Financial Times

Emerald International, the firm famous for shirts, is celebrating 50 years of operations in Sri Lanka this year. In a statement to mark the anniversary, the company said that its founding chairman was M. A. Fatha who started his textile business on June 1, 1942, under the name M/s Fatha & Company.

“By the early 50s he ventured into the manufacturing business initially, with knitted innerwear. As he established a sound business relationship with the Japanese textile trade, he was encouraged to import and distribute Japanese-made shirts.

This was the era before the Japanese became famous for their electrical appliances, toys and cars, among others. Encouraged by the success, Mr. Fatha ventured into manufacturing shirts locally using quality fabric imported solely from Japan,” the statement added.

As an entrepreneur, Mr. Fatha realised the power of branding. He also realised that the responsibility of achieving consistency and continuous improvement to safeguard and enhance the brand name and the ability to achieve economies of scale directly benefits the consumer.

A separate entity to manufacture only Emerald shirts was established in 1956. But in the 1960s, the then government policy of restricting the import of textiles without establishing proper alternatives of raw material options to the garment industry, dealt a blow to the brand name ceasing production and by the beginning of the 1970s the manufacturing arm of Emerald was dormant.

The opening up of the economy in the late 70s and the growth achieved by the economy subsequently provided new opportunities and paved the way for a revival. A production plant to manufacture shirts was opened in 1985 and went on to record continuous high growth and was able to re-establish its name back in the market.

The brand rekindled the interest of local agents of foreign buyers, the company said.

Emerald said it is the only Sri Lankan garment manufacturer to make garments for both the domestic market and for foreign labels. It has over 400 dealers island-wide, selling menswear products under the Emerald, Focuss, Emerald Leonardo, Class One, Mansak, Skore e-Phoch, Cromozome & Runn brand names.

“After 50 years, Emerald has recorded a commendable achievement which is the result of producing high-quality products to the market and providing a good customer service. We now have four factories equipped with specialised machinery, with a 1300-strong, skilled workforce, and producing over 15,000 garments per month, where 65 percent of the production is for export,” said the CEO and Managing Director A. F. M. Ikram.