CFW Retail Week: A new responsible fashion experience

By Divya Thotawatte

With an objective of providing its clients a novel experience based on knowledge and engagement, Colombo Fashion Week recently announced the CFW Retail Week, a first-of-its-kind three-week program themed on relevant topics such as the environment, wellness and literary interactions. 

Colombo Fashion Week has set this knowledge-based retail interaction to take place at One Galle Face from 11 September to 4 October, in collaboration with One Galle Face, Shangri-La and HSBC Sri Lanka. 

CFW Retail Week is to include expert talk on relevant themes and subjects, book readings and workshops, value added retail experiences, movie screenings, a junior chef program, an art workshop for kids and special events like wine tasting and F&B demos. The program is to focus on weekly themes such as Fashion and Wellness Week (12-19 September), Environment and Conservation Week (20-27 September) and Literary Week (28 September-4 October).

CFW Holdings Managing Director Ajai Vir Singh said that the events lined up for the retail week are all organised with the intention of providing clients with a knowledge-enhancing individual and family experience. According to Singh, as the dynamic inside a contemporary mall is interesting and fascinating, CFW had wanted to enhance the dynamics by bringing together creative collaborations, in order to go beyond monetary value and provide knowledge for patrons of relevant issues and current topics. 

“One Galle Face is an iconic mall in Colombo and we could experiment this new concept because of its openness to collaborate on something new. Knowledge, entertainment and interactions is the basis of this experiential concept. I feel coming from a creative industry like fashion, experiential retail is a logical next step,” he explained. 

In an effort to highlight the importance of the environment, the program ‘Environment and Conservation Week’ had been created to spread awareness through workshops and talks to engage the audience. It is to cover important topics such as the ‘Plastic Impact’ by BPPL Holdings Managing Director Dr. Anush Amarasinghe and ‘Marine Conservation’ by Oceanswell Founder and Executive Director Asha De Vos. 

Blue Resources Trust Co-Founder Daniel Fernando is to talk of ‘Threats faced by Sharks and Rays’ while Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) Co-Founding Trustees Anjali Watson and Dr. Andrew Kittle would talk on ‘Leopard as an umbrella species for landscape-level conservation in Sri Lanka’.  

The Fashion and Wellness Week will cover ‘Corporate Etiquette’ by Corporate Trainer Kumar De Silva, ‘Power Dressing’ by Hameedia Group Managing Director Fouzul Hameed, ‘Role of Contemporary Design’ by Buddhi Batiks Creative Director Darshi Keerthisena and ‘Responsible Fashion and Journey towards Circularity’ by CFW Founder Ajai Vir Singh. The Literary Week would consist of book readings by Sri Lankan authors including Ashok Ferrey, Shehan Karunathilaka and Aartika Aurora Bakshi. 

CFW is also to launch ‘The Edit’, an exclusive store space, where all CFW designers could retail their latest designs and collections which were showcased during the fashion week in August, while connecting with a wider audience. 

HSBC Premier Cards is be the main currency of CFW Retail Week’s especially curated shopping experience. HSBC Marketing and Communications Head Tharanga Gunasekera said, “As most of our Premier customers lead international lives, our endeavour is to make our HSBC Premier proposition truly a family affair and allow them to have an international experience right here in Sri Lanka. We invite them to participate in CFW Retail Week and experience the wide array of activities planned by the CFW team for the next three weeks.”

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe