The Pirmasens-based shoe manufacturer CAPRICE is strengthening its commitment in South Asia. In addition to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, Sri Lanka, located south of India in the Indian Ocean, will become another production site for the Wortmann Group´s company.

As early as April 2022, high-quality CAPRICE leather shoes for the coming autumn/winter season will be running on the production lines of the shoe factory in Colombo, which is operated jointly with the Pakistani SGF Ltd.

“We have been working very trustfully and successfully with our Pakistani partner for over 20 years. The shoe factory in Sri Lanka, which will be integrated into already existing organisational structures, can use synergy effects of both partners and is to be expanded successively in the coming years”, says Jürgen Cölsch, Managing Director of CAPRICE.

Since May 2017, the island state of Sri Lanka has benefited from improved market access to the EU within the framework of the Generalised System of Preferences towards Developing Countries (GSP+). “We are participating organisationally, technically and financially in the expansion and modernisation of the already existing production facility, whose employees are trained professionals who already have many years of experience in the production of shoes made of fine leathers. The factory is in an ideal location for us. It takes only one hour to transport our shoes to the Port of Colombo, one of the busiest and largest container ports in the world, and from there they have a relatively short journey through the Suez Canal to Europe, which is about half the time of transport from ports in the Far East. In addition, the trade agreement with the direct neighbour India gives us free and fast access to the most important procurement market for leather. The production in Sri Lanka will give us and our customers more flexibility, quality and faster deliveries”, says Cölsch.

Omar Saeed, owner of the Pakistani SGF Ltd., and Jürgen Cölsch, Managing Director of
CAPRICE (right), want to intensify their cooperation, which has existed for over 20 years, with
the development of the production site in Sri Lanka.

Photo credit: CAPRICE