Build apparel brands as tools for survival – Expert

17 Aug '09

2 min read

According to Mr Uditha Liyanage, Head of the Post Graduate Institute of Management, garment manufacturers should invest in brand building to cope with the global recessionary trends as well as rising costs of doing business.

He said the predicament of the third world was that it did not have brands and added by saying that if you develop robust brands you have a good thing going and brands develop value and brands create wealth.

He was speaking a few days before the 2009 Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) brand excellence awards 2009 is to be held for the eighth consecutive year in which he is the consultant for the competition.

Sri Lanka manufactures quality apparel for the well known global brands like Adidas, Reebok, Marks & Spencer, Speedo etc which have invested billions of dollars in building their brands at a global level.

He said the brand value of these well known names exceeded the value of the assets of the companies they represent. He gave an example of the brand, Coca Cola, which has been valued at US $66 billion.

Brand building costs money, but the real challenge comes in integrating a campaign to include all stakeholders in the industry as everyone has different goals and objectives and where investment is a problem but it's more like an obstacle, said, Liyanage.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India