Piyush Goyal | NIFT should work towards a larger vision of improving the incomes of weavers & artisans

The Minister for Textiles, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs,  Food & Public Distribution Shri Piyush Goyal reviewed key Consultancy and Developmental Projects being implemented by National Institute of Fashion Technology ( NIFT). The projects included National Sizing Survey of India, VisionXT – Trend Insight and Forecasting Lab, NIFT Design Incubators, Pratibha – A digital platform for Rural Businesses, USTAAD, Centre of Excellence for Khadi, Craft Cluster Initiative, The Respositories – Textiles and Craft (RTC) Project. Shri Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles was also present.

Talking about the new possibilities opened in the post-covid world, the Minister asked NIFT to come up with initiatives to introduce hybrid  courses, short-term and skill development courses to expand its reach. He said that NIFT should strive to work towards a larger vision of improving the incomes of weavers and artisans in the country. Shri Goyal said that the projects like National Sizing Survey of India and VisionXT-– Trend Insight and Forecasting Lab could provide a big boost to our apparel exports.

Shri Goyal commended the efforts put forth by NIFT and complimented all the Project teams for this. Appreciating the craft cluster initiative, as part of which student undertake projects with artisans at the grassroots level, the Minister said that each NIFT student could adopt an artisan, which would go a long way in diversifying the products and improving both the quality and the processes of artisans. He however asked NIFT to expedite the progress in each project so that the desired outcomes reach the public and industries soon. The Minister also asked for exploring the possibility of converging some of the projects with similar existing projects.

Sh. Shantmanu, DG NIFT gave an overall review and informed that in addition to imparting world class fashion education NIFT also executes various consultancy projects. He gave a  presentation  on 8 such projects.   Details of the Project are as under :

1. INDIAsize-  NIFT is currently undertaking national sizing survey called INDIAsize, to address the disparities and inconsistencies in apparel sizing systems and fits. It is a pan India exercise, where anthropometric data is being collected, using state-of-art 3D whole body scanners, male and female population of age 15 to 60+. Project aims at creating a database of body measurements which is a true representative of the Indian population and will result in a creation of Size identification number for a customer through mapping, categorization and defining of their body shapes. The standardised body size chart thus created will help manufacturer to produce goods suited for the target consumer and help consumer to identify size which will be best suited for them resulting in a match and hence sales. This project is funded by Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India and partly through internal resources of NIFT.

 

2. VisioNxt-Trend Insight & Forecasting Lab – VisioNxt-Trend Insight & Forecasting Lab is the first ever Artificial intelligence and Emotional intelligence enabled fashion
   trend insights and forecasting initiative in India which aims to identify, map and analyse
   geo-specific trends that will address the plurality of this nation.  This project is fully funded by Ministry of Textiles. The team comprises 20 faculties and more than 400 trendspotters. The project has its Creative Lab in Delhi and AI Insights Lab in Chennai.

 

3. Repository: Textile & Craft- This is sponsored by DC (Handlooms) and DC (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles. The project aims to develop a national knowledge portal in the form of an integrated system that will lay down a framework to weave the past and present status of textiles, clothing and related crafts with focus on futuristic developments. The portal will aggregate data and repositories, including the rich information sources available within the Textiles Ministry and its subordinate offices. Collaboration with other institutions and ministries as   well as select collections in museums, galleries and private collections are also envisaged.

 

4.   Design Innovation & Incubation-   Its objective is to develop an eco-system enabling pre-incubation and accelerator support by assisting the fashion, textile, lifestyle accessories, and design community entrepreneurs including NIFT members, craftsperson, artisans, and external community entrepreneurs in commercializing their products/service ideas. Four incubation centres are being set up in the NIFT premises at Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai.

 

5. Craft Cluster Initiative- NIFT with active support from the Offices of DC (Handlooms) and DC (Handicrafts) has developed and implemented the Craft Cluster Initiative Program. Through this initiative, NIFT aims to reach out to the artisans and craftsmen at the grass root level. The artisans and craftsmen involved in the initiative benefit through knowledge dissemination and exposure to urban markets and design intervention,
   innovative designs and linkages with new markets. The uniqueness of the initiative lies in the fact that it has been integrated into the curriculum of every department in NIFT across the all domains.

This initiative at NIFT is designed with the objectives to sensitize NIFT students to the realities of the craft sector and give insight into regional sensibilities and diversities,  resources and environment.

Apart from these projects of MoT, NIFT also executes consultancy projects of other ministries. Three of them were discussed in the meeting.

 

6.    USTTAD

NIFT, as the knowledge partner for USTTAD, has identified crafts predominantly being practiced by minority communities and is supporting the Ministry of Minority Affairs through various activities like an extensive diagnostic study of the crafts and creating linkages between practicing designers and artisans to build long-term relationships.

With a collaborative approach for sustaining livelihoods and craft heritage, the products showcased have been co-created to combine the visual language of artisans with that of contemporary designers.

 

7.    PRATIBHA

PRATIBHA- (Programme for Rural Artisan income Transformation through Incubation of Business ideas in Handmade sector). NIFT and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have joined hands to engage NIFT Alumni, young entrepreneurs and collaborate with artisans to develop co-owned enterprises and further showcase the enterprise stories, artisan profiles and product catalogues on a digital platform for wider reach.

 

8.    Centre of Excellence for Khadi

A project sponsored by Ministry of MSME was sanctioned to NIFT to set up a Center of Excellence for Khadi in 2021. The Center of Excellence for Khadi (CoEK) has been set up at NIFT to address the need of the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in India. The objective is to help Khadi Institutions to effectively design, produce and market high quality differentiated khadi products in the Indian and global market. CoEK is envisaged to be a Center for experimentation, innovation and design for khadi fabrics, apparel, accessories and home fashions. It is working on Hub (at Delhi) and spoke (at Bengaluru, Kolkata, Shillong & Gandhinagar) model.