Knit fabric giant Teejay announces plans to diversify into lace

• Signs MoU with prospective joint venture partner Luen Fung Textiles of China

Teejay Lanka PLC, Sri Lanka’s only multinational textile mill, has announced plans to partner with a leading Chinese company to venture in to the manufacture of lace, thereby significantly expanding the company’s product portfolio. 

As a first step, Teejay is to commence dying, finishing, and scalloping of raw lace material supplied by the prospective joint venture partner, Luen Fung Textiles (LFT) of China, the company has said in a filing with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). This will be undertaken at the manufacturing facilities of Teejay India, the announcement said.

Commenting on the plans announced by Teejay, the company’s Chairman Bill Lam said: “Teejay is pursuing different growth avenues with diversification of products and this will be the start of this new journey.” 

The company’s CEO Shrihan Perera added: “We are confident that this partnership will give us a distinct edge with clear growth potential with our customer base.”   

Teejay Lanka Deputy CEO Pubudu de Silva elaborated: “The addition of lace to our portfolio significantly enhances the versatility of the company’s offering and its earning potential. We are excited at the prospect of working with Luen Fung Textiles to augment our knowledge and capabilities and to expand our customer base.”

A supply arrangement entered into by Teejay as a precursor to the developments envisaged in the MoU with Luen Fung Textiles paves the way for the latter to design and supply lace as a raw material to Teejay. After purchase, Teejay will sell the finished lace to customers who place orders with both Teejay and LFT.

Founded in 2006 and based in China-Hong Kong, LFT is a reputed company in the business of research and development, manufacturing, selling, marketing, distributing, supplying raw materials and other related items used in the manufacture of lace and related products.

LFT manufactures for popular international brands such as Target, JC Penny, Maidenform, Fruit of the Loom, Vanity Fair, Pacific Brands, Hanes, Kmart, Walmart, Lidl, and Bonds. 

With manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka and India, Teejay is one of the region’s largest textile manufacturers, and supplies fabric to some of the best international brands across the world. Teejay Lanka PLC is a public quoted company with 39% public ownership. The company is backed by Sri Lanka’s largest apparel exporter, Brandix Lanka which has a 33% stake and Pacific Textiles of Hong Kong which owns 28% of the company.

An ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and OHSAS 18001:2007 compliant company and the first in the industry to develop green fabric, Teejay has been listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) since 2011 and was included in the S&P Top 20 Index in Sri Lanka. The company has also been named among the Forbes ‘200 Best under a Billion in Asia’ and been recognised as the ‘International Textile Firm of the Year’ and the ‘International Dyer and Finisher’ by World Textile Institute, London.