NIFT collaborates to design new uniforms for Indian Army

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 6, 2022

The Indian Army has partnered with the National Institute of Fashion Technology to design new combat uniforms for soldiers which will be unveiled for the first time during the Army Day Parade on January 15.  

The new ‘Battle Dress Uniform’ design for the Indian Army features disruptive digital patterns and have been developed with the aim of being comfortable to wear in different kinds of terrains. Due to security reasons, the newly designed fabric will be issued to army units directly and will not be available in the retail market, Financial Express reported. 
 
The Indian Army plans to issue an open tender to both the private and public sector businesses for the mass manufacturing and supply of the uniforms. The dress will be distributed to the army’s 13 lakh personnel.

The new uniform will focus on lightweight, technical textiles as opposed to its previous Terrycot but it will retain its classic colour palette of greens and earth tones. Rank designations and belt styles are expected to be changed. The Indian Army’s uniform has been changed three times before, most recently in 2005.

NIFT is a fashion design education institute which was founded under the government Ministry of Textiles in 1986. NIFT has campuses in numerous Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad, among others.