Apparel Buzz

The fourth Sri Lanka Design Festival is set to take place in Colombo later this year, offering a range of opportunities for brands and retailers to explore sustainable sourcing, networking and sharing of best business practices.

Ethical Sri Lankan brand Conscience, developed its first collection using ethical fabric developed in Sri Lanka, which is now in stores. Conscience, whose philosophy revolves around a supply ‘chain of happiness’, a concept that sees an effort to better every part of the supply chain is taking steps to impact communities.

Says Noboru Ueda at Port, Trade and Logistics Conference in Colombo

Noboru Ueda, Chairman and President of ClassNK
The Indian subcontinent will drive the world economy in the future, and at the heart of this new maritime region, and at the heart of world trade is Sri Lanka. I believe that Sri Lanka could easily emerge as the new great maritime nation – joining the ranks with Singapore and the UAE as a leader in the maritime world, said Noboru Ueda Chairman and President of ClassNK in Colombo on Tuesday, July 10.

Sri Lanka’s garment industry has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional fast fashion suppliers such as Turkey, a local manufacturer said this week. “Sri Lanka is not as yet competitive purely on price, but the industry continues to be attractive to brands focused on fast, reliable supply that is accompanied by an assurance of social and environmental accountability,” Textured Jersey Lanka (TJL) said in its year-end 2011/2011 report.

The Expolanka Group announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art, iconic, green, warehouse to provide value added logistics services to the group’s rapidly expanding client base.

Colombo+20: The Future We Want, is an effort to emphasise the importance of the Rio+20 (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development) Conference and its outcomes towards sustainable development in Sri Lanka.

Launched in 2000, the Lanka Institute of Fashion Technology has established itself as catering to young talent eager to enter the fashion industry with courses in fashion design, textiles, footwear and accessory design.

Sri Lanka’s apparel giants MAS & Brandix are founding members of SLINTEC from the private sector

Yesterday marked a landmark day for Sri Lanka’s innovation and learning goals, as the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) together with the Ministry of Technology and Research laid the foundation for the commencement of construction of the Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence (NCE), which will be at the heart of a world-class nanotechnology park in Sri Lanka.

The world's economic problems are still very much with us, but it now appears - from the latest US figures - that garment customers may have settled down to a new but stable order of strategic suppliers. David Birnbaum looks at the data.

Value addition power of Sri Lanka exports is on par with that of Ireland and Finland and far behind France and Japan, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said.

Iraq’s wish list?:
Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka (left) discussing Iraq’s requirements with Kahtan Taha Khalaf, Iraqi Ambassador to Sri Lanka

Iraq, bulk of whose imports from Sri Lanka are Pure Ceylon Tea, is now eager for more and more Sri Lankan products, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced yesterday (21).

* BOI approved factories going green, says Chairman

Sri Lanka’s Timex and Fergasam Group (T&FG), a manufacturer and exporter of high quality garments is ready to commence the construction of twin apparel factories in Mannar Industrial Zone approved by Board of Investment (BOI) end of June 2012. This proposed US$ 5 million worth factory, a first in the Mannar region, will be ready for commercial operations by January 2013 and would provide over 1,200 employment opportunities for the people in the area, the BOI said in statement yesterday (19).

A pioneering initiative to empower women community leaders involved in water resources management in rural Sri Lanka has been launched by the Brandix Group, in recognition of the fact that community-based organisations (CBOs) are responsible for a sixth of the country’s water supply.

Dr Sandro Veronesi/Chairman, Calzedonia Spa Italy shares his impressions as a leading investor in Sri Lanka at the Trade & Investment Symposium

Cheynelle Mendis is a pixie of a designer in a strappy yellow dress and sandals and she is all smiles as she talks about her life living the dream in New York City. As a designer for MAS Design Inc New York, she lives and commutes to work from Manhattan, enough to make any girl green with envy.

The Brandix Group recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Colombo, its fourth such initiative with local campuses’. Under this, Brandix will support undergraduates of the university’s Faculty of Management and Finance, focusing on the latter’s Department of Human Resources Management, with a view to developing skills and knowledge that will benefit the apparel industry and facilitate career advancement, according to a company press release.

Sri Lanka Apparel member Rakshaa shares their growing culture of sustainability

In an announcement to the Colombo Stock Exchange on 24th May 2012, Textured Jersey Lanka PLC (TJL) declared a final dividend of Rs. 0.36 per share, subject to shareholder approval. This is in addition to an interim dividend of Rs. 0.12 per share declared by the company in March 2012, thereby totalling the dividend during the year to Rs. 0.48 per share.

Fashion Show featuring Sri Lanka’s apparel and craft exports at EXPO 2012

Expolanka Freight Ltd was recently awarded a CarbonNeutral® Certification by the Carbon Consulting Company thus making it Sri Lanka’s first-ever CarbonNeutral® Freight & Logistics Company, and, one of the first in Asia.