Apparel without guilt' Lanka's new brand tag

The ethical practices in production became the brand tag of Sri Lanka's apparel in international markets. After extensive research in Sri Lanka's main markets in US and EU, AC Nielson and Grey global Group - Sri Lanka, launched the new Sri Lankan apparel brand "Apparel without guilt".

This brand will be promoted by all apparel producers and exporters as the Sri Lankan apparel logo in all their documents, letter heads, labels and advertising campaigns. The branding and communication campaign was designed by Grey Advertising.

Chairman of the Joint Apparel Association Forum, Ashroff Omar said that the campaign is a very structured program designed to promote the image of the country and the industry as the best apparel destination.

The Apparel industry which contributes around 39% of the total industrial production of the country has faced new challenges after the phase out of the Multi Fibre Agreement in December 2004. Earlier we produced our apparel for specific buyers but today we produce it for the world, Omar said.

He said that whenever buyers visited our factories they were impressed by the ethical practices we followed in production. We had not communicated our advantages to the buyers and the end users of our products and this campaign was designed to convey it to those who do not visit the country, he said.

In an industry where cost, quality and reliability are already known it was a challenge to find a differentiated brand proposition that was relevant to the customer and one where Sri Lanka has the credibility to deliver. After a number of personal interviews with buyers in the main markets it was revealed that the ethical production practice is the most appropriate brand proposition.

It is becoming increasingly important that garments are sourced from countries adhering to internationally accepted ethical practices so that they are manufactured in an environment that does not employ child labour, empower women and use environmental friendly practices.

Sri Lanka has laid the legal foundation in this regard and the country has signed 39 International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and ratified conventions for the minimum age of employment, worst forms of child labour, forced labour and other important conventions on fundamental principles and rights at work.

Sri Lanka has a huge potential to increase its export share in its main markets. In the US market,

where 62% of the apparel is exported, the supplies go through only five buyers where there are 7,500 such buyers. Sri Lanka supplies less than 1% of its apparel to the top 50 US buyers.