ITC’s GTEX Project conducts textile and clothing program phase II

ITC’s GTEX Project in Sri Lanka, funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), held a training-of-trainers session followed by a training workshop on Circular Economy Business Models for the Textile and Clothing (T&C) industry from 16 to 19 December.

This workshop, attended by over 60 participants, is designed to provide an in-depth introduction to textile circularity across two days. It begins by explaining the core concepts, principles and components essential for designing for circularity in the textile and clothing industry. Next, it explores how to maximise the efficiency of reverse logistics in the fields of textile reuse and recycling, with a particular focus on textile value chains.

In the second day, the workshop takes a “deep dive” into the textile recycling value chain, examining the various technologies, procedures, and quality requirements to make textile recycling a valuable business prospect. Eventually, the workshop concludes with a look at textile recycling business models, discussing the main challenges to value creation for industry stakeholders. 

Together, these insights equip companies as well as the T&C-related support ecosystem in Sri Lanka with a comprehensive understanding to implement circular business models, enabling them to navigate the textile industry’s shift toward sustainability and gaining a competitive edge on international markets.

The workshop was preceded by an intensive two-day training-of-trainers, attended by 19 Sri Lankan academics, textile industry professionals and government officials to scale knowledge and circular practices. As a result, the skills required to teach the training workshop on Circular Economy Business Models for the Textile and Clothing Industry have been embedded within Sri Lanka, ensuring its perennity and setting the stage for several future sessions to be planned and implemented locally, throughout 2025 and beyond. GTEX Sri Lanka expects to train about 500 industries professional and T&C-students in 2025 on this new key aspect of the T&C value chain.

The GTEX/MENATEX program phase II is a technical assistance program that will support the T&C sector in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia as well as Sri Lanka to increase its export competitiveness by focusing on sustainability and circularity aspects as key competitiveness drivers. In order to comply with increasing sustainability requirements imposed by governments as well as international buyers, a transformational change of the industry is required. In order to achieve this, while fostering the sector’s potential for job creation and poverty reduction through export expansion, the program works directly with enterprises as well as with the institutional ecosystem in the partner countries. Recognising the critical need for sustainable and inclusive practices, the program aims to drive systematic change within the industry, aligning with the mission of advancing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

GTEX very closely collaborates with key institutions that support the sector in Sri Lanka such as EDB, JAAF, the Central Environmental Authority, SLITA, Moratuwa University, National Cleaner Production Centre and others.

This is a five-year program that includes Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Sri Lanka. GTEX2 will support SME companies in T&C industry to improve their operational capacities, including social norms and environmental sustainability, add value to existing products and services and expand exports to traditional and new markets.

EDB in collaboration with Swiss Import Promotion Program (SIPPO) conducted a comprehensive market research study for value added textile products of Sri Lanka for selected EU countries. Findings of the market study was disseminated to the apparel industry by publishing in the EDB website, circulating among industry and conducting webinars in collaboration with SIPPO.

With the success of this market research, Switzerland Government included Sri Lanka for the second phase of Global Textile and Clothing program (GTEX2). First phase of Global Textile and Clothing (GTEX 1) has been carried out in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kyryzstan and Tajikistan. The second phase of the program will be carried out in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Sri Lanka. 

In this regard, EDB signed a project agreement with SECO to implement the GTEX2 in Sri Lanka from 2024 to 2027 for the benefit of the Sri Lankan apparel sector.

The main stakeholders of the GTEX2 Sri Lanka program are EDB and the JAAF. The Swiss Government will fund towards this program and International Trade Centre (ITC) will provide the technical assistance.