Umanga Kulasekara on Clubhouse

Bio

Fashion and Textile designer | Entrepreneur
Founder of UDĀK | 🇱🇰
Corporate Designer : MAS Holdings
Conscious & ethical fashion enthusiast


About UDĀK
UDAK’s design aesthetic will focus on “doing more” than just producing regular clothing . Most of UDAK’s textile represents the rich Sri Lankan heritage. And when we speak about Sri Lankan heritage, we cannot miss out on traditional handweaving which plays a vital role in shaping the economy, diversity, and culture of Sri Lanka. Hand weaving is currently considered a dying art even for a country known for rich, beautiful handmade products that engage tradition and at risk of fading away in the next couple of years as the world has moved into a more technically advanced period where primitive design techniques have been replaced with advanced machinery. Hence Sri Lankan traditional artisans are experiencing a threat as weaving is one of the biggest sources of income in rural areas. In order to end this generational poverty, UDAK’s aim is to uplift the local artisans through the brand by incorporating handweaving into a contemporary trend that will reach the consumer demand.

Our aim is to build up a business model focused on the economic and social development of the family of artisans we closely work with. Also, more than a workforce, UDAK considers these artisans as close family. Our goal is to support these artisans to continue their passion and improve their livelihoods by reaching out to a contemporary audience and tell our story through a range of unique, contemporary and edgy UDAK range of clothing.
Furthermore, by incorporating Ududumbara hand weaving, UDAK strives to decrease the minimum use of machinery/ electricity in the production process.
Our aim is to create artisanal clothing that is made with traditional tools in the contemporary world contexts, that will follow an alternative compared to fast fashion – low- volume, high- value logic.