Global apparel leaders arrive in Sri Lanka for Apparel Leadership Forum 2012

Sri Lanka Design Festival 2012 will have some of the top names from the global apparel sectors visiting Sri Lanka. These luminaries will come together at the seminal South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum, which is one of the main highlights of the 2012 festival and will be held under the theme ‘New global dimensions: Strategic role of Sri Lanka and the region.’

A prominent personality attending SLDF’s forum is Mark Green, Vice President for Global Supply chain for PVH Corporation that leverages a diversified portfolio of brands — including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, IZOD, ARROW, and Bass — and markets them globally.

The dynamic duo Martin Raymond and Chris Sanderson from The Future Laboratory (www.thefuturelaboratory.com) revolutionary trend forecasting, research and brand innovation consultancy who have presented thought-provoking ideas in UK, US, Germany, Australia, Denmark and several more countries across the globe will be speaking at the South Asian Apparel Leadership forum.

Other influential personalities visiting Sri Lanka for the festival include Michelle Mone, founder of Ultimo lingerie brand in UK; the sustainable icon Jonas Eder-Hansen of Copenhagen Fashion Summit; Kurt Cavano, the global CEO of TradeCard; Stephen Forte, Coats Thread Global Sales Chief, and Mike Todaro, AAPN’s Managing Director along with David Burnbaum – renowned apparel strategist and author of books like ‘Importing Garments Through Hong Kong¾ - a Guide for the Perplexed’ and the monthly global newsletter ‘The Birnbaum Report.’

SLDF has had some big names taking part in it annually: M&S, Topshop, NEXT, H&M, Warehouse, Ted Baker, Asos and Whistles are just a few. Global supply chain giants taking part in SLDF 2012 include Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Coats Thread and TradeCard.

Top South Asian and local participants pioneering in technology, ethical initiatives while securing some big client names like Victoria’s Secret and Tommy Hilfiger will also be a part of the festival. These include MAS Holdings, Hirdaramani, Brandix, Maliban, Star Garments and Penguin. 2012 has new additions to SLDF with retailers and international apparel makers including PVH, VF Corporation and Monsoon.

The forum attended by local apparel manufacturing leaders and their key partners, in addition to being a great knowledge platform, is also a place for networking and forming business links with apparel sectors including forward and backward integration and supply chain.

SLDF is keen to involve all organisations across the supply chain from the yarn to the retailer and also  encourages logistics and finance parties to participate in the forum and share their valued opinions to form strategy on how Sri Lanka apparel and associated industries can move forward together from a South Asian and a global point of view.

For registrations for the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum and more information contact www.srilankadesignfestival.com or the festival secretariat through +94115737303 at the AOD design campus, 29 Lauries Road, Colombo 4 between 8.30 a.m.-5.00 p.m., Monday to Saturday.