Aitken Spence, a Colombo-based conglomerate with presence in diverse businesses including maritime logistics, hospitality, plantations and garments, is ramping up its apparel business by intensifying its sourcing activities from India.
Aitken Spence Apparel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aitken Spence, is currently the sourcing, designing and tailoring partner for Reliance Industries (RIL). RIL is notably the India franchise for Gap, an American clothing and accessories brand.
Aitken Spence Apparel, which has been supporting Gap’s kids wear category for Reliance in the last couple of years, is now planning to expand its offering by entering into Gap’s men’s and women’s wear categories as well as into many other brands sold by Reliance. The Lankan firm buys raw materials such as base cotton fabric, viscose blend etc. from India and sells the finished products back to Reliance to cater to its domestic and export markets.
“We are looking at increasing our sourcing from India for Reliance, by entering into men’s and women’s wear categories of Gap, soon probably,” Aitken Spence Apparel, CEO, Lushan Perera told The Hindu. “We are also exploring similar engagements with other large clothing brands, apparel start-ups and private labels sold online in India,” he added.
Aitken Spence has been working with Gap for the last 25 years from Sri Lanka while other global brands on its portfolio include Old Navy, Next, and Lands’ End.
The company was already in talks with a dozen apparel start-ups and private labels in Bengaluru, Chennai to explore fabric sourcing, designing and stitching engagements, Mr. Perera said.
According to Mr. Perera, Aitken Spence’s recent acquisition of an eight-acre garment factory in Sri Lanka with over 500 apparel designer machines, has increased its production capacity significantly and also brought global labels such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren (Polo) to its fold.
“We have always been working only with large global brands in the last over 45 years. Our foray into India is going to give a diverse clientele and a unique learning experience,” he added.
Special fabrics and clothing materials from Korea and China attracted high import tax in India. However, Sri Lanka which has a duty-free agreement with these countries was able to import these without duty provided finished goods were meant for export markets.
“Indian apparel industry will hugely benefit from this tax advantage that Lanka has,” elaborated Mr. Perera.