- Selyn celebrates 30 with a promise for continued commitment to fair trade.
- Weavers, artisans, designers to play an equal role in promoting sustainability in Sri Lanka
- Selyn committed to transform the industry with more transparency, groundbreaking tech and slow fashion.
Selyn, Sri Lanka’s only fair trade guaranteed Handloom Company, announced the launch of their ‘New 30’ campaign in celebration of three triumphant decades in the handloom industry. 30 years later, Selyn is set to take impactful strides towards a handloom-future that’s inclusive of blockchain solutions, enabling the opportunity to communicate traceability, ethical sourcing, environmental impact, and much more to its customers.
In a press conference announcing the ‘The New 30’, Founder, Sandra Wanduragala noted that they are proud to celebrate 30 years of weaving community together in Sri Lanka.
“Today, we celebrate the journey of our weavers, artisans, designers and staff, who have put their hearts and souls into creating a brand that has reached the homes of global customers today,” he said.
Selyn was founded in 1991 by Wanduragala with 15 weavers working out of her home. Today, the company empowers over a 1000 weavers and artisans in rural Sri Lanka.
“We want to create appreciation for handloom as it is a representation of our culture and heritage, while also empowering and uplifting the quality of life of the women in our community,” Sandra Wanduragala also said.
Selyn hopes to unlock an exciting future for the handloom industry by leveraging groundbreaking technology interwoven into the fine fabrics of Selyn’s crafts in the ‘New 30’. The company aims to celebrate and preserve craft and heritage, whilst merging low (slow) tech of the loom with high tech solutions (blockchain), to ensure traceability that truly catalyzes the industry by creating a higher value for handloom fabrics and products in the global markets.
“At Selyn, as a fair trade guaranteed company, we are committed to transparency, sustainability and ethical manufacturing as our product pillars, a practice that keeps our products shining in the limelight. The journey of our handloom, transitioning from craft-based essential products to a pioneer in the global sustainability industry and discourse is truly a mesmerizing one. At 30 years of operations, we are making a stronger commitment to transform our industry by encouraging greater transparency for our supply chain, and with the integration of new apparel technologies to revolutionize the product we offer,” added Selyna Peiris, Director Business Development and next generation lead at Selyn.
The global handloom and fashion industry has bitterly evidenced the social and environmental implications associated with fast production cycles, overuse of resources, waste generation, environmental pollution and unethical labour conditions.
Growing consumer awareness regarding social and environmental impacts of fashion products has led to create a new marketplace for sustainable and ethical products.
Selyn:
Selyn is Sri Lanka’s only fair-trade handloom company and one of the country’s largest social enterprises. Selyn engages the traditional Sri Lankan community of handloom weavers in bringing products made of 100% cotton and infinite measures of skill and devotion.
Founded in 1991 by Sandra Wanduragala, Selyn originated with 15 women in the village of Wanduragala in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka. Selyn now works with a network of over 1000 empowered artisans in rural Sri Lanka.
