First 'South Asian Apparel Leadership' forum in Sri Lanka

22 Oct '11

3 min read

Sri Lanka Design Festival is here for good and for the emergence of the region, for the long haul, and always to do the right thing.

At the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum, you will see how design and business can combine and have done so in factories, supported by supply chain and committed to by a countries institutions.

Sri Lanka can make what the brands can sell: Value-Add Design. It's the high ground seized and driven by innovation.

These are the topics we will address at this in an interactive format on Friday, November 18:

Forces causing a rebalancing of apparel production and strategies to respond:
Shifts in strategic sourcing away from China; increase of China's consumer market; rising costs; rising wages; scarcity of some raw materials; more expensive fabrics; cotton prices; oil prices; food prices; riots; global unrest and other factors that have reached a 'tipping point' in apparel production.

Factors that can make Sri Lanka's the next global success story:
Addressing the state today of Sri Lanka's access to raw materials; flexibility; market speed; and cost competitiveness. The advantage of free trade with India for textiles and other strengths of how the region is or can be organized industrially, including more backward supply chain integration.

Design technology, market speed and Sri Lanka's unique value-add:
Time is money. This is where the home-grown design talent of Sri Lanka, it's unique cultural model and use of online technology to interact realtime with any brand anywhere to generate fashion that is in demand internationally.

An update on Sri Lanka's global leadership in sustainability:
Building the world's 'greenest' factories was an initiative, but sustainability is a movement. It is not a 'tomorrow' problem and there are no spectators, only players. Sri Lanka's passion generates more goodwill than any marketing we could do. But business asks, what is the ROI? We know the answer to that question.

SLDF is conceptualized and organized by the Academy of Design (AOD) – Sri Lanka's inspiring design campus that serves as a dynamic catalyst of the local creative industry growth.

AOD organizes SLDF in partnership with the Government of Sri Lanka and key industry stakeholders including the Joint Apparel Association Forum – the apex body of the Sri Lankan apparel industry.

Global apparel big-names are due to arrive in Sri Lanka to participate.

Click here for more information and registration for South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum.

Sri Lanka Design Festival