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Facets of the Clothing Industry of Sri Lanka, by Dr. Rohan Kuruppu priced at Rs. 680 is now available at all leading bookshops in Colombo.

Dr. Kuruppu is the managing director of Brandix College of Clothing Technology and the founder director of Clothing Industry Training Institute, Ratmalana. The book is a collection of over 35 articles which have been grouped into six chapters, Education and training, Fabrics, International trade, Productivity and quality.

Sri Lanka's clothing industry took root around 1978 where some articles have been written in the past. It is interesting to note how they apply in today's context.

The chapter on education and training concentrates on improving the skills of the operators and good management practices, which are the two prime training needs of the clothing industry. Lack of skilled training and facilities for training are some reasons for poor performance in the industry, the book notes.

There have been revolutionary changes in sociology and technology in the recent past. These changes have brought about huge demands on industries to respond quickly to change. This has caused manufacturers to produce their merchandise "right first time". It is a challenge for fabric producers.

This chapter discusses the quality of fabric in general. It has a small section on modern fabrics as smart textiles and wearable electronics

The third chapter deals with global competition. It discusses the challenges that a global manager would face. It shows how to measure export competitiveness. This section explains how some "leading" countries planned their export growth. There are some export statistics of Sri Lanka in this section which might be useful to researchers.

The chapter on productivity says that an increase in national welfare is due to the productivity of a country. Therefor the economic growth of a country is due to its productivity improvement. The book says negative growth would mean the country stays poor while there would be no improvement in national welfare. Some articles in this section deal with productivity and its measures.

Quality is something which Sri Lanka has to fathom. However, quality is understood, but yet Sri Lanka has problems. The book explains how life's patterns relate to quality. This chapter has articles that deal with the technical aspects of quality and methods of improving quality.

The final chapter has an article on absenteeism, socio-economic garment manufacturing concept; village based cooperative society factories; cutting room activities and competitiveness of the SME sector.

The book is useful for beginners, students of textiles/clothing, to understand the practical aspects of manufacturing; for veterans in the industry and those who wish to have an insight into the industry. -EL

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