Delivering socio-economic development through textile technology training

30 Apr 2024

Intertek India has scaled up its commitment to building the sustainable workforce of the future by offering its Textile Technology Training (T3) Centre programme to young people in three locations: Tiruppur, Gurugram and Bengaluru.

The T3 Centre programme provides free training to hundreds of young people – mainly women – enrolled in certified courses, preparing them for roles as lab technicians and merchandisers over a three-year programme. As well as creating pathways to employment, the programme aims to bridge the technical skills gap in the textile testing and quality assurance industry. 

The initiative started in 2022, when we launched the first T3 Centre in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, the heart of the South India textile belt and one of Asia’s biggest knitwear export hubs. In 2023, we opened the second and third training centres in Gurugram and Bengaluru.

As of April 2024, more than 300 students have been trained in Tiruppur alone, with 224 graduates having successfully secured employment across 109 different textile companies. A further 234 students are currently undergoing training at our T3 centres. On average, the programme more than doubles the annual family income of the students who are hired into the textile industry.

The T3 programme forms an integral part of Intertek’s wider efforts to support the development of the Indian textile industry while simultaneously empowering members of the local population to learn new professional skills and access better job opportunities. In fact, the T3 programme is working to change the lives of not only the trainees, but also successive generations, helping to lift entire communities out of economic hardship and creating a virtuous cycle of growth, stability and better quality of life.