Enthused by the positive response its products made of recycled plastic waste attracted, Alcis Sports, a performance wear brand from Paragon Apparels, will launch more eco-friendly and cost-effective products made of plastic waste in the next couple of months.
Alcis Sports, having cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as brand ambassador, was India’s official licensed apparel merchandise partner for both FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, as also the official kit partner of the 2018 Kabaddi Dubai Masters, held in Dubai.
Funding drive
Alcis Sports, which had earlier secured an investment from Singapore-based venture capital firm RB Investments, is also planning a second round of funding drive for ₹50-60 crore. Paragon Apparel is targeting to increase its turnover from ₹310 crore to about ₹500 crore in the next three years.
Two years ago, it had launched the Wonder T-Shirt range using recycled plastic waste. “We are now making 3,000 to 4,000 T-shirts daily and selling nearly 40,000 pieces made of R-PET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) every month. Recently, we launched socks and caps and are set to introduce a kids’ range, bags, footwear, and deodorants in the next couple of months,” Roshan Baid, Managing Director, Alcis Sports Pvt Ltd, told BusinessLine .
Manufacturing capacity
Paragon Apparels has a combined capacity to manufacture 90 lakh pieces a year at its three plants in Noida and one at Una, Himachal Pradesh. The Alcis brand uses 15 per cent of its total capacity, out of which 50% accounts for the recycled plastic waste category, he added.
He said the company procures plastic waste and gets it recycled into yarn at another company’s plant in Vapi (Gujarat) with which it has a tie-up. This yarn is then processed into fabric at the Una plant, to be finally converted into garment at the Noida-based facility.
R-PET is the strong, durable and recyclable material used for making soda bottles, water bottles, food jars etc. Its products perform better than a 100% virgin polyester. Eight waste plastic water bottles go into the making of a T-shirt. Recycling plastic waste is better than man-made fibre like polyester which is manufactured using huge quantities of water, chemicals and petroleum products.
Product range
Baid said the products made out of R-PET are being produced with the latest technologies, including dry-tech (moisture management), anti-odour, anti-static, anti-UV and light X. These products, ultra light in weight, with normal strength and durability, are specifically designed keeping Indian lifestyles and weather conditions in mind. The product range consists of clothes to wear while running, training, yoga, football, racquet sports and other athletic and leisure activities.
He said the Alcis products are available in over 700 outlets and 25 exclusive business outlets across the country.