The 13th edition of the Knit-Tech, a knitting technology trade fair organised by Hi-tech International Trade Fair and approved by the India Trade Promotion Organisation concluded yesterday on February 9.

More than 200 companies from India and abroad were exhibiting state-of-the-art machinery related to the knitwear production which include circular knitting machines, dyeing and finishing machines, knit printing appliances, computerised flat knitting machines, yarn conditioning machines, sewing machines and fabric dyeing machines, among others.

Apart from these, textile printing inks, air treatment solutions, spares of embroidery machines, knitting accessories, stripped fabrics, air compressors and needles used for production of hosiery items were displayed.

Since the exhibition was approved by the India Trade Promotion Organisation, exhibitors from foreign countries were able to bring the instruments without the payment of import duty for its display.

The organisers had also organised fashion shows and seminars to give value-addition to the exhibition.

The ‘vintage apparel machinery museum’ set up at the 13th edition of knitting technology fair at Thirumuruganpoondi near here draws hundreds of apparel entrepreneurs and youth. It gave an added flavor to the event. It took the visitors through a journey of transformation which the apparel machinery under went in the last three centuries.

Some of the attractions at the museum include the models/sketches of the 18th century Swiss Box Iron, which used a heated metal piece placed inside the hollow of the iron to press the fabrics without scorching the cloth, and a multi-system hosiery circular knitting machine used more than a century ago, paving way for the production of high-quality socks.

Model of a power embroidery machine used during the Industrial Revolution era from 1760 to 1820 was also a huge attraction.

Raja Shanmugam, an apparel exporter and chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (Tirupur district council), opined that young entrepreneurs should get inspired and go for modernizing the inventory in their units to keep up with the changes and demands of the apparel production.

The museum was conceptualised by the organisers along with NIFT-TEA Knitwear Institute and Boomanz— a fashion consultancy firm