Brandix acquires Comfortwear

Brandix has announced a major addition to its portfolio, following the acquisition of full ownership of Comfortwear the Group’s former joint venture with Lanka Equities.

The new cluster, Brandix Lingerie, launched on March 1, will see the Group emerge as a key player in the manufacture of high end specialty bras and complementary coordinates for global high street labels such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, and Victoria’s Secret.

The two manufacturing facilities of Comfortwear in the Wathupitiwala Export Processing Zone in Nittambuwa, which have been under Brandix management since December 2008, have been restructured into a focused Bra and Lingerie facility that complements the Group’s extensive product offering in categories such as casualwear, intimates, briefs, textiles, knits and accessories, Brandix Group Director AJ Johnpillai said.

Brandix Lingerie also acquired a third manufacturing facility within the zone in October 2010 to achieve the scale and capacity that its key customers require, and is looking at further expansion and consolidation of its lingerie manufacturing capacity within the region, he disclosed.

Brandix Lingerie CEO Rajiv Malalasekera said: “There was an identified need for expansion of our capacity in this product category considering Brandix’s position as a preferred supplier across varied product categories to established retail brands with a global presence.

There is also a visible shift by large retailers into the region to source specialty lingerie which requires skilled labour and affordable and reliable capacity aligned with fashion lead time requirements. Hence there is an opportunity for Brandix to be a bigger player in this segment.”

Disclosing that the Brandix-managed Comfortwear plant had already been rated among the top suppliers to Marks & Spencer in its specific lingerie product category, he said the Group has retained and further enhanced the facility’s core competency of skilled lingerie manufacture, having brought in best practices and processes from the Brandix Group into the business during the management takeover.