Apparel exporter Brandix says it expects to double in size over the next four years even as it substantially reduces consumption of natural resources and shrinks its carbon footprint.
Supply chain representatives from 15 countries, who were brought together in Colombo by Brandix Apparel at a high-powered Vendor Summit, were given this future growth perspective.
 In a press release, Brandix Director Udena Wickremesooriya said this exponential growth was also reflected in product categories as well as in customer accounts. Over just five years, companies in the Brandix Group had doubled, tripled and quadrupled, their volumes for top international labels, he said.
Stressing that “It is customer positions that drive us, not just the numbers,” Mr. Wickremesooriya explained that this growth had largely been achieved by focusing on simple fundamentals such as on-time delivery, price, speed, product and the sustainability platform, with commitments to Greener products, organic cotton, Fair Trade certifications and the Better Cotton initiative.
Brandix CEO Ashroff Omar in his presentation identified rapidly shrinking lead times as one of the biggest challenges for the apparel industry. The growing demand for ‘instant gratification’ by trend-driven consumers could result in manufacturers being given hours rather than days to deliver new designs within the next 18 to 24 months, he said. In order to respond, the apparel industry would have to “redefine collaboration” by finding ways to use the latest advances in information technology to completely integrate the multiple supply chains of vendors, manufacturers and retailers to create visibility and deliver flawlessly at high speed, Mr. Omar said.
A highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to the top vendor partners of Brandix. The award categories were Best Support Product Partner, Best Apparel Service Provider, Most Innovative Partner – Accessories, Most Innovative Partner – Textiles, Best Emerging Partner – Accessories, Best Emerging Partner – Textiles, Most Flexible Partner, Vendor of the Year – Textiles and Vendor of the Year – Accessories. The Vendor of the Year – Textiles award was conferred to Pacific Textiles, while Stretchline and Seihoi were declared joint winners of the title of Vendor of the Year – Accessories.
The Vendor Summit was preceded by a Vendor Roadshow, at which 67 local and international vendor partners took stalls to present their goods and services. |
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