Manufacturing is mushrooming, outsource is the 'chosen' profession Srilanka’s $ 2.5 billion $ garment industry is poised to transit from Outsource to Design Production Units. Local universities churn out faceless fodder to further fuel global retail- a trajectory that Sri Lanka forged 30 years ago. Focusing on hiking the labor wages and improving working conditions, the garment industry of Sri Lanka lays claim to producing ‘Garments without Guilt’ that provides employment to 50% of the country.

So what is missing in this picture?

Strange that no one notices that Sri Lanka fuels global retail does not have a single local label’? ‘Let’s clean up fashion’ is socio-speak, peppering speeches on fair trade but in reality the country’s minimal infrastructure is consumed in providing cheap solutions for international high streets. Colombo’s own streets are filled with mass market rejects or re-imported ‘international brands’ originally made in their country for 4US$ dollars, exported, only to be re-imported back for 100% margins- a price paid by Sri Lankans for foreign tags and taxes.