Financial Times

Providing ‘little ladies’ their party dress
By Randima Attygalle
A lady who derives pleasure in dressing up ‘little ladies’ in frills and ribbons is Wasantha Senaratne- quite a seasoned supplier of children’s party wear to household names in town such as ‘Little Women’.

A skilled hand in the garment industry, Wasantha possesses an overall knowledge of technological, management and sewing aspects of it. With the open economy creating new avenues to entrepreneurs and the free trade zones emerging in the late 70s, Wasantha commenced her maiden career as a supervisor at Bernard Botejue Industries in 1979 which laid the foundation for her present endeavour in the garment field.“Although I was a diploma holder in dress making and had a considerable experience in the art of Batik, my beginnings in the garment field are technically oriented,” she explained adding that the nature of her job exposed her to industrial machinery.

Moving to Hentleys where she worked in the packing and other divisions and later at Maxims, Wasantha moved to greener pastures to set up her own domestic business of dress making classes parallel with accepting orders on a small scale.

“With no permanent staff, I handled all orders single-handed and by the mid 90s I ventured out into school band costumes, blazers and staff uniforms,” says Wasantha whose skill in ‘scientific cutting’ of special garments helped her establish a solid and a reliable name in the field.

Recalling the early phases in her specialized domain of children’s party wear, Wasantha says, “In the mid 90s ‘Little Women’ was calling for sub-contracts in party wear and when I applied, to my delight I was accepted and since then I have been one of their regular suppliers of exclusive party wear.” Today Wasantha has spread her wings to a considerable number of clothing stores in the suburbs of Colombo and outside.

Asked why she opted to specialize in party wear, Wasantha said, “party wear is in demand throughout the year and since the materials used are relatively costly, it’s a more lucrative business.” According to Wasantha, sociological changes have also contributed to this increased demand. “Gone are the days when a child wore the same home-stitched special dress to many functions. Today both parents and children are fashion-conscious and hardly economise on sewing at home or using the same garment many times,” smiles Wasantha whose market segment is from six to 10 years.

Scarcity of large-scale factories catering to buyers of exclusive party wear is another contributory factor for the popularity of individual suppliers like herself, according to Wasantha.

Quality of the material, neatness and overall presentation are the key facets of a worthy garment, she said. “In order to retain the market, it’s essential that the same standards are maintained and at the same time to keep abreast with the new trends,” adds Wasantha who guarantees that none of her ‘creations’ is found in two stores.

“Each shop I cater to has a different clientele and I believe in going for an assortment of designs,” explains Wasantha who personally sees to the designing and cutting of each item. Being inspired by contemporary designs both local and foreign, Wasantha is quite an experimentalist. “Fusing two three designs can sometimes do wonders,” she says.

As to the challenges encountered in the industry, Wasantha says, “this is an area where one has to fuse machinery and handwork, thus more labour is required which means more financial backing.” For Wasantha, her industry is more than a personal income generating source. “Many families find their bread and butter through this industry, thus I derive immense self satisfaction seeing my employees enjoy job security under me.”

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