Designer Mihiri de Silva to launch R.E.D

Brainchild of Sri Lankan Designer Mihiri De Silva, R.E.D looks at dealing with the post-waste of Sri Lanka’s apparel industry by up-cycling it and converting it into a fashion line of clothing for exports.Mihiri has long been the blue-eyed-girl of Sri Lanka’s apparel industry since she returned from the UK, having completed her degree in Textiles and Design at the University of Leeds.

For the past two decades she has worked as Head of Design for two of Sri Lanka’s foremost garment manufacturers, helping to fashion clothing and underwear for well-known European and US brands including Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Express, M&S, the Arcadia group and Intimissimi.

Mihiri’s experience enabled her to channel her creativity in more ways than just design and marketing. Part of her role at one point involved managing waste stock, comprising orders that had been paid for but were no longer wanted, items that had manufacturing faults, off-cuts and other unused fabrics and trimmings.

This entailed helping find local markets to sell ready-made garments to, designing new items suitable for buyers in India, Australia and the Middle East and making everything from patchwork quilts to duffle bags from off-cuts of fabric that would otherwise have been wasted.

She realised, however, that the majority of apparel industry waste was simply being stored to only be disposed of in ways which were harmful to the environment.

This sparked the idea for a company that would re-engineer apparel waste by creating fashionable and wearable clothes from materials salvaged from the industry’s unwanted excess of material. In 2009, Mihiri was part of the core committee that organised the inaugural Sri Lanka Design Festival, an event attended by buyers, press and environmental specialists from the UK garment industry.

This drew Mihiri’s attention to the growing demand in her birthplace for clothes made without harming the environment; thus R.E.D – Re-Engineered Design – was born. “I want R.E.D. to engage Sri Lanka’s apparel industry in the process of ‘re-engineering’ its waste into fashionable, wearable pieces of clothing,” said Mihiri.

R.E.D only sources materials from factories certified under the Garments without Guilt scheme. This accreditation is awarded to manufacturers that recognise, respect and protect the rights of labourers in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. R.E.D thus ensures its fabrics are never manufactured using child or forced labour or in factories with discriminatory employment policies.

By sourcing its raw materials in this manner, and manufacturing clothes in the same factories that produce the salvaged waste, R.E.D has distinctively shorter lead times from order placement to delivery. R.E.D finished product is a low carbon product due to its minimum number of processes and results in the reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning and sending waste to landfill.

With R.E.D’s innovative manufacturing philosophy and with almost zero emissions from the reclaimed fabric arriving at the factory floor, R.E.D. products, when manufactured will have a lower carbon footprint than any comparable product manufactured in Sri Lanka. Visit www.redcocoon.net for more details.

Said Ajith Dias – Immediate Past Chairman JAAF (Joint Apparel Association Forum), Sri Lanka:  “Sri Lanka apparel is currently a leader in the global fashion world partly due to is ethical business practices of manufacturing Garments without Guilt. Mihiri de Silva, who has been engaged in the conscious transformation of the Sri Lankan apparel industry from a mere ‘manufacturer’ to a ‘total solutions provider’, embarks on a design journey to take this concept further by creating fashion which is re-engineered.”

“Sri Lanka has never compromised on quality or manufacturing in a field that is always competitive. Our apparel exports have been the largest income earner in the country, and with a contribution of 52% with detrimental environmental changes taking place, being ‘green’ in our lifestyles is ever more important than it has been before. In that context, Brandix has spearheaded numerous initiatives to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions at all manufacturing locations and pledged to reduce the entire Group’s carbon footprint by 30 per cent over the next two years.

“At the forefront of this undertaking is our world class LEED Platinum certified eco-friendly facility in Seeduwa that manufactures casual wear for M&S. While we as a country have pioneered Ethical manufacturing, I congratulate Mihiri de Silva in initiating R.E.D., Sri Lanka’s first sustainable fashion label,” he added.

Dian Gomes – Group Director, MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka said: “In today’s globally competitive apparel manufacturing industry, Sri Lanka is commended for its superior product quality and world class manufacturing standards. Apparel is a major source income for the Sri Lankan economy, contributing to over half of the country’s exports and employing close to 15% of the nation’s workforce. We as a country are proud to have pioneered the concept of ‘Ethical Manufacturing’, with the importance of “going green” increasing every day. In this light, I applaud Mihiri de Silva in launching R.E.D; Sri Lanka’s first sustainable fashion label.”

A. Sukumaran - Chairman/Joint Apparel Association Forum said: “Throughout its short history of just three decades, Sri Lanka’s apparel industry has been at the forefront of industrial excellence and social responsibility in Asia. As the global interest continues to intensify on how, where and by whom products were made, Sri Lanka Apparel was already ahead of the curve putting their own inherent ethical thinking into practice. From green factories to people friendly manufacturing plants, Sri Lanka has pioneered an apparel industry that is both ecologically responsible and free from sweatshop practices, child labour and discrimination.

“We commend Mihiri for her pioneering effort to synergise the values of the ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ label by re-engineering industry ‘waste’ into a fashionable clothing collection under the label R.E.D. Stepping up and staying ahead of the curve has been the nature of the industry and such leading efforts to reach the consumer directly with sustainable fashion continues to solidify Sri Lanka Apparel’s leadership in ethical and sustainable fashion manufacturing on the global stage. We congratulate Mihiri on the launch of her label R.E.D. and fully support her endeavours to create Sri Lanka’s first sustainable fashion brand.”