The Voice Of Sri Lanka To Improve The Transparency Of The Clothing Industry Is Growing

Although by improving clothing The transparency of the supply chain to ensure the sustainability of outsourcing business in South Asia remains to be seen, but at the 2013 South Asia Garment Industry Sustainability Summit held in Sri Lanka a few days ago, the call for improving the transparency of the clothing industry is growing.

Tom Smith, a global supply chain consultant in the UK, believes that buyers are taking more and more important responsibilities for terminal production in the procurement process, "We all know that the performance of production standards and social responsibilities needs to be improved and maintained. Buyers have the responsibility to monitor the production of suppliers. Starting with simple problems, it is enough to trigger a big change. The first step can be to improve the transparency of the production process." Tom Smith also stressed that brand owners and retailers need to take the lead in starting this work, Give the factory better practice and support.

Nikhil, the international chairman of Sri Lanka Design Festival, said that as early as 2007, the industry had launched a plan to "let the clothing industry have no guilt", which specifically involved an open and enough to adhere to labor standards.

Hirdaramani, Sri Lanka's largest clothing exporter, firmly believes that Sri Lankan manufacturers' sense of responsibility and production transparency are improving. At the same time, he called for the introduction of an international unified standard so that consumers can understand the production process of a garment. "We need a standardized medium to convey production information to consumers, simplify the process, and make consumers willing to invest more in high-quality and durable products," Hirdaramani said.

However, Rosan Perris, regional manager of SGS, a global inspection and certification organization, believes that such an international standard is not easy to establish. She pointed out that the legal difference observed by front-line workers was a prominent problem. Some countries adopted local standards, while others chose to comply with the conventions of the International Labour Organization. "Some clothing factories want us to use the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) code for supervision, and some users require us to use corporate social responsibility standards for review. Different customers have different needs, so it is difficult to achieve in one standard." Rosan Perris said.

Smith agrees. He believes that the formulation of a global standard takes a long time, and buyers and other stakeholders should participate in the discussion. In Sri Lanka, the clothing industry needs to strengthen awareness of fire safety and chemical storage safety. Perris said that some of her customers in Sri Lanka began to pay attention to potential production risks that had not been noticed before, including potential risks in wire construction, waste storage and other work areas.