Tiruppur - population ~10 lakh, exports ₹40,000 crore - is the unlikely knitwear capital behind many global brands’ T-shirts.

It produces 90% of India’s cotton knitwear exports, employing around 8 lakh people across 28,000 small, interconnected units.

The city’s edge is sustainability: Zero Liquid Discharge recycling (13 crore litres/day), 1,900 MW of green power capacity versus a 300 MW need, and 2 million trees planted.

Global buyers now demand green compliance, and Tiruppur delivers - after a 2023–24 dip it posted 20% growth in 2024–25.

The lesson: deep focus on one category, network effects among small units, and sustainability-first practices can build billion-rupee ecosystems outside Silicon Valley.