A Project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, under the Research and Development Scheme to develop Indian size charts based on body measurements of Indian population for better fitting of ready to wear garments. The project 'INDIAsize' plans to measure 25000 (Twenty Five Thousand) persons aged from 18 to 65 years in six different regions of India using 3D body scanners. It is expected that the retail garment industry will be hugely benefitted from the outcome of the project.

“Keeping India forward in the world of Fashion: Make in India and Use for India”

Putting Indian fashion on the global map, VisioNxt – Trend Insights and Forecasting Lab is set up at NIFT under the R & D scheme of the Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, following the Honorable Prime Minister’s clarion call to the industry at the Textiles India Summit in 2017. This is the first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) enabled Fashion trend analysis and forecasting initiative with a unique indigenous Deep Learning AI model and Indian Taxonomy of 50+ Indian products.

There are no trend forecasting services in India that center their database based on Indian requirements. Over 54,000+ primary images have been collected through an indigenously developed mobile App and 33,000+ secondary image data have been fed through the model to identify patterns in key attributes of fashion (style, colour, and regional accents) and test them. The model functions at an 86% accuracy at present. To date, 800+ GenZ youth have also been trained in the unique skill of Trend-spotting that will further add to the fashion intelligence of this nation. VisioNxt has developed and successfully disseminated 50+ micro trend reports to the industry. Fashion Trend Book (Dhi 23x24) and Emerging Mindset Book 23x24 are ready to be launched.

For more information visit: www.visionxt.in

Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI) Project is an International Project for capacity building and benchmarking of Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI), Ethiopia, to transform it to a Centre of Excellence through a Twinning Arrangement with NIFT via conduct of various training programmes at Ethiopia and higher education and MDP Programmes in India to ETIDI officers/experts. The duration of the first phase of the Project was 4yrs 10 months which commenced from July 2013 and ended on 27thApril, 2018.The domains chosen in the first phase was to strengthen the capabilities of ETIDI in Training, Consulting, Research and Marketing Support Services for the Ethiopian Apparel Industry under this programme were Apparel Marketing / Merchandising & Garment Technology. Based on the assessment of Phase I of the ETIDI-NIFT twinning arrangement and in order to bridge the gap between the sector’s performance when compared to international levels, the MoU for the second phase of NIFT – ETIDI Twinning Arrangement has been signed on 13th April, 2018. The duration of the 2nd phase of the project would be 3 (three) years. The second phase of the project would commence soon and would focus more on factory interventionsin Apparel Export Merchandising/ Marketing and Garment Technology domains.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has launched a new scheme ‘Upgrading The Skills And Training In Traditional Arts/ Crafts For Development’ (USTTAD), which inter-alia, aims to preserve heritage of traditional arts and crafts of minorities and build capacity of traditional crafts persons and artisans. The scheme aims at capacity building and updating the traditional skills of master crafts persons and artisans.

Under the scheme, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has entrusted a project to NIFT with the objective of training and upgrading skills of craft persons belonging to the minority communities thereby preserving traditional ancestral arts/crafts being practiced by them. NIFT as knowledge partner for USTTAD has identified crafts predominantly practiced by minority communities and supports the Ministry of Minority Affairs through various activities like documenting the crafts, setting standards for defining “master-craftsperson” or “USTAAD” for identified crafts, development of course curriculum of product development and Design Workshops for potential crafts persons and trainees, product range development and facilitating linkages with e-marketing portals for providing platforms for selling developed products.

The Repository – Textiles & Crafts project sanctioned by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, aims to develop one-of-a-kind national knowledge portal in the form of an integrated system that will lay down a framework to weave the past and present status of textile, clothing and related crafts with focus on futuristic developments. The project endeavours to disseminate historical and contemporary information and narratives on Indian textiles, clothing and crafts to a global audience comprising research scholars, craft enthusiasts and relevant industry. The digital portal will also provide access to vast database including research papers, case studies, dissertations and doctoral theses on textiles, clothing and craft related areas. It will serve as a one stop resource, providing information on new developments and current events relating to textiles and crafts.

Letter of Intent (LOI) for works of Technology Service Provider for design, development, implementation and maintenance of a digital platform for the Repository for the RTC project of NIFT.

Justification for onboarding C-DAC on nomination basis

The Repository of Indian Textiles and Crafts (RTC) or Bharatiya Vastra evam Shilpa Kosh developed by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) for the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India,  and was launched on the  National Handloom Day 2023, i.e., 07th August, 2023,  by the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The repository has been created to collect, organise, digitally preserve, aggregate, and disseminate interrelated information on Indian traditional textiles and crafts globally. This information repository is an initiative to showcase and celebrate the long and varied traditions of textiles and crafts in India. It is a one-of-a-kind national knowledge portal that lays down a framework to weave the past and present status of Indian textiles and crafts with a focus on futuristic developments. The project has been implemented by the National Institute of Fashion Technology under the Craft Cluster Initiative of the NHDP programme of DC (Handlooms & Handicrafts).

www.vastrashilpakosh.in

A research collaboration project titled “A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Meet 21st Century Retailing Education and Industry Challenges for India and the U.S” was initiated under the Indo - US Knowledge Initiative. The project has been in progress since March 2016. Faculty members from the Department of Fashion Management Studies at various campuses of NIFT working together with faculty members from Iowa State University (ISU), Oklahoma State University (OSU), and University of North Texas (UNT)have developed modules for sharing and applying educational strategies and leading-edge industry knowledge to better prepare students and industry professionals to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing, global retail industry.As a part of the collaborative research project seven learning modules are being developed in consultation with industry members based in US and India. The seven module topics are:

• Cultural Diversity
• Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Retail Strategy Analysis
• Omni-Channel Retailing
• Experiential/Entrepreneurial Marketing Strategies and Building Brand Equity
• Assortment Planning and Allocation
• Retail Entrepreneurship in Small Non-Urban Markets
• Promotional Strategy

These modules are being tested in the US through the universities involved in this collaboration during Fall 2017.

Some Campus projects

IKEA Collaborated with NIFT Delhi Campus for developing a design collection called SVÄRTAN, that was inspired from India and launched in August 2016 across all IKEA stores of the world. The workshop was organized by IKEA officials in collaboration with well-known Swedish designer Mr. Martin Bergström and students of NIFT Delhi Campus.

25 Students of NIFT New Delhi were involved in the workshop for developing design concepts for SVÄRTAN. The whole collection has been produced in India, and it uses many traditional techniques and natural materials.

Bhagalpur Mega Handloom Cluster Project is sanctioned by DC (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles. The duration of the Project is 05 years. The Project is to prepare roadmap for the integrated and holistic development of Bhagalpur Mega Handloom Cluster through providing infrastructural and skill development support to cluster stake holders for improving the product quality and design of handloom products and for increase in trade. NIFT Patna has been engaged as Cluster Management and Technical Agency (CMTA) to assist in identification and execution of the project. The deliverables for the Project are conducting diagnostic survey, providing guidelines to prepare RFP for CFC, Dye House, Design Studio and Product Development Centre, Design Research and Market Linkage, and monitoring of Project implementation. The project is on-going.

A Project for Development of Dying & Printing, Design Development, Capacity Building, Production of Value Added Khadi Apparel and Branding of Bihar Khadi has been sanctioned by the Bihar Khadi Board, Govt. of Bihar. The duration of the Project is 03 years from March 2016 to March, 2019. The project aims to develop strategy to contemporize Bihar Khadi to meet Global Standards. The deliverables envisaged for the Project broadly covers three categories

Design Development, Dyeing and Printing and Branding. The deliverables include 200 prototypes of different designs, 60 designs of textile swatches, different promotional activities to promote Khadi, workshops for capacity building of Khadi Samiti's artisans. 100 new prototypes and 30 swatches of textile design have been developed. The products during the initial stage were showcased in the Bihar Pavilion during IITF at New Delhi. New Khadi collections were showcased during Charkha Diwas celebrated by Govt. of Bihar and NIFT annual event Fashionova 2016 and 2017. Two artisan training programmes for the capacity building of Khadi Samitis were conducted in the month of January and June 2017. The project is on-going.

A client from Coimbatore who wanted to start his own e-commerce business in Fashion Jewelry Segment in India during the year 2015 approached faculty of NIFT Chennai to develop a new brand and collection for targeted consumers. The process was carried out from the market analysis, consumer research, trend & forecast study, concept developments, design development, spec sheets & 3D virtual modeling. The study was followed by consultancy on brand development and marketing strategies. The brand “ALLOKI” was recommended and it has been registered with Trade mark.

National Institute of Fashion Technology, Chennai has taken up e-content / MOOC development of fashion & technology subjects under the ‘National Mission on Education through Information & Communication Technology’ (NMEICT), MHRD, Govt. of India. MOOCs are online courses which are developed as per defined pedagogy under ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM), an integrated platform and portal for online courses using ICT, by MHRD.17 courses of 40 hours duration were completed during Phase I and uploaded in the MHRD website. Another set of 17 ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOC) are being under development at NIFT Chennai in Phase II. The subject matter experts (SMEs) are mostly faculty members of NIFT with their rich expertise in the respective courses in addition to industry and other experts.

Ability Foundation is a national cross disability organisation established in 1995 as a public charitable trust for the empowerment and mainstreaming of persons with disabilities (PwD). Ability Foundation and NIFT Chennai have together worked on “Inclusive Fashion” - a project that aims to take forward sensitive and empathetic fashions suited to the physical limitations of persons with disabilities since the year 2013. The project comprises of a student competition which aims at creating designs customized to this niche clientele, which would lead them to independent living. Several sensitization sessions and interactions are organized with persons with disabilities identified by Ability Foundation and the NIFT students, especially belonging to Semester V of all design streams. It starts with students getting a grip on the wish list of the special clients’ special needs with their preferred colours and styles. The award includes a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- for the best design solution which would be adjudged by a distinguished Jury and a citation from the foundation. The expenditure incurred by the students in the product development was sponsored by Ability Foundation. Several student teams worked voluntarily with passion and dedication and created a line of clothing and accessories for several special clients so far.