This has been a constant headache for manufacturers across the globe and majorly for India, which has several huge textile manufacturing hubs. Ashish Jain, the founder of Mahavir Print, said in an interview with Fibre2Fashion that order volumes have been a bit subdued, mainly driven by the global situation and the war-driven uncertainty, which has had a ripple effect on buyer confidence.
“So, we are not seeing the kind of growth we would like right now,” Jain added. He highlighted during the interview that it has genuinely been tough. “I will not sugarcoat it. Input costs have gone up, orders across the industry have tightened, and margins have been under pressure,” Jain emphasised.
Surat-based Mahavir Print reported that rising crude-linked input costs and global uncertainty have softened textile order volumes and pressured margins.
Founder Ashish Jain said the company is expanding its product range and strengthening digital printing capabilities rather than scaling back.
Mahavir is also targeting growth in Europe and the US while using AI tools to improve fabric development.
Mahavir Print is a man-made fabric manufacturer from Surat and has 250+ fabric varieties in polyester-based cotton-feel items to offer. Over the years, the company has reinvested and tried to keep building through new machinery, new design capabilities, and its own factory floor.
“Today, we are not just a printing house. We are a full-fledged fabric manufacturer with in-house fabric development, a digital printing arm, and a growing export presence,” Jain shared. The company works with some of the biggest names in Indian retail such as Westside, Yousta, Reliance, Zudio and Aditya Birla, among others.
What is Mahavir Print doing to fend off the hit?
Jain mentioned that the company made a conscious decision early on and it was “we are not going to shrink our way through this.” He added that instead, Mahavir Print has broadened its product portfolio so there are more options to offer customers at different price points.
“We have also used this slower period to double down on R&D and new product development. When the market picks up, and it will, we want to have something new and relevant to bring to the table. So, while the headwinds are real, we are treating this as a building phase,” Jain said.
He also added that the company’s poly-linen touch fabric remains the strongest product. “The brands love it, and it keeps coming back in every season’s requirement. It has become a core part of what they rely on us for. So, while volumes may be flat in the short term, the relationship and the product’s relevance have not diminished at all,” Jain acknowledged.
Mahavir Print has worked to ensure buyers get the look and feel of cotton or linen, but at the price of polyester. “From a brand’s perspective, you can offer your customer a premium, comfortable wearing experience without pushing up your cost of goods. From the end consumer’s side, the fabric actually feels good, it breathes, it drapes well, it does not feel synthetic,” the founder said.
He added that a lot of polyester fabrics look good on a hanger but disappoint the moment someone wears them. “We have worked hard to close that gap, and the response from the market has proven that buyers are actively looking for exactly this,” he noted.
International growth and expansion
Mahavir Print already works with customers in the Middle East, Iran and Iraq. Jain added that the Middle East has been a consistent market for the company, and it understands the needs well.
In the interview, Jain highlighted that the customers in these regions are sending their suppliers to his stores and now Mahavir Print is looking to expand to Europe and the US. “Europe and the US are very much on our radar. We have actually executed a few orders in the EU already, so we are not starting from scratch,” he said.
Jain mentioned that the plan is to build on that, understand the specific compliance and quality benchmarks those markets demand, and grow our presence there steadily, adding, “it will not happen overnight, but it is a serious goal for us.”
Digital printing and the way forward
For Mahavir Print, digital printing has been one of the most significant shifts in the business. “We manufacture fabrics specifically for digital printers across India; they are actually among our top customers. Over the past three to four years, there has been a real and accelerating shift towards digitally printed designs in apparel,” Jain said.
He stressed that consumers love the output mainly the colours, the detail and the variety. “And from a production standpoint, digital printing enables smaller runs with faster turnaround, which aligns perfectly with how fast fashion operates,” Jain mentioned.
He further noted that the company has worked to ensure its fabric quality supports the digital printing process well, so the end garments look sharp. And with the recent Free Trade Agreements (FTA) by India with the UK and European Union, for fabric manufacturers like Mahavir, Jain said the opportunity is not just in volume but in moving up the value chain by offering more finished and value-added fabrics rather than competing purely on commodity pricing.
Well, in recent times, scaling does not come only from shifts in fabric but also from the technology companies are using. AI is the talking point, and everyone is turning to use it better. At Mahavir Print, Jain explained that something as routine as calculating GSM from a fabric sample used to involve manual measurement and a calculator but is now done through AI, which does it in seconds.
“We use it every single day. That alone has improved accuracy and saved time on the floor. Beyond that, we use digital tools to analyse market trends and plan our fabric development roadmap roughly six months out,” he said.
Jain added that in the company’s digital printing department, it uses AI to generate realistic garment visualisations from fabric samples so that buyers can see what the final finished garment will look like before placing an order. “It has made conversations faster, more visual, and more decisive,” he concluded.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (AMR)
