The Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA) is set to launch a revamped website that will enable international and domestic buyers to connect directly with exporters, helping them avoid middlemen and establish direct business relationships with manufacturers.
The textile town of Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu exports goods worth nearly ₹45,000 crore. While the companies have direct access to their clients, a number of them deal with companies that act as agents between the seller and the buyer.
A key feature of the new website will be a buyer login facility through which buyers can directly access and connect with Tiruppur exporters. The initiative is aimed at reducing intermediaries in the sourcing process, enabling buyers to communicate directly with manufacturers and potentially shorten the time taken to identify suppliers and place orders, said Ramu Shanmugam, CEO, Clothing Connections and Chairman, IT Wing Subcommittee of the TEA. There are over 1,400 exporters who will be benefitted through this initiative, he told businessline.
The platform will also allow TEA members to apply online for Certificates of Origin (COO), along with several other digital services, reducing paperwork and making association-related processes faster and more convenient.
Another feature will enable vendors such as dyers, printers and processing units to publish their available spare capacity on the platform.
Exporters can use this information to identify available capacity and route orders to units that have the ability to take up additional work.
The initiative is aimed at creating a more connected digital ecosystem for Tiruppur’s textile and garment industry, bringing buyers, exporters and vendors onto a common platform.
For buyers, the direct-connect feature could improve access to Tiruppur’s manufacturing base while reducing dependence on intermediaries. For exporters, it could open up direct sourcing opportunities, while vendors can showcase available capacity and improve their chances of securing orders.
TEA’s move comes as Tiruppur’s export-oriented textile industry increasingly looks to digital platforms to improve transparency, efficiency and connectivity across the value chain, he said.
Shanmugham added that the TEA plans to make its website a marketplace and provide information on a real time basis. This will be done by bringing in all the industry stakeholders, including dyeing units, in to the system, he added.
Kumar Duraisamy, Managing Director of Tiruppur-based Eastern Global Clothing, and Joint Secretary of TEA said, the revamped TEA website and its new functionalities are designed to connect buyers with exporters through a digital platform for members and supporting units. This will help make the entire ecosystem more connected, responsive and efficient, he said.
With the Government of India opening new opportunities through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), it is now the responsibility of the industry and the TEA to strengthen our ecosystem on all fronts and ensure that the cluster is fully prepared to capture these opportunities. The revamping of the TEA website is one such important initiative. It is not merely a website upgrade, but a step towards making Tiruppur’s world-class manufacturing ecosystem more digitally connected, efficient and globally accessible, he said.
Published on August 16, 2026
