Colombo Fashion Week announces third annual season: Swim 

Colombo Fashion Week (CFW) announces ‘Swim’, its third annual season, in line with its objective of uplifting Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry. Swim, as a season of its own, focuses on swimwear as a specialized category, which has shown immense growth potential as an important fashion platform for Sri Lankan swimwear designers and swimwear manufacturers. Swim by CFW will be launching for the first time on 7 and 8 August at the Hilton Colombo and will continue to be an annual event.

Regarded as the backbone of Sri Lanka’s fashion industry, CFW began its journey in 2003, with Spring/Summer as its primary season. In 2012, it established Resort as a second season, giving the Sri Lankan fashion industry a formality, as most international Fashion Weeks work on a format that includes two to three seasons per year. To give the Sri Lankan fashion industry a unique edge, CFW went a step ahead this year by introducing ‘Swim’ as a third annual season.

“Swimwear is the new annual season that Colombo Fashion Week will add this year to strengthen the body of work that comes out of Sri Lanka’s fashion industry,” commented Ajai Vir Singh, President, CFW. “It is unique as CFW is partnering with Linea Aqua to showcase Sri Lanka’s world-class manufacturing capabilities. We are very excited to introduce this unique platform to create not only a regional impact, but also impact the industry internationally.”

Linea Aqua is one of Sri Lanka’s foremost swimwear manufacturers, whose reputation reflects that of Sri Lanka’s for excelling in the manufacturing of swimwear through state-of-the-art technology in the local swimwear industry. This season, CFW has partnered with Linea Aqua to realize its vision to showcase Sri Lanka as the number one swimwear destination. Sri Lanka’s strength in manufacturing swimwear makes it an ideal location for holding the position as the region’s most important swimwear platform. As Miami, USA and Sao Paulo, Brazil have already gained recognition as global swimwear hubs in the West, CFW believes Sri Lanka, with its distinctive geographical positioning, has great potential to be the swimwear hub of the Eastern hemisphere.

"Since its inception, Linea Aqua has aspired to make Sri Lanka a hub for swimwear and, throughout the past 15 years, considerable progress has been made in realising this ambition,” said Sarinda Unamboowe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Linea Aqua. “Partnering with Colombo Fashion Week to unveil Swim will give birth to a mutually beneficial partnership and provide a platform for us to take the brand to new heights. We firmly believe that this would be the stepping stone for establishing an annual Swim season, which has the potential to blossom into the world’s leading swimwear show."

An island nation with a growing list of attractions, Sri Lanka has gained wide attention in the international media as an upcoming destination for travel and leisure in Asia. Swim by CFW will contribute to this message by showcasing Sri Lanka in an interesting light among the global creative class.

Colombo Fashion Week is one of four main Fashion Weeks in Asia which has been showcasing talent for over ten years. CFW continues to inspire growth and drive innovation amongst the Sri Lankan fashion industry. As one of the most important developmental fashion projects in Sri Lanka, CFW is constantly seeking new solutions to provide opportunities for Sri Lankan designers to achieve commercial success as well as recognition in the global fashion arena.

For more information on Swim by CFW, visit the official CFW website (www.colombofashionweek.com), Use #cfw and #colombofashionweek on Facebook (www.facebook.com/colombofashionweek), Twitter (@hsbccfw) and Instagram (@hsbccfw) for the latest updates, photos, videos and more.