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Woollen
wonder from Lankan hands
Dale Craft Knit
(Pte) Ltd. established in collaboration with Dale of Norway is celebrating
the 22nd anniversary of its success story here. Founded with the
aim of providing employment to rural women, this industry has grown
rapidly over the years, providing employment in what may seem an
alien, but nevertheless satisfying craft. Initially ten
trained girls were recruited to teach knitting at five selected
centres around the country to a workforce of 350. The unique method
used is called Norwegian knitting, where the two needles are joined
with a wire, resulting in circular seamless knitting unlike in British
knitting where joints have to be completed. Dale of Norway
was established in 1879, by Peter Jebsen outside Bergen in a village
called Dalekvam, where the spinning of woollen yarn took place in
a mill beside the river. NORAD was instrumental
in supporting the Dale company visit to Sri Lanka in 1979. The first
centres were opened in Munnakkara off Negombo, Ratmalana, Kolonnawa,
and Nuwara Eliya. No machinery was involved so there was no capital
expenditure. As nobody in this country knew Norwegian knitting,
a Norwegian couple who was in Sri Lanka for a month training 20
girls provided the initial technical know-how. Since those early
days, the company has trained as many as 4,500 girls in this craft.
Each design,
each detail has a story behind it. "We use traditional Scandinavian
motifs and turn them into fashion garments," said Director
of Dale Craft Knit (Pte) Ltd. Priyantha Subasinghe. The process
involves washing the wool, boiling it to remove the fat (retaining
5-6 percent), drying and combing, stretching, twisting, dyeing,
drying, and then knitting. "When
it comes to colours you have to study the world market. We are on
a good wicket," said Mr. Subasinghe. "We are in collaboration
with a world brand name with a good sales network. There are at
least 3,000 sales outlets in Norway alone." They also produce
sweaters under licensed agreements for other companies such as Walt
Disney, Sesame Street, Moomin Characters, etc. The window display
models for Dale of Norway's yarn shops are also produced in Sri
Lanka. This world
famous Norwegian sweater company has a long tradition of Olympic
involvement. Since 1956, Dale of Norway has outfitted the Norwegian
national ski teams in sweaters dedicated to and inspired by the
venue for each Winter Olympics or World Championship. It is now
the official Olympic wear sponsor for the Norwegian Winter Olympic
team, and introduced its successful Olympic collection of sweaters,
featuring designs specially created for the 2002 Winter Olympics
in Salt Lake City. The company
aims at being community-oriented. Approximately 70 percent of the
total turnover goes to the workers, said Mr. Subasinghe, adding
that they plan to construct multi-purpose production sites in villages
that can also serve as the village hall. At present knitting takes
place at 17 centres around the country. Dale Craft
Knit (Pte) Ltd. is hoping to start a fully equipped design centre,
Dale Research & Development Services (Pvt) Limited by January
2003. The centre is for developing not just knitwear but any creative
product such as jewellery, furniture and packaging. This design
centre will be geared to improving the creativity of Sri Lankan
students and will accommodate 24 students initially, from of the
Bachelor of Design Degree Course conducted by the Faculty of Architecture,
University of Moratuwa. In this five-year degree, students are allowed
to specialise in different fields such as fashion, jewellery, furniture,
ceramics, graphics, from the third year onwards. "We will
have joint programmes with the students of the Department of Textile
& Clothing Technology at the University of Moratuwa for design
of knitwear collections and apparel. We are hoping to get foreign
lecturers and designers to stimulate these students. The centre
will comprise 24 workstations and video confe-rencing facilities.
It will be open to any private company, that wishes to entrust the
students with real projects. The aim is to develop designs for export
products. Some textile companies have already expressed an interest
in using this facility and offering future employment to final-year
students," Mr. Subasinghe said. This venture
has an investment of Rs. 20 million from NORAD. The BOI has also
supportive of this venture. In June, Dale
of Norway AS and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) entered
into a long-term licensing agreement, following the great success
of the Salt Lake 2002 licensing programme. The contract continues
until 2010 and will be the most strategically significant agreement
in the company's 123-year history. Of course, with a little help
from Sri Lanka. |
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