Brandix helps out in camps

Sri Lanka’s largest clothing exporter is to help people displaced by the government’s war against the Tamil Tigers.

The Brandix group, which has made water and sanitation the central theme of its social responsibility programme, is providing 50 bathing stations for internally displaced people at the Menik Farm camp in northern Sri Lanka, where thousands are waiting to return to their villages while being held by the government for ‘security checks’.

Brandix has employed camp residents in the construction project to give them a sense of purpose and an income.

Before the work began, the Brandix corporate responsibility team, led by Anusha Alles, head of CSR, assessed the site with local authority officials and ensured that the design of the stations – which allow 1000 people to bathe at a time – would minimize water wastage.

Earlier this year, Brandix, which had a $320million (£196m) turnover in 2007 and supplies large retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, Marks & Spencer, Next and Tommy Hilfiger, donated garments worth 20million rupees ($174,000, £106,000) to displaced persons’ centres in the north.

It has also built a new factory at Punani in the Batticaloa district, where workers come mainly from families displaced in the conflict.