Sri Lanka Apparel to showcase ‘Garments without Guilt’ in Paris

A SRI LANKAN Apparel delegation will be participating at the Fatex Fair next month in Paris. The team would be headed by its Chairman Ajith Dias and would include prominent garment manufacturers.

The ‘Garments without Guilt’ initiative focuses on ethical manufacture and sustainable development assuring the industry’s commitment to ethical working conditions, free of child labour, free of forced labour, free of discrimination and free of sweatshop practices.

The garment manufacturers include MAS Holdings, Penguin Group, Union Apparels, Garment Services, Jubilee Apparels, Denshun Industries and Alexandra Industries.

The product capabilities on display will range from intimate apparel, sportswear, leisurewear, children’s wear, formal wear and garments with varying washed effects to hand flat knits and computerized auto fashioned knits as well as embellishments including hand worked sequin beads and embroideries.

Sri Lanka’s Apparel Industry, with over 30 years experience, has been at the forefront of industrial excellence and social responsibility in Asia, conforming and complying with the norms of ethical sourcing backed by strong legislation.

And over the past decade as the global interest focused on how, where and by whom products were made, Sri Lanka Apparel was already ahead of the curve putting their own inherent ethical thinking into practice.

Sri Lanka is in fact the only outsourced manufacturing country in Asia which has signed up to 27 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Core Conventions covering areas such as prohibition of forced labour and prohibition of child labour.

In addition, the country’s strong legislation demands safe and healthy working conditions, governed hours of work, social and security fund contributions and environmental protection standards.

In recognition, Sri Lanka is the only country in Asia to have been granted concessions by the European Union under the GSP+ scheme for good governance, which entitles duty-free imports under certain criteria to the EU.

Commenting on this creditable initiative, Dias stated, “Undoubtedly, the ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ label is now synonymous with quality, reliability and social and environmental accountability.

For the discerning buyer, concerned with not only the quality of the end product but also with the values that go into making the garments, Sri Lanka is the ultimate destination”.

A US$ 3 billion industry, Sri Lanka Apparel contributes to 46 per cent of the country’s total exports, accounts for 67 per cent of the country’s industrial production.