Trendsetter Ajai unveils fashion industry’s eco system
Sri Lanka’s fashion industry will unveil the new order to manufacture and design garments in an eco-friendly system.
As a head start, founder of the Colombo Fashion Week Ajai Vir Singh told the Business Times on Tuesday that they will be showcasing garments uniquely “green conscious and earth sensitive” at the Colombo Swim Week from June 27 – July 2, held for the third consecutive year.
In this respect, participating designer brands should have produced their swim wear incorporating green conscious garments; ensure that the supply chain involved in the manufacture of the garment would be eco-friendly; and contribute from the price of the garment to the environment protection programmes.
But going forward the designers would be asked to be involved in creating eco-friendly garments, Mr. Singh said.
Commencing this year for the next five years the entire fashion industry will be encouraged to become as green as possible incorporating the fashion, design and apparel sectors. This will be the new norm for the future of fashion in Sri Lanka because “I want to encourage ‘green conscious commerce’,” he noted.
Explaining the system, Mr. Singh said, “We have created an eco-system to incubate ethical conscious brands here, from designing, showcasing to manufacturing all at one place. The complete infrastructure here is now available to any designer who needs it.”
This new eco system would ensure that the qualifying participants would bring about an impact on either one of these three; the garment, supply chain or the environment.
The show is positioned to showcase products and designs three weeks just before the internationally renowned Miami show and other important shows in the US and Europe, creating a place for Sri Lanka as the first of the season internationally.
This concept would also look to promote the country as one of the most advanced manufacturing hubs for swimwear and activewear, Mr. Singh explained.
Activities would include 15 fashion shows, trend seminars, exhibition and sub events of the week involving other creative fields collaborating with fashion like art, films and food.
The new order of setting the trend would increase the reliance of designers on mother nature to produce a garment and giving back to the environment that would ensure the eco system would be secured and nurtured.
| 7 plastic bottles in a pair of shorts | |
| A new pair of shorts available in the market is using plastic bottles to manufacture the yarn set to churn out the garment. Plastic bottles are converted to polymer and then made into yarn used to design the Arugam Bay shorts, founder and President of the Colombo Fashion Week Ajai Vir Singh told the Business Times on Tuesday. They had obtained the yarn from a Dutch factory based in China that would then be brought into Colombo to manufacture the designer shorts, he explained. With plans underway to establish a factory to manufacture this yarn, Mr. Singh noted that this would require technology. At present Arugam Bay has manufactured about 3000 shorts priced at Rs.2000 and Rs.3000 with a tag attached to the garment indicating that it was made out of seven plastic bottles. |