Emerging challenges for local garment sector

The Daily News Business will serialise some research findings from this week from the 13th Symposium of the University of Moratuwa held recently for the benefit of the industry.

Following is the findings on the apparel market done by a lecturer of Department of Clothing Technology of the University, Rivini Mataraarachchi.

"The Sri Lankan apparel industry needs to articulate new response mechanisms to address the emerging challenges to remain one of the suppliers of choice in the major markets."

The objective of the research was to explore what constitutes a country's competitiveness in the global market after losing its labour competitiveness and how to achieve it effectively.

She pointed out that Sri Lanka therefore needs to emphasise on education related to material sourcing, quality control, inbound and outbound logistics, marketing and design. Manufacturers should take step forward to encourage the establishment of joint structures where domestic suppliers can share market knowledge and offer more integrated solutions to prospective buyers.

Mataraarachchi argued that the Government also should play a major role in strengthening the Sri Lankan apparel industry in a competitive environment.

A key objective of the Government is to strengthen the capacity of the private sector in order to capture the trade opportunities that are being created through improved market access and it should also support to assist the emergence of qualified pools of expertise and the adoptability of the workforce, improve the business climate with proper infrastructure conditions, stimulating collaborative product development and innovative processes, negotiating improved market access on textile and clothing products etc.

Senior Lecturer Department of Textile and Clothing Technology Dr. Nilanthi Heenkenda supported the paper.

RK