One of tex.tracer's proud partners, Karthic, was at the office in December 2023. We spoke with him about his company and working with tex.tracer.
In 1987 Karthic’s father-in-law founded VP Knit Fashion, a circle knit confectioning factory in Tirupur, the South of India. Throughout the years the company has grown to a 200-machine factory, in 2015 Karthic became CEO and since then, sustainability has become an important factor in the company.
Can you tell us a bit more about your experience of working with tex.tracer over the years?
I started working with tex.tracer in 2020, right at the start and am proud that I was one of the first persons to work with them. It has been a great journey so far, it is such a great initiative to realise transparent supply chains, I consider it an honour to be part of it from the start.
Working with tex.tracer is has made our day to day life a lot easier, it is like we don’t have to worry about the supply chain at all, because it is all there in the platform. Clients understand where the supply chain starts and ends, and all the data can be accessed in one platform. This is especially a big benefit in my opinion, as we used to work with Excel sheets and track the records of each supplier there manually, not it is all in a digital platform which is so much easier.
In your opinion, how important is transparency in the fashion industry?
"Transparency is a means to save the environment and every living thing involved in the supply chain".
After the Rana Plaza incident, there was a big question mark in the industry, and big gap in the market. That is when the first awareness started. Through creating transparency, we can find out if there is anything going wrong in the supply chain, and if so, act based on those gained insights. It allows us to ensure there are no longer harmful practices happening in the supply chain. Transparency is the first step to making sure everyone’s life is safe, gets fair salaries and has good working conditions.
How is tex.tracer helping with your sustainability efforts?
Sustainability doesn’t only have to do with the product, but also entails the process. When it comes to the process, it is important to keep a record of all the steps you carry out, especially in the fashion industry as it is so complex. This is exactly what tex.tracer is helping us with, getting that record of all the steps so we have an overview of all the processes that are being carried out and can take improvements based on that data.
VP Knits is also Fair Trade certified, can you tell us a bit more about this?
Becoming Fair Trade was something we worked on prior to working with tex.tracer, in 2018 so for five years already now. It was a way to step into becoming more sustainable, switching to fair trade cotton was an important step to improve our processes, it is still one of the biggest initiatives of VP Knit.
What is the goal with being Fair Trade certified, working with tex.tracer and the other sustainability initiatives?
Our aim is to open a 100% sustainable green factory in the very near future, around a year or two.
Working with tex.tracer and other parties helps us in realising this. It is a tough job, considering the market conditions at this moment, but my mission is very clear; the new factory should only produce sustainable products and at the same time ensure a safe, happy and healthy life for the people working there.
In addition to this, future generations should be able to pursue with this and maintain to stay away from chemicals in the factories as well as the current, unhealthy work culture, and lifestyle.
"I am determined to change to 100% sustainable processes for people and planet".
Feel free to reach out to Karthic with any queries:info@vpknitfashions.com
Curious about our previous interview with Karthic? Click here
