Idea 398 of 500. Cluster 20: Design, fashion and the apparel spillover
Batik and handloom in contemporary fashion, sold in London and Tokyo, not only at the airport
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans make the world's underwear to the world's standard, and the country has no fashion brand of its own that the world has heard of.
Every idea in cluster 20 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Commission three contemporary pieces from a batik or handloom workshop, a shirt, a scarf and a dress, and photograph them well against a plain background. Send the pictures and a wholesale price to five independent boutiques in London and Tokyo, and ask for a trial order on sale or return. One boutique's order is your proof.
- Who pays first
- An independent boutique in London or Tokyo that wants handmade textiles with a story and has not been offered Sri Lankan pieces in a modern cut.
- What leaves today
- Batik and handloom now sell as airport souvenirs at low prices; contemporary design sold abroad keeps the higher value and the weavers' skill at home.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ThreeWhat We Have Already Built
MAS and Brandix: the world's first green apparel factories
More from cluster 20
- 396A Sri Lankan lingerie and swimwear brand, since the factories that make everyone else's are here
- 397Sportswear brands using the technical fabric and the cutters that already exist
- 399A fashion school linked to the factories, so the designers do not have to leave
- 400Surplus and off-cut businesses: the factories' waste as a design material
- 401Furniture design in coconut timber, rubberwood and rattan, for export
- 402Interior-design firms serving the villa and hotel owners, with the products sourced from this list
Idea 398 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.