Pivot.
Pivot.
It is a word we will hear often in the months to come. I learnt about it in the context of startups shifting to new business strategies for multiple reasons.
Covid-19 has ensured it will not be business as usual anymore.
There is no quick fix to boost national manufacturing and increasing exports in the era of a global recession seems difficult. Setting up new councils or export intelligence and promotion schemes are good to get policy focus but not so helpful to grow business.
The textile industry has been impacted severely and is set to lose markets, people and jobs. In the short term we can incentivise buyers overseas looking for new suppliers but in the medium and long term, we will have to make new rules of trade with new products.
Recently the Textiles Minister announced that 600 Indian firms were now certified to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) and 4.5 lakhs of these were being made each day. In itself it represents an astonishing achievement for a country that had just 2.75 lakh imported PPE kits in January and insignificant domestic production.
It’s also a big moment for the textile supply chain in India as it worked to its strengths.
In pre Covid times the next step would be exports. That would not be sufficient anymore.
Niftier neighbours with higher productivity will inevitably produce more PPE at a lower cost and some of the 600 firms here who planned to export will have to brace for intense competition. Other not so neighbourly countries will raise non tariff barriers and yet others will use technology and trade to their advantage.
So, what do we do?
We pivot.
We begin to build an ecosystem for a great set of good quality products that can be produced, consumed and exported.
Few could have missed pictures of doctors or other high risk individuals togged up in PPE.
Did we notice the women who were togged up? Almost without exception their coveralls were oversized no matter how well they fit the mannequins.
The women were/are making do with garments designed for men.
A 2010 article noted that “women with a small face wore goggles that left gaps at the temple. Footwear designed for men’s feet left some of them with blisters on their soles and with shorter, narrower fingers, and a smaller palm circumference even small gloves did not fit.”
The same article notes that “anthropometric studies show that women typically have shorter arms, more flexible hips , more slender hands and feet and their faces are shaped differently.” It’s not very clear if these attributes are taken into account when PPE are designed.
Fast forward to 2018 and we learn that “safety and health is an area with a predominately male demographic — so there is lack of diversity on the committees that write standards. The committees also rely on anthropometric data with limited metrics. This restricts the ability to make PPE that is suitable for women.
Heat stress is a known risk associated with PPE use. It can be heightened for women when the menstrual cycle increases core body temperature or when pregnant and can become more acute during menopause. ”
In February 2019, the Textiles Minister announced the launch the Size India project. The struggle of Indian women and the complexities of producing apparel for them has been well sized up in this Mint article.
So, can we set the ecosystem ball rolling ?
In addition to the specifications, quality and testing standards set up by the textile ministry can they put together multidisciplinary teams where data from Size India (and perhaps the FDDI, infused with funds from the Commerce Ministry, can conduct a similar survey for footwear?) can be combined with inputs from women who can identify hazards, assess risks in PPE used across multiple sectors?
Perhaps it could also include some people from the Indian Navy which is reported to have filed a patent for a PPE using materials that are appropriate for humid and hot weather.
This would help the industry develop materials and design for female-specific PPE for health and safety apart from aligning with ISO 45001 — the new global standard on OSH management.
This in turn will drive the market and new products would have been created for both domestic users as well as opened up new opportunities for exports.
