Sri Lanka Fashion Forum begins
The Sri Lanka Fashion Forum will held at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel
from November 18 to 22 to support Sri Lanka’s Clothing and Footwear
sectors at grassroots level.
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London College Fashion Design and Technology School Specialist
Ian Goff, Footwear Advisory Council Chairman Ranjith
Hettiarachchy, Sri Lanka Apparel Institute Chairman Prof Lakdas
Fernando, Industries and Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary
Asitha K Seneviratne and Design and Craft London College of
Fashion Programs Director Sreven Dell at the press conference.
Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe |
“At a time when the global competitiveness is getting fiercer it is
important for us to get the basics right,” the Sri Lanka Apparel
Institute Chairman Prof. Lakdas Fernando said. He said the clothing
industry which is a main foreign exchange earner and an employment
provider to this country is stuck in a groove, not being able to move up
where it aspires to be or not being able to go down and increase volumes
like Bangladesh.
The Joint Apparel Associations Forum’s strategic plan suggests an
expectation of US$ 4 billion export in five years hence, from the
present 3 billion dollars clearly shows how much we have got stuck in a
middle to low value market segment. The clothing industry already
suffering from, insufficient labour to run the existing plants to full
capacity will face severe threats in trying to compete on wages with the
hotel and hospitality industry in the near future. Brandix CEO Ashroff
Omar and the country’s largest Apparel Exporter in his Keynote address
at the World Textile Institute Conference in Manchester clearly pressed
the point for a new business model for apparel manufacturing.
He said, ‘the Clothing industry is heavily fragmented stemming from
the single-minded pursuit of cheap labour.’
Sri Lanka Fashion Forum is bringing to Sri Lanka two resource persons
Dr Lynne Hammond from the London College of Fashion and Prof Rudolf Haug
from the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences who are both working
in Bangladesh, supporting and strengthening, Bangladesh’s thriving
clothing industry.
According to Enterprise and International Development Dean Wendy
Malem who will be a resource person at the Sri Lanka Fashion Forum, ‘Sri
Lanka has the talent and intelligence to become a brand-led fashion
economy over the next decade as a leader in new global market
developments.’ Sri Lanka Fashion Forum’s one day workshop and seminar on
Brand Development will show a different way for our industry to move
forward.
Together with the Fashion Forum’s second event on November 20, we are
focussing on two important areas that will underpin the key elements
that can give the necessary support for a new way forward.
London College of Fashion Enterprise and International Development
Dean Wendy Malem and Brand Specialist Toby Meadows who is the author of
the International best seller ‘How to set up and run a Fashion Label’
will be conducting a workshop on November 20. |
