Fashion exposure : Sri Lankan apparel industry designer interactions with the world of fashion

Purpose: Developing countries engaged in apparel value chain are going global, seeking opportunities to upgrade the industry through providing higher value-added products and services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Sri Lankan apparel industry designers interact with the western fashion world in the apparel value chain process, and how they acquire, adapt and apply the knowledge needed to develop high-value fashion products in their fashion design practice.

Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews conducted with fashion design and product development professionals in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. An inductive thematic analysis is used in identifying participants’ experience of the western fashion world within their fashion design practice.

Findings: The study proposes a “fashion knowledge bridge” illustrating the ways in which Sri Lankan designers acquire and merge high-value fashion consumer culture and lifestyle knowledge with the manufacturing industry, through multisensory and virtual experience, termed “exposure”, in their interactions with the western fashion world as well as the manufacturing culture of the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Designers’ exposure improves the feasibility and reliability of their apparel products, aligning to the end-consumer needs. The study also proposes a “designers’ exposure framework” that illustrates gains made by the Sri Lankan apparel industry resulting from knowledge enhancement through the designers’ exposure.

Research limitations/implications: The study is based on a qualitative methodology that has potential subjective biases on the part of the researchers; in this case only the Sri Lankan designers’ perspectives were used in synthesising the findings.

Originality/value: The findings propose frameworks with theoretical and managerial implications for developing designers’ capabilities in apparel manufacturing countries that seek industrial upgrading through value-added fashion design practice.