Fast fashion is the game for SL – Industry expert
Dominic Mcvey
The Sri Lanka apparel industry should improve on its ‘turnaround’ time and be speed conscious in a bid to get ahead in this competitive world of fashion, a top international industry expert says. Dominic Mcvey, a founding and managing partner of investment firm Ellestone Apparel LLP, the holding company which is the controlling shareholder of Colombo-based Hela Clothing, told the Business Times that Sri Lanka in order to achieve its true potential and to align itself to the global competitors ‘must’ be conscious of the speed of fashion. “Sri Lanka needs to develop its second tier supply chain. Sri Lanka is still relying on importing its core apparel items such as fabric from other countries,” he said pointing out that it’s prohibitive in terms of delivering a finished product to the customer ‘speedily’ as fashion gets outdated almost at the speed of the Internet.
Mr. Mcvey who started his first business at the age of 15 with his entrepreneurial successes earning him the title of “Britain’s youngest, self-made millionaire’, said that among the top three barriers that Sri Lanka faces in carrying out apparel business are that it’s expensive, lack of fabric and fast fashion. He cited Turkey as a good example of fast fashion. “Turkey sells the products really quickly and their turnaround time is fast,” he said noting that what’s important in the fashion industry now is being fast or being in the ‘now’. “Sri Lanka is missing these gaps,” he said adding that the country ought to start manufacturing high quality fabrics. He reiterated that in a bid to beat the competition, Sri Lanka needs to be making premium products. “We need to build infrastructure for that,” he said adding this is not impossible as we have that talent pool. “This will take the business from Turkey, China and Bangladesh. This is what we ought to be doing.”
More exposure needed
He also added that it has to be made sure that Sri Lankans are exposed to fashion and clients. “Live in Paris, London, New York. Live and breathe the customers. This is what our employees at Hela do.” He also noted that with the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) + the industry could grow by 20 per cent which is by US$ 1 billion. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is now in Brussels for the GSP+ negotiations. Sri Lanka submitted its application to the EU to regain its lost trade concessions, GSP + mid this year. A visiting EU delegation in January this year highlighted that it would take a period of at least 10 months to regain trade concessions. These trade concessions have been linked to the country’s compliance with human rights and labour rights conventions.
Mr. Mcvey added that Brexit, when it happens will put price pressure on the apparel industry. He will be speaking on ‘Breaking Stereotypes – Age is just a Number’ during the first day of technical sessions of the 37th National Conference of Chartered Accountants which will be held on Thursday October 20. Mr. Mcvey who runs a diversified portfolio of business interests served as Chairman of Hela Clothing from 2013 to 2016 where he oversaw the doubling of revenues and spearheaded the new direction and growth strategy of the group. His ethos is about discovering opportunity in adversity and declares that “when someone’s telling you that you are not good enough, turn that into positive energy and prove them wrong. Have enough drive in you that you do not see those brick walls and no-one stops you.”