Sri Lanka produced the England rugby shirt I'm wearing today...

Mahinda Bharat founded the textile factory where it was created, investing his resources in a 25m X 25m space to establish his textiles business. Mahinda started his company with five employees and today has over 500. Each of his employees spends their money on local products, which helps to keep money in the community. After five years, Mahinda is now the president of Sri Lanka's textile sector, and he recently inked a billion-pound agreement with British fashion queen Jane Shepherdson, the former Topshop brand director. Many of the clothes in Topshop currently originate in Sri Lanka. Ten cotton pickers in southern India selected the cotton that went into my shirt on Arul Semanaman's farm. Every day, Arul pays his labourers and sells his cotton in Sri Lanka. Arul brings the cotton to a nearby facility to be treated to remove any seeds and vegetable matter before it goes to market. A local businessman owns the factory, which employs 30 people.

A Pure Cotton

Each of his employees purchases local produce, putting money back into the community. Arul transports the cotton to another local plant to be spun into a beautiful yarn once it has dried. The plant is operated by a local businesswoman who employs 22 people and spends their salary on local produce, putting money back into the community. The cotton has been dyed and is ready to sell to Arul. Arul hires someone to package the cotton and hires a local courier service to deliver it to Mahinda in Sri Lanka. Cotton is transported by road and sea. Anand Subreman owns the courier company and hires his cars and vans from Mercedes Benz in Southern India. Mercedes-Benz maintains its automobiles with the help of 12 administrators and 7 mechanics. Anand hires a driver to collect the cotton from Arul and drive the 1000 miles to Sri Lanka. To pass the time, the driver fills up his gas tank numerous times, stops for a snack four times in local cafes, and purchases a local newspaper. He boards the ferry after paying the ferryman 100 rupees, passes through customs at the border, and arrives safely at Mahinda factory the next day.

England Rugby Shirt

Two weeks later, two well-built Sri Lankan guys load the cotton used to make my England rugby shirt onto a big textile machine. That machine's operator sets the pattern and monitors the weave to ensure it is accurate. The machine breaks down during the procedure, and a mechanic is dispatched to repair it. The mechanic is self-employed and frequently visits Mahinda's plant. Finally, the machine produces two pieces of cloth, which the woman brings to the sewing department to be put together. The shirt is almost finished, but three more departments and seven more employees must finish their work before it can be sold.

Another local lady sews on the English Rose and logo before passing the nearly finished shirt to the team who iron on the O2 sponsors design on the front. The 02 stickers are provided by a local entrepreneur who purchased a franchise from O2 to manufacture the stickers in Sri Lanka. Finally, the garment is double-checked before being loaded onto a big pallet and flown to the United Kingdom. The pallets are built by a local businesswoman who gets his wood from a neighbouring forest owned by an elderly woman who started her business because she "had nothing else to do with the land." The shirt is couriered once more, this time to Mumbai, India, where it is checked and loaded onto an aircraft to Heathrow, London. The airline is controlled by a wealthy American businessman who, at the age of 34, took a gamble by investing his redundancy pay in a licence to transport commodities from India throughout the world.

Born  To Wear Mens Formal Plain Shirt

He recognised an opportunity and took advantage of it. When the pallet holding my England rugby shirt arrived at Heathrow, it was unloaded by a member of staff from a contracted company to Heathrow Airport, which is owned by James Heathe, a London-based businessman who won the Heathrow contract last year. He now employs 30 people and generates over £700,000 in annual revenue. James sends his pallets around the UK via Europalletx. Europalletx was founded by an entrepreneur who spotted a need in the market and offers a low-cost global courier service. The pallet is separated and shipped across the United Kingdom. My shirt was purchased from the Rugby store on Carnaby Street in London. The rugby store was founded three years ago by an entrepreneur who chose to specialise on rugby goods and earns money both in his store and online. His store is affiliated with suppliers such as Nike, Umbro, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Canterbury, and Kooga, all of which began as modest enterprises and were founded by persons who had worked as employees.

How many companies were brought in just to make the shirt I'm wearing? Just an idea...

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