess­or Gries brought an aca­dem­ic per­spect­ive, envi­sion­ing a future where cross-bor­der edu­ca­tion and know­ledge-shar­ing plat­forms empower a new gen­er­a­tion of tex­tile engin­eers and man­agers. He pro­posed estab­lish­ing a joint India-Ger­many digit­al data­base, akin to trans­form­at­ive tools like Chat­G­PT, to equip industry pro­fes­sion­als with real-time solu­tions.

Kon­stantin Rou­ette – Own­er, Rou­ette Exec­ut­ive Search (Ger­many)

As a renowned headhunter in the tech­nic­al indus­tries, Rou­ette under­scored the demo­graph­ic poten­tial of India’s youth­ful work­force. He advoc­ated for policies that encour­age loc­al oper­a­tions with a glob­al out­look, stress­ing the import­ance of seam­less gov­ern­ment and cor­por­ate col­lab­or­a­tion.

Chris­ti­an Rost – CEO, ROFA (Ger­many)

As a lead­er in work­wear man­u­fac­tur­ing, Chris­ti­an Rost praised India’s ver­tic­al sup­ply chains, which enable both high qual­ity and reli­ab­il­ity. He expressed optim­ism about sourcing oppor­tun­it­ies in India, recog­niz­ing its grow­ing prom­in­ence in the glob­al tex­tile land­scape.

Flori­an Schu­mach­er, Fabi­an Scholz & Sal­va­raj J – Li & Fung (Glob­al)

Rep­res­ent­at­ives of Li & Fung high­lighted India’s poten­tial as a glob­al sourcing hub, par­tic­u­larly as the tex­tile industry shifts its focus from East Asia. They emphas­ized India’s stra­tegic advant­age in sup­ply chain integ­ra­tion and its capa­city to meet EU and MEA mar­ket demands, solid­i­fy­ing its role in the 21st-cen­tury tex­tile eco­nomy.

Ant­on Schu­mann & Dr. Gloy – Gherzi Ger­many

The rep­res­ent­at­ives of Gherzi Ger­many facil­it­ated dis­cus­sions with energy and enthu­si­asm, not­ing the syn­ergy among par­ti­cipants and the shared vis­ion for a sus­tain­able tex­tile future.

Key Takeaways from the Forum

This land­mark event illu­min­ated the untapped poten­tial for col­lab­or­a­tion between India, Ger­many, and the EU in tex­tiles. Dis­cus­sions centered on:

• Sus­tain­ab­il­ity: Set­ting ambi­tious CO₂ neut­ral­ity tar­gets and fos­ter­ing eco-friendly innov­a­tion.
• Digit­al­iz­a­tion: Adopt­ing advanced tech­no­lo­gies for seam­less design, devel­op­ment, and sup­ply chain man­age­ment.
• Invest­ment Oppor­tun­it­ies: Build­ing joint ven­tures and strength­en­ing cross-bor­der sup­ply chains.

A heart­felt thank you to Min­is­ter Giri­raj Singh, Gherzi Ger­many, and all par­ti­cipants for ignit­ing such a for­ward-think­ing dia­logue. This col­lab­or­a­tion sym­bol­izes a united com­mit­ment to shap­ing a sus­tain­able, innov­at­ive, and inclus­ive tex­tile industry for gen­er­a­tions to come.