Sapphire forms JV with Britain-based Carrington Textiles

KARACHI: Sapphire Textile Mills and Britain-based Carrington Textiles have formed a joint venture in Pakistan – Carrington Textiles International, with new textile dyeing and finishing operations in Lahore that would provide up to 20 million meters a year of dyed and white fabric., it said on Monday

“Sapphire Textile Mills has agreed to form a Joint Venture (JV) with Carrington Textiles, a British company. Both the companies will combine their strength in manufacturing, marketing and research and development to bring value to the customers. The JV will be formed in United Kingdom,” a bourse filing said.

Carrington Textiles noted in a statement that a new production facility, now in operation, had some of the most modern European dyeing and finishing plant and machinery, which would further enhance the capabilities of the JV.

“With the closeness to Sapphire’s existing spinning and weaving operations, as well as to other existing local suppliers, this adds to the ability of Carrington Textiles International to provide a vertically integrated manufacturing solution, reducing lead times and further enhancing service to customers. Finished stock will be warehoused in Lahore, Asia and the South African port of Durban, ensuring the best possible service to all major markets.”

This new venture with Sapphire Textile Mills would increase Carrington’s capacity to 130 million square meters a year. It is the start of a series of investments that Carrington Textiles’ parent company, the RTS Group, is implementing across the rest of its production facilities.

Nabeel Abdullah, Sapphire’s COO says, “Carrington Textiles International is an excellent project we are excited to be part of, and we are pleased our longstanding relationship with Carrington Textiles has developed into this joint venture.”

Carrington Textiles’ CEO John Vareldzis said, “Following years of working closely with Sapphire as one of our strategic loomstate suppliers, we have made the next logical step together and invested in a new state of the art dyeing and finishing factory in Lahore.”

He said this not only gave Carrington its own European engineered manufacturing plant in Asia, but also would provide access to a vertical operation, from spinning through to weaving, dyeing and finishing.

“All of the dyeing and finishing machinery has been specified by our technical experts to meet the exacting standards of the work-wear market and we are confident this integration of our supply chains will help to give our customers the best chance to succeed in a challenging and exciting market,” he added.

Carrington is the largest producer of work-wear fabrics in the UK, exporting to more than 80 countries worldwide. Carrington produces over 55 million meters of fabric annually.