This new venture with Sapphire Textile Mills will increase the company’s capacity to 130 million square metres a year and it’s the start of a series of investments that Carrington Textiles’ parent company, the RTS Group, are implementing across the rest of its production facilities in Europe.

Adlington, United Kingdom: Carrington Textiles and Sapphire Textile Mills have announced a joint venture in Pakistan under the name of Carrington Textiles International, with new textile dyeing and finishing operations that will provide up to 20 million metres a year of dyed and white fabric to its global customer base.

This new partnership between the two textile giants has been developed after a solid relationship of more than 20 years and offers customers the widest range of woven workwear fabrics, including cotton rich, polyester/cotton, stretch and new sustainable fabrics, all manufactured to the highest industrially launderable standards.

Both companies will combine their strengths in manufacturing, marketing, research, and development to bring value to the market. A new production facility, now in operation, has some of the most modern European dyeing and finishing plant and machinery, including a double width dye range for greater efficiency. This will further enhance the capabilities of the joint venture.

With the closeness to Sapphire’s existing spinning and weaving operations, as well as to other existing local suppliers, this adds to the ability of Carrington Textiles International to provide a vertically integrated manufacturing solution, reducing lead times and further enhancing service to customers. Finished stock will be warehoused in Lahore, Asia and the South African port of Durban, ensuring the best possible service to all major markets.

Carrington Textiles’ CEO, John Vareldzis, says: “Following years of working closely with Sapphire as one of our strategic loomstate suppliers, we have made the next logical step together and invested in a new state of the art dyeing and finishing factory in Lahore. This not only gives us our own European engineered manufacturing plant in Asia, but it also provides access to a vertical operation, from spinning through to weaving, dyeing and finishing. All of the dyeing and finishing machinery has been specified by our technical experts to meet the exacting standards of the workwear market and we are confident this integration of our supply chains will help to give our customers the best chance to succeed in a challenging and exciting market”.

Nabeel Abdullah, Sapphire’s COO says: ‘Carrington Textiles International is an excellent project we are excited to be part of, and we are pleased our longstanding relationship with Carrington Textiles has developed into this joint venture.’

Strong European growth
The RTS Group, parent company of Carrington Textiles and Pincroft Dyeing & Printing in the United Kingdom, Melchior Textil GmbH in Germany, MGC in Portugal and Adventum Technologies in Russia, announced a range of strategic investments to support the continuing development of their global footprint, from a solid manufacturing base and with a strong local presence in key markets.

John explains: “Following the UK’s departure from the EU, and despite any real warning of what the shape of Brexit would look like, we are pleased that all of our hard work, planning and preparation has meant that we have been able to continue to supply all of our customers. Having put our investment plans on hold until we had greater clarity, we are now ready to start investing in two of our manufacturing sites, Pincroft and MGC”.

In the UK, Pincroft Dyeing & Printing will benefit from significant capital investment in a new combined heat and power plant, aimed at further reducing CO2 emissions and improving the facility’s carbon footprint, sustainably lowering energy consumption and costs. A 5 year CapEx plan to modernise the factory will be put in place to ensure the factory is ready for the changing demands and product trends of the workwear market with details being released later in the year. This investment will ensure that the UK retains its competitive position for the future and has solid platform from which it can continue to build.

MGC in Portugal will also see a 5 year modernisation plan, with the installation of a new colour dispenser, automatic inspection and rolling machines. Completion of the EU-UK trade deal has given clarity to the group’s ability to continue providing fabrics that are fully compliant with EU rules of origin, clearing the way for further investment in plant and machinery in this key region.

In Germany, Melchior Textil GmbH continue to boost their customer focus with the recruitment of new senior management and sales leadership for the DACH region, whilst Adventum Technologies in Russia continue to focus upon innovation and product development in both flame retardant and workwear, as both markets remain of key strategic importance for the RTS group.

With Pincroft Dyeing and Printing, MGC and the additional volumes from Carrington Textiles International, Melchior and Adventum, the group production capacity increases to 130 million square metres of fabric a year.