Lumiere opens doors to fashion orders

Wednesday, 6 March 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lumiere, the state-of-the-art knitted fabric manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka which commenced operations a few months ago, has provided a unique opportunity to all garment manufacturers serving fashion orders.

Hitherto, garment manufacturers were hesitant to undertake (fashion) orders despite the potential for better margins. This is due to many difficulties faced in fabric sourcing which mainly stem from the smaller quantities needed for such orders. The fabric manufacturers on one hand are reluctant to undertake smaller quantities and on the other hand, the lead time taken to produce these quantities is also comparatively more. This is against the market requirement, which is to deliver quantities in double quick time.

Having identified this gap in the market and the lack of industry capacity to fulfil it, Lumiere has made a timely investment in a number of small capacity dyeing machines. All of them are high temperature jets by the world renowned Sclavos, manufactured in Greece.

Lumiere’s investment in these machines is such that it can produce up to 600 batches of smaller quantities between 50m to 200m per month. To facilitate this high small quantity production, the Lumiere lab is equipped with high precision ‘Mathis’ Labomat machines from Italy which can produce upto 5,280 submissions of lab dips per month.

Head of Marketing at Lumiere Dharshaka Tillekeratne explained that more customers are now looking for reduced lead time for their orders to save on costs as well to be able to respond quickly to market demands. Lumiere has therefore incorporated ‘speed’ as one of the core pillars on which its operation is based. The infrastructure, machinery and systems that are in place at Lumiere have made possible the goal of offering this service with a seven day lead time.

This opportunity is a dream come true for many garment manufacturing facilities on the island which currently serve these strategic orders. At present, this service is offered to 100% cotton, cotton elastane, polycotton and 100% polyester fabric in the constructions of single jersey, interlock, rib and pique.