Puthanatham readymade garment cluster treads slowly on path to recovery

The readymade garment manufacturing cluster at Puthanatham, a village near Manapparai, is slowly recovering from the severe economic impact of the pandemic. Business is not fully back to normal to pre

The readymade garment manufacturing cluster at Puthanatham, a village near Manapparai, is slowly recovering from the severe economic impact of the pandemic.

Business is not fully back to normal to pre-pandemic levels, but there are signs of recovery this festive season. The village has grown into a readymade garment manufacturing cluster over the past three to four decades. The small business units mainly produce shirts, trousers, churidhars and night dresses, besides school uniforms. They source the raw material (cloth) from places such as Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad and Delhi. The annual turnover of the Puthanatham cluster was estimated to be about ₹50 crore before the pandemic. The units were providing employment to about 2,000 workers.

Usually, during the festive season hundreds of people from Tiruchi and other places throng the village to purchase ready-to-wear garments offered at wholesale prices. Though online trade has had some impact on the industry, about 120 units continue to produce garments and market them throughout Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.