Local Apparel Manufacturers Donate Clothing to Disaster Area

Several apparel manufacturers in Southern California have stepped forward to donate clothing to the disaster-ravaged country of Sri Lanka.

Chintaka Deraniyagala, chairman of the Sri Lanka American Business Council in Los Angeles, said his organization is collecting medicine, food and clothing to send to Sri Lanka, where more than 23,000 people have been killed by the tsunami and 745,000 people no longer have homes. “We have been getting a very good response,” Deraniyagala said.

Medicine, the most urgently needed item, already has been collected and airlifted from Los Angeles to Sri Lanka with the help of FedEx and UPS, which volunteered to offset the air freight costs, Deraniyagala said.

Food and clothing will be sent next. So far, the business council has collected enough goods to fill 10 to 12 containers.

Companies that have offered to donate clothing include Top Heavy Clothing in Vista, Calif., which is sending 95,000 men’s shirts; La Belle Inc. in Los Angeles, which is donating 5,000 children’s tops and bottoms; Star Tex Inc. in Los Angeles, which is sending 5,000 hospital gowns; and Mandel Enterprises in Los Angeles, which is donating 3,000 T-shirts. Vera Campbell, head of Knit Works, a Los Angeles childrenswear manufacturer, has offered to donate clothing.

“There is a real need for undergarments and kids’ clothing,” Deraniyagala said, noting that many Sri Lanka apparel factories produce men’s and women’s clothing and are donating their overstock but not many companies in the country manufacture childrenswear and underwear. Anyone wishing to donate clothing can either call Deraniyagala at (310) 525-0923 or Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association, at (213) 688-6288. —Deborah Belgum