TrendSwim by Swim Week brings industry leaders together to discuss trends

• Expert forum to discuss future direction

Swim Week Colombo, with its title partner Olu Tropical Water, presents another edition of the highly-anticipated segment TrendSwim, which will feature an expert forum where thought leaders meet to discuss current trends and future directions that impact the fashion industry. 

Swim Exhibit, which showcases the latest breakthroughs in design and technology, while highlighting the concerns discussed in TrendSwim, will run in parallel. The exhibition will feature leading brands such as Linea Aqua, Fastech Asia, Leema Group, MAS fabrics and Thomas Kershaw, all of whom will be represented in the expert panel of Trend Swim as well, thereby making this platform a comprehensive representation of the industry’s leaders.   

The first discussion will be ‘Global Swimwear’ covering the broad areas of trend direction, consumer behaviour and market direction. The expert panel comprises leaders in the field, which include Heidi Gosman (Co-founder of luxury swimwear brand Heidi Klein – London), Eric Koby (CEO, luxury swimwear brand Heidi Klein – London) and Darshi Keerthisena De Livera (Creative Director – Buddhi Batiks). 

The panel will lead the discussion to cover trends in style and new influences, as well as predictions on the next wave of change will be areas touched on that will educate designers on what to expect. 

Various actors in the industry will benefit from understanding what the current customer focus is and how it is evolving in light of changing global concerns like climate change and green concerns, ethical issues related to material sourcing and functionality of apparel over aesthetics.

The panel discussion to follow will be ‘Good and Sustainable Fashion’ led by panellists Ajai Vir Singh (Founder – Colombo Fashion Week and Swim Week Colombo; Creative Director – Conscience), Sarinda Unamboowe (CEO/Managing Director at MAS Kreeda), David Abraham (Creative Director – Abraham & Thakore), Shiranee Yasaratne (Advisor – Biodiversity Sri Lanka) and Anoma Wijewardene (Artist), focusing on the latest ideas on building an earth conscious future as well as sustainability practices and the industry perspective. 

The discussion will be in line with Swim Week Colombo’s new position of being ‘Green Conscious, Earth Sensitive’. With the fashion industry being the second most polluting industry after oil, it has become a global concern to reduce impact on the environment, move towards 100% carbon and water neutral products and invest in the environment for the future. The panel will focus on these ideas as well as highlight how Sri Lanka’s fashion industry can contribute towards these efforts. 

The third discussion will have panellists Yusuf Saleem (CEO at Trischel Fabrics Ltd.) and Kireety Madiraju (Director – Innovation, Materials & Design at MAS Holdings) enlighten those gathered on fabric direction and technology under ‘Textile Forum’. 

This will focus on the latest innovations in fashion and swimwear, which will help to educate designers on the new expectation of swimwear to be more than function as an item of clothing or be aesthetically pleasing. With growing innovations branching out to also cover other areas, such as monitoring heart rates and other functions performed by a pedometer, designers will be pushed to consider this as well in their choices and design. 

In light of emerging health concerns, manufacturers of swimwear are now even exploring how swim wear can even alert its wearers of risks towards breast cancer, heart complications or even strokes. With R&D in the apparel industry pressing towards a more futuristic level, these ideas are becoming relevant today and therefore require discussion. 

The mediator for these Panel discussions will be Mihini de Zoysa who is a capable facilitator of such forums. The audience will consist of industry leaders from the apparel and manufacturing sectors, students and faculty heads of fashion institutions and media. Further to this, the panellists will also be participating in ‘Swim Exhibit,’ which takes place parallel to the panel discussions and audiences will have a chance to see these ideas discussed in actual practice. 

Swim Week Colombo benefits from its collaboration with strategic partners who have understood its vision and have rendered much support in pursuing its present goals in achieving a higher standing in the global fashion scene, as well as its new position in being environmentally and socially more responsible. 

This year’s partners are Olu Tropical Water – Title Partner, Linea Aqua – Main Partner, Hilton – Hospitality Partner, Wine World – Official Lifestyle Beverage Partner, Ramani Fernando – Official Hair and Make-Up Partner, Spa Ceylon, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and MSL Group Sri Lanka – Official PR Partner and Emerging Media is the Outdoor Digital Media Partner – all of whom have extended their support towards making Swim Week ’18 a possibility and have contributed towards making this year’s segment of Trend Swim a successful dialogue.

Trend Swim is a vital part of this edition of Swim Week Colombo as it will create a platform to highlight its new position on being focussed on environmental conservation. Furthermore, keeping with its original vision, the panel discussions will help to improve Sri Lanka’s fashion industry, raise the standard and set a bar for up and coming designers and spread awareness of the current focus globally.  

For further information please visit www.swimweekcolombo.com or follow Swim Week Colombo of Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/swimweekcolombo/), Instagram @swimweekcolombo.