“Fashion has the power to connect people with designers, artisans and makers
Even when it was mere ‘clothing’, the intrinsically essential nature of fashion made it one of the most highly demanded product categories, next to food. Today, at a time when wearables have deep links to all-important facets of human life such as work, wellbeing and culture, the power of ‘fashion’ as a business has only heightened even further. But, what will fashion become tomorrow? What about fashion as an experience? What about fashion as a medium to make connections? These are the ideas being explored by Umanga De Alwis Kulasekara who founded the new wearables label UDAK. Combining her love for exploring cultures, discovering crafts and their practitioners, Umanga founded UDAK earlier this year. She joined in for an exclusive conversation with us to share the story of her unusual brand UDAK, and how it becomes an expression of her personal viewpoint on fashion. “My initials turned out to be the brand name. I see UDAK as a new chapter in my life where I see something more than just profit-making from it. UDAK was launched for many reasons and one of them would be as a connection building tool between the consumer, designer, artisans and the makers.”
Umanga’s interesting viewpoint on fashion derives from the unusual design education that she had exposure to at her alma mater AOD. Having been shaped through AOD’s progressive approach to design education, Umanga understood that successful fashion is not just about forming a clever a market response, but also presenting a personal viewpoint; She said “My voyage into creative work began at AOD, where I successfully completed the degree in BA(Hons) fashion and textile design. As I was studying for my final year project, I was lucky enough to work with one of the weavers in Udu-Dumbara and I discovered the beauty of handweaving and their authenticity which inspired me to base a brand which can encourage these traditional textile techniques to enter the modern world and make meaningful connections with the new generation; Also to introduce a unique product with a genuine story.”
Beyond this, Umanga also found her own thinking closely akin to one of the most important facets of our understanding of fashion; This is the ethical and sustainable considerations of the wearables business. “As fast fashion is taking over the fashion industry, we’re losing a lot of traditional techniques, the cultural significance and history of textile”, she said voicing her concerns about wearables losing one of its most powerful influences over humanity. She also noted that the socio-economic relevance of fashion is heavily underplayed today with traditional wealths like artisanry, craft-based skills and textile traditions not being incorporated enough. “Sri Lankan artisans are faced with the fading art of handloom and they are being affected economically,” she said. “The intention is to share the true value of Sri Lankan heritage. UDAK’s story encompasses different styles of clothing fused with Udu-Dumbara handweaving.”
For Umanga, UDAK became a culmination of all these ideas, concepts and aspirations, where fashion becomes a social dialogue of cultural, economical and personal significance. Umanga launched UDAK last March. “Our first range consisted of occasion wear with rich handwoven detailing. UDAK will launch a diffusion line this May and the range will consist of basics such as shirts, trouser, shorts that will link to comfort, art and every-day wear. This range will come in handy for the conscious minded if you’re thinking of minimizing your wardrobe and consume less with multi-tasking pieces that could be worn for work, weekend or casual outings. Each piece is designed with close attention to detail and garment innovation going from occasion wear, to lounge wear to formal,” she added.
For more on Umanga’s brand UDAK, other successful alumni stories of AOD and their award-winning Northumbria University UK design degrees on Fashion, Fashion Marketing, Interior Design, Visual Communication Design and Motion Graphics & Animation Design, reach AOD Colombo on 0775727772, 0115867772, AOD Kandy on 081 4 548322 email info@aod.lk or walk in between 9am and 5pmMonday to Friday – AOD, 29, Lauries Road, Colombo 4.
www.aod.lk