Lumiere, the state of the art knitted fabric manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka which commenced operations a few months ago has provided a unique opportunity to all garment manufacturers serving fashion orders. Hitherto garment manufacturers were hesitant to undertake these (fashion) orders despite the potential for better margins.
This is due to many difficulties faced in fabric sourcing which mainly stem from the smaller quantities needed for these orders. The fabric manufacturers on one hand are reluctant to undertake smaller quantities and on the other hand the lead time taken to produce these quantities is also comparatively more. This is against the market requirement, which is to deliver the quantities in double quick time.
Having identified this gap in the market need and the industry capacity to fulfill it, Lumiere has made a timely investment in a number of small capacity dyeing machines. All of them are high temperature jets of world renown Sclavos manufactured in Greece.
Lumiere investment in these machines is such that it can produce upto 600 batches of smaller quantities between 50m to 200m per month. To facilitate this high small quantity production Lumiere lab is equipped with high precision ‘Mathis’ Labomat machines from Italy which could produce upto 5280 submissions of lab dips per month.
Head of Marketing at Lumiere - Mr. Dharshaka Tillekeratne explained that more and more customers are looking for reduced lead time for their orders to save on costs as well to be able to respond fast to market demands. Lumiere has therefore incorporated ‘Speed’ as one of the core pillars on which its operation is based. The infrastructure, machinery & systems that are in place at Lumiere have all made possible the goal of offering this service at a 7 day leadtime.
This opportunity can be a dream comes true for many garment manufacturing facilities in the island which are serving these strategic orders. At present this service is offered to 100% cotton, cotton elastane, polycotton and 100% polyester fabric in the constructions of Single Jersey, Interlock, Rib and Pique.
