Next Sourcing, a fully-owned subsidiary of the retail clothing and accessory giant next Plc - UK, recognized and rewarded its supplier base at the ‘Suppliers’ Seminar 2017’ held at the Park Street Mews Colombo recently. The company presented awards to the top three suppliers for their outstanding performance despite the numerous challenges during the latest fiscal year.

The Gold Award was won by next Manufacturing (Pvt) Limited for the fourth consecutive year. The Silver Award was won by Nobleswear (Pvt) Limited and the Bronze Award by Miami Exports (Pvt) Ltd.

The company also recognized the noteworthy contributions of the entire supplier base for managing to achieve sales targets while continuing to keep to high standards and stringent focus on production quality. The long-standing relationships built by next Sourcing with the entire supplier base, with some partnerships over 20 years, underscored the level of trust the company has built over the years with the supplier base when sourcing the finest, most exclusive fabrics and garments from Sri Lanka.The event included a performance overview of ‘next’ sales with an updated indication on the current performance in line with the Key Performance Indicators set by next Plc - UK. The event was attended by the management of next Sourcing together with representatives from the supplier base. next Sourcing is engaged in design, sourcing, buying, merchandising and quality control of next Plc products. The company also coordinates with a global network of offices to negotiate market prices, manages the supply chain, and ensures on-time delivery on behalf of next Plc.

The bi-annual factory evaluations allow the next Sourcing management to make the selections of the top three factories out of a relatively large factory base of 42 factories.

Wilhelm Elias – Associate Director of next Sourcing expressing his views said, “The past 12-18 months have been tough on the industry as a whole.

next own and operate three factories in Sri Lanka and we are aware of how tough it has been on all of our suppliers and we appreciate the support extended to us during the most difficult of times.

The effects of Brexit was felt globally due to weakening of the British Pound and as price pressure mounted and spending habits changed in Europe, the impact on the high street was felt across all retailers. We remain cautious but confident in the work we have done with design / product which is reflecting in our second quarter sales. The Sri Lankan office will plan double digit growth in 2018 in light of GSP+”.

Hugh McConnell - Technical Director of next Sourcing said “Through complicated wash and embellished product, Sri Lankan manufacturers are facing new challenges every season but have still managed to consistently ship stock that meets the customer’s standards and retained the ‘Best Region for Quality’ category in 2016 & 2017 year-to-date.

Sri Lanka has now built a reputation for managing the most difficult products which is a credit to the improved skill level of our suppliers and their continuous improvement.”

Fiaz Ozeer - Senior Merchandise Manager of next Sourcing said, “With Sri Lanka gaining GSP+, we are seeing a significant sales growth from the 3rd quarter of our current financial year.

As always, service excellence is a key driver for this upward trend. We need to maintain high standards that we’ve set and look at continuous improvements in the future to meet the challenges of a competitive market.”