Colombo Fashion Week (Time Capsule)
Colombo Fashion Week is proceeding apace right now. This is a documentary from 2009 showing how far the scene has come. The documentary is very well done. The scene it shows is out of day, but the hope the characters talk about is, I think, coming to fruition.
The main character, Ajai Singh, has, I think since the documentary, launched Arugam Bay, Conscience and String Hopper as brands. The Paradise Road family is going strong, Avirate is established and expanding overseas, locally Cool Planet and places like the Factory Outlet are expanding inside. If you drive through outstation towns like Kiribathgoda and even Embilipitiya you’ll see that clothes shops predominate the town centers, and they’re new.
The doc also covers brands like Middle Finger, which I love. Also Dharshi from Buddhi Batiks which I would love if I was a girl. They get into a very interesting discussion about how the apparel industry needs to adapt from stitching and sewing for other brands to actually branding stuff. Which is cool, and since it’s two/three years later, more people have done it. Charini Suriyage has launched her own stuff at London Fashion Week, Bludge is selling stuff online, Colombo Fashion Week is ongoing. It’s good to see.
The doc is a bit long at 42 minutes. It’s good to see as well. I had it on in the background and ended up watching the whole thing.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
This video makes the apparel manufacturers look really evil; which is not really true. Direct employment for >250,000 people and in all likwlihood this work is in close proximity to their homes.
Very basic economics tells us that manufacturing small quantities would be more expensive than large quantities, not just in Sri lanka but anywhere in the world.
Granted it would be nice to see local brand; perhaps more doing/ working around the obstacles and less complaining.
Perhaps not evil. I think they’re just saying the industry needs to evolve. Sri Lanka can’t actually compete on price alone, we’ve always had to add some value