For the first time, a national seminar on 'Product variants in technical textiles with special reference to small scale industrial sector' to be held on February 27. The seminar will be organized jointly by the office of textile commissioner, ministry of textile, government of India and the Man-Made Textile Research Association (MANTRA).

The textile ministry and MANTRA have joined hands to encourage the small and medium enterprises in south Gujarat region to take up value addition by setting up converter units for manufacturing baby care and hygiene products from non-woven technical textile (TT).

The workshop is aimed at connecting missing dots and provides practical information on how to develop usable consumer products and market them in the urban and rural areas. The converter sector for non-woven is the future of the TT industry and Surat could be a potential centre for it, said S K Basu, director of MANTRA.

Non-wovens have a significant share of the total technical textile (TT) sector. There are two segments in the industry; one is manufacturers of basic non-wovens and other is converters. The converters are those who make value added products like diapers, sanitary napkins, underpad, wipes, soft cast padding, wadings, molded automotive etc. from non-wovens.

Non-woven manufacturers are mostly in medium and large sector. The converter sector consist of small and medium scale enterprises that converts roll goods to useful products.

MANTRA, according to Basu, is the designated centre of excellence in technical textiles by the government of Gujarat and Centre of Excellence in Agrotech by the government of India in the sectors namely coating and lamination, non-woven technology and converter technology.