Traditionally, Sri Lankan culture has championed upcycling – turning waste into new products with different utility and higher value – but now consumers are keener to buy low-cost ready-made garments which are discarded within a year or two. Lonali Rodrigo is bucking this trend with her self-named clothing line.
Lonali turns out fashionable clothes and home décor using garment industry waste. Sometimes this is as simple as turning a factory reject into another type of clothing – like making a dress of a shirt – or piecing together cutoffs into something fashionable. Other times it’s complicated, like producing handloom out of waste. Strips of fabric woven to make a new fabric on a loom incorporating excess thread from the factories produces a thick and heavy woven product. Lonali uses it to fashion interior décor like wall tapestries, tablemats and coasters and cushions.
Lonali’s first challenge was finding manufacturers. Sri Lanka’s garment industry makes many replications of a few designs, and most industry players didn’t want to partner with Lonali’s individual, unique designs. Lonali’s output is determined by throwaway material she can source. Often limited waste material restricts a design to one or two pieces. “It’s difficult to find manufacturers who’re willing to go down that lane,” Lonali says. “It’s always a different size, shape or colour. It needs individual attention.”
Lonali’s manufacturers are at the cottage industry level. She works with community-based projects and housewives looking to earn an extra income. She partners with a group in Jaffna that she met through the design school Academy of Design’s fashion line, Island Craft. She also works with a Gampaha village for handlooms, nonprofit Women in Need and with women who live around her Rajagiriya home.
Some social entrepreneurs venture into business with a cause in mind, while others champion causes accidently. Lonali entered the world of upcycled fashion aiming to reduce Sri Lanka’s garment waste in landfills, but she is also impacting society through her empowerment of economically disadvantaged groups.
Lonali had always aspired to produce her own fashion line. At the Academy of Design – where she studied fashion – her focus on sustainability won an award, including the opportunity to participate in a UK trade show and be mentored by world-renowned ethical designers. Starting her own business, however, was a daunting financial proposition. When she became a finalist at Venture Engine 2012 – a competition for startups to secure angel investor funding – she got the backing to launch her own clothes line.
Marketing continues to challenge her. “People don’t understand the concept,” she says. “When I say it’s made of waste, they take a step back.” Consumer reaction has shown her that she needs to build not her brand reputation, but awareness about the value of upcycling. She mainly markets on social media, especially Facebook. She uses this to educate consumers about fashion pollution. She posts stories about individual Lonali pieces, like who manufactured them and how they may be able to afford their kids’ education by this work. She also supplies a Good Market stall. “The concept is nothing new to Sri Lanka,” she says. “In the village, people used to upcycle everything. But it’s out of practice now.”
Lonali’s apparel is priced at Rs3,000 to Rs6,000. Her last collection wa s of evening wear – a departure from the brand’s urban, sport and casual look – so prices were priced as high as Rs10,000.
The business has begun to see returns in its third year. It caters to a niche, with mostly expatriates in Sri Lanka making purchases. Lonali initially thought of attracting buyers by marketing her green credentials, but realized many purchased her products for fashion rather than sustainability. Initially unhappy, she eventually saw that focusing on a niche group would impede her enterprise’s main goal – reducing garment industry waste in Sri Lanka’s landfills. “If I sell to 10 people, I won’t be solving that problem.”