In recent years, when participating in market competition with other textile and apparel manufacturing countries, the emphasis on sustainable production is becoming the most powerful competitive advantage for Sri Lankan manufacturers.
Since 2008, Sri Lanka’s largest clothing manufacturer BrandixGroup has reduced its carbon emissions by 30%. The group plans to continue to reduce carbon emissions by 20% from 2013 to 2020. At the same time, the company hopes to grow its revenue from US$600 million in 2011 to US$1 billion in the next five years.
Although the company has not been able to earn high market profits through sustainable manufactured products, sustainable production methods have helped them effectively reduce costs in the past few years. During a period when production costs rose sharply, its product prices remained stable, thus attracting more orders.
According to statistics, from January 2008 to June 2012, the average price of clothing imported from the EU increased by 24%, while the price of clothing imported from Sri Lanka only increased by 13.8%. Its increase is lower than that of most Asian apparel suppliers, such as Vietnam (186.8%), Bangladesh (51.1%), and Indonesia (38.9%).
