SL to lead global discussion from SLDF’s South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum 2015

The South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum has been held as part of Sri Lanka Design Festival for the last six years and has managed to gathergreat interest fromthe apparel industry professionals in South Asia and abroad. This prestigious forum is a groundbreaking meeting-of-minds between local and international opinion leaders, and discusses the course and the future of the apparel industry with South Asia as a central focus.

This year, the forum brings into highlight the power of true innovation and how to move beyond it being a mere buzzword, to harness its true potential by inventing instead of imitating. With a series of power-packed sessions from some of the world’s leading game-changers in fashion and apparel, this forum aims to deliver fresh insights and new knowledge to the business world. 

South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum’s 2015 theme ‘Reimagining Business’ highlights some of the leading transforming forces of global business and discusses it from a specialty perspective that is relevant to Sri Lanka. To deliver this all-important message, the forum has selected several speakers who have in fact, transformed the fashion business through a product, a service solution or a complete shiftin the commercial model; these masterminds are here to share their real experiences and lessons learnt. 

Among the key discussions held will be the session led by KeldMikkelsen – Founder of the Danish luxury fashion label DAY BirgeretMikkelsen on ‘Innovating for a Luxury Brand’. With this session, the forum provides Sri Lankan apparel makers the necessary strategic input to reinvent their product offering and move above the low or mid-range fashion markets to make better use of their superior technology, sustainability and design integration for luxury brands. 

Providing a fresh take on reinventing business, the South Asian Apparel Leadership also presents Bruno Pieters – the former creative director of the luxury brand Hugo Boss who went on to launch his own unique brand ‘Honest By’ which has made headlines as  the world’s first 100% transparent company. Pieters is expected to discuss the topic ‘Totally Transparent – the Future of Fashion’ and how this seemingly risky move can change a business to a sincere operation trusted and loved by consumers. 

Consumer trend analysis and in-depth insights on ‘The Future Consumer – the Next Big Things’will be another important session at the 2015 leadership forum; led by the world’s foremost consumerinsight and trend forecasting agency – The Future Laboratory, this session aims to deliver hard facts and inescapable realities of the fashion consumer in the next decade and their demands. 

Paul Forman the global CEO of the world’s largest thread maker Coats will also be a distinguished speaker visiting Sri Lanka at the invitation of Coats Thread Lanka Managing DirectorDouglas Aceiro. Forman, an eminent global apparel supply chain leader, will speak on the big picture of driving innovation from B2B to B2C. Here, Forman’s decades’ worth of experience in working within a dual model that incorporates both B2B and B2C practices will draw an all-encompassing picture.

Deepika Rana– Executive Director Sub Continent and Sub Saharan Africa for Li & Fung, will share her insights on ‘Global Sourcing Landscape and Future Strategies’. Rana will share the lessons learnt by Li Fung – the world’s largest sourcing and distribution platform, in working with both traditional and emerging markets across continents. 

Bringing in an essential Sri Lankan viewpoint to this discussion, the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum will also feature Shirendra Lawrence – Managing Director of MAS Active on ‘Design & Source Sri Lanka’,touching on the critical growth points incorporated by the local apparel industry and how these have contributed to a big change worthy of global attention. 

A panel discussion led by Peter Ingwersen former LEVIS director Europe and Founder of NOIR and ILLUMINATI will bring together Linda Speldewinde – Entrepreneur and Founder AOD/FashionMarket.lk/SLDF and Chamath De Alwis – Vice President at Star Garments Group to discuss how little Sri Lanka is making a big difference in the international fashion frontier by combining the best of what the country has to offer.

The forum will be chaired by Kumar MirchandaniManaging Director/Favourite Group and targets and audience of C-Suite execs, CEOs, leadership teams of apparel manufacturing entities & their supply chain partners. 

With Sri Lanka solidifying its position as the fashion and apparel hub of the South Asian region and standing strong in its commitment to sustainability,value and design integration, South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum (SAALF) will play the pivotal role in deciding the future of this industry. The forum aims to create the global discourse with the intent of bringing in fresh insights and sharing the ground-breaking initiatives happening in Sri Lankan apparel with the world. 

SLDF 2015is supported by Sri Lanka Apparel, the Export Development Board along with Brandix and MAS holdings as principal fashion industry patrons. SLDF is also supported by Coats Thread- Official Thread & Zip Partner as the main supply chain supporter. The event is also supported by Mercedes-Benz powered by Dimo, SriLankan Airlines – the official airline and Wijeya Newspapers’ Daily FT, Daily Mirror and Sunday Times as official print media. The event is also supported by Mount Lavinia Hotel as the official host and Sunshine Travels. SLDF was founded by AOD.

Sri Lanka Design Festival will be launched to the local business community on 26 November and remain open to the public on 27, 28 and 29 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre.For more information log on to: www.srilankadesignfestival.com/[email protected]/076 777 1488.