Ready made garment industry of Sri Lanka

Looking back to the future

Starting with a few sewing machines in the 1960s today the ready-made garment industry represents world class manufacturing and global reach with multinational operations. The sewing machines have gone hi-tech and currently the industry dominates the Sri Lankan economy as the largest exporter and biggest employer in manufacturing.

However, the industry is once more at cross roads. Global market changes, the proliferation of preferential trading arrangements, changes in technology and rising domestic costs are all bearing down on the previously uncomplicated business of mass clothing production. A good indicator is the number of manufacturing units in operation. A 2001 estimate put the number of garment factories in Sri Lanka at 1,061 but by the time of a Labour Department and Oxfam census in 2004, the number had reduced to 733. Over the past two years, according to industry sources, more factories have had to close down.

To face external and internal changes, the industry is now in the process of adjustment through acquisitions, closures, new investments and diversification into new markets and manufacturing bases like India. In this special series, journalist Dilshani Samaraweera of The Sunday Times FT takes a look at the industry’s past, what it is today and its plans for the future.