Few countries have a company like Sri Lanka’s MAS Holdings. The apparel manufacturer is considered one of the largest in South Asia, and the largest private employer in Sri Lanka. With 70,000 employees in Sri Lanka alone, representing nearly 18 percent of the country’s apparel workforce, MAS has become deeply embedded in the country during its nearly 40 years of operations. It has solidified its position as a leader in its core product categories—including swimwear, intimates, performancewear, and activewear—and is a highly influential force within Sri Lanka’s economy, where apparel makes up around 46 percent of export revenue.
With an estimated $2 billion annual turnover, MAS has established long-term relationships with global brands like Victoria Secret, GAP, Calvin Klein, Nike and Lululemon. Strong ties to government and industry bodies help MAS to shape business norms and priorities for the sector. As MAS has expanded into new territories, it has helped to raise the bar for how garment manufacturers center environmental and social governance across the 12 other countries where it has factories.
But with great power comes intense scrutiny. This year, the organization announced the closure of a factory in Thulhiriya, impacting 2,200 workers, 15 percent of whom chose to be transferred to other facilities, with the rest taking a compensation package. The announcement was covered extensively by Sri Lankan media, culminating in unsubstantiated reports from some outlets that the company could close more facilities, impacting a further 26,000 people. It goes to show how deeply impactful MAS business decisions are within Sri Lanka, and how every move has a ripple effect.
Plan for Change 2030
Given its high profile position in the country, MAS must balance business with its responsibility to both people and the planet — a particular challenge now as the company attempts to realign operations amidst a range of geopolitical and supply chain stressors that the broader industry faces.
In late 2025, MAS launched its Plan for Change 2030, the second installment of its original 2020 sustainability roadmap, with updated targets for emissions reduction, textile-to-textile recycling, waste, biodiversity, and worker wellbeing. In the last six months, the business has also streamlined its brand partners to focus on seven core product categories, and closed two factories (one due to flood damage from Cyclone Ditwah, and the other, Thulhiriya, has been repurposed from garment manufacturing to fabric production). “We have not seen much growth over the past five years,” says Suren Fernando, chief executive of MAS Holdings. “Our turnover has relatively remained flat, but I believe our quality of turnover is better today.”
To mitigate any fallout, MAS engages with the sector’s leading industry associations, the Sri Lankan government and other stakeholders in these decisions, explains Rajitha Jayasuriya, director of Corporate Affairs at MAS and Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association. “If another company closes a plant, it’s not as spoken about as when MAS does,” she says. “So we engage with all our stakeholders, whether it be our financial partners, from the Export Development Board to the board of investment, and even sometimes, if we feel the impact would be big enough, we even go up to the president’s office.”
MAS is one of three manufacturing giants in Sri Lanka, along with Brandix and Hirdaramani, that make up the majority of the industry’s revenue and exports. But SMEs still play an important role in the country’s economy, and often support bigger players with production when they’re inundated with orders. With this in mind, MAS consistently lobbies the government to include SMEs in decision making and pushes for financial subsidies to support them. “Small scale manufacturers give a certain degree of stability to the supply chain,” says Fernando. “So building that ecosystem out becomes very important, and we will continue to support them.”
This year, a stronger emphasis is being placed on technology and innovation to keep MAS competitive globally. “The company is going through a phase of change in terms of transforming ourselves from a very strong finance and process driven organization to making that transition into a product and technology led organization,” says Fernando. As MAS leans into this new focus, it is lobbying the government to implement incentives that would bring the rest of the industry in line. “We made a request recently to see how they can bring in some tax incentives to promote companies to continue to invest in innovation,” says Fernando. “We see a big change taking place, in machinery getting modernized and new manufacturing technology evolving, and these require significant investments.”
Setting Standards in Sri Lanka and Beyond
Sri Lankan garment manufacturing has a strong reputation for environmental and social standards, which MAS has played a role in shaping. In a sector where sustainability investment is seemingly dependent on a business’ financial health, the company has linked the two by incorporating it into the broader purpose statement. According to its 2024 impact report, MAS decreased its overall emissions by 24 percent against its 2019 baseline, while reducing its water intensity by 50 percent against its 2011 baseline.
Alongside its Plan For Change, MAS launched its non-profit arm Foundation for Change in 2022. It operates a range of initiatives in Sri Lanka and other operating regions including its flagship project the Ocean Strainer, which sees the organization installing floating trash collectors into canals to collect waste for recycling. In Kenya, where MAS established facilities in 2020, the company launched the Kenya Conservation Project and partnered with The Wildlife Foundation to conserve 8,275 acres of the Nairobi National Park Wildlife Dispersal Area. “Some of these projects are very impactful,” says Fernando. “The network and the connectivity we have, whether it’s in Sri Lanka or in other countries where we have presence, enables us to create that kind of impact.”
Worker wellbeing has also been a key pillar for MAS, which provides transport to and from work, as well as at least one meal for workers each day. This is standard practice in Sri Lanka, but when MAS expanded into Bangladesh in 2010, this wasn’t the case. Despite pushback from other operators in the industrial zone where MAS was set up, the program was rolled out and eventually influenced others to follow. “We believe that by giving [workers] transport, we get everyone to come to work on time and they’re not tired. If you give them this meal, we will have longer term advantages in productivity, labor retention and so on,” says Fernando. “Years later, we are so happy and proud to see that most factories, even in the zone where we started, actually now provide some form of transport, and most of them provide at least one free meal now.”
MAS says it recognizes its worker’s right to form or join unions, and that its sites in Vietnam and Jordan are both unionized, however none have been established in MAS’s Sri Lankan sites. The lack of union representation in MAS factories is reflective of a broader issue in Sri Lanka, where only 5 percent% of the country’s garment manufacturers are unionized. Currently, a minimum of 40 percent of a facility’s workers must sign an application to the labour commission in order for a union to be established.. “The satisfaction of workers is not coming only from money, but the satisfaction is dependent on whether the employer is listening to them, and their voice is heard,” says Anton Marcus, joint secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Service Employees Union, a major union in Sri Lanka, who is pushing for stronger union representation for workers in the country. “Then the workers feel that all the decisions are taken with their participation.” In order to enable dialogue with workers, MAS has Employee Representative Boards, elected by and made up of employees from across different functions. Alongside monthly meetings to raise concerns and issues, MAS has grievance boxes for anonymous reports, full time counsellors and an employee relations team in each facility.
The Edges of Influence
Despite MAS’ size and sway in Sri Lanka, in some ways its relationship to its brand customers echoes entrenched top-down power dynamics seen across the supply chain. It’s not uncommon for brands to put pricing pressure on suppliers, or indeed be unwilling to absorb the necessary premiums that come with sustainability and innovation. Major players like MAS are not immune to these dynamics. “There is always pricing pressure, and there’s always pressure that comes in when there are various global tariffs and economic downturns, there’s a lot that impacts the industry and obviously the customer as well,” says Jayasuriya.
MAS has had some success in distributing the burden of increased costs with certain brand partners, but that’s not always the case. “There are times that we have to make concessions and take a bullet, because we respect our customers and they’re very important to us,” says Jayasuriya. “We would make concessions that would really impact our bottom line, whether it be discounts or other concessions, but that’s because we value the relationship, and that’s why they come back to us.”
Part of MAS’ Plan for Change is to generate 75 percent of its revenue from more sustainable products —namely natural fibers and recycled materials—by 2030. But customers are cost-sensitive, especially when new materials or innovations come with a higher price tag than the incumbent option. MAS is able to reduce costs by automating parts of the production or using alternative construction methods on these lines. “Whilst [brands] are excited and receptive, cost also continues to play a significant role in this,” says Fernando. “But as long as you’re able to play within those cost parameters, then I think you can really drive that agenda.”
Despite this, MAS is determined to use its influence to bring its brand partners with them on the journey to achieving its 2030 sustainability commitments. “Sustainability has been ingrained into our DNA, and it’s also a part of our business strategy,” says Fernando. “We don’t see that changing anywhere in the near future. We will continue to work on those things that we’ve been working on because primarily, we believe that it is the right thing to do.”
