Sri Lanka is one of Asia’s most established apparel manufacturing hubs, with an industry increasingly focused on innovation, efficiency and more responsible production.
It is within this landscape that the new Asahi Innovation Hub in Sri Lanka takes shape.
Created through the collaboration between Asahi Dyes and Chemicals, Asons and Tonello, the Hub brings chemistry, local manufacturing expertise and advanced garment finishing technologies together in one environment, designed not only to showcase innovation, but to test it, refine it and turn it into industrial reality.
Chemistry, technology and garment finishing in one place
Garment finishing is increasingly about connections.
The final result of a garment is shaped by the interaction between chemistry, mechanical action, technology, materials and process parameters. Working on these elements separately can only tell part of the story.
The Asahi Innovation Hub creates a direct connection between them.
Asahi brings its expertise in dyes and chemicals, Asons its deep understanding of the Sri Lankan textile and apparel industry, and Tonello its technology and process know-how.
Together, these complementary skills create a practical setting where manufacturers, brands and industry partners can experiment with different treatments, develop new ideas and evaluate how they can translate into repeatable industrial processes.
The complete Laundry (R)Evolution ecosystem
At the heart of the Hub is the complete Tonello technology ecosystem, following the principles of the Laundry (R)Evolution: Simple. Digital. Responsible.
Rather than considering garment finishing as a sequence of isolated operations, the Laundry (R)Evolution looks at the entire process as one connected system.
At the Asahi Innovation Hub, Tonello technologies for washing, dyeing, laser, ozone, drying and process control can be combined and tested within the same environment.
This integrated setup opens up new possibilities during development.
A laser treatment can be evaluated together with the following wet process. Ozone can become part of a wider finishing sequence. Dyeing, washing and drying conditions can be adjusted around the desired result. Process data can be analyzed while solutions are being developed.
The objective is not simply to use more technologies, but to understand how to combine them more effectively.
From experimentation to industrial production
One of the biggest challenges in garment finishing is moving from an idea or laboratory sample to a process that can perform consistently in production.
This is where having chemistry, technology and process expertise together becomes especially valuable.
At the Asahi Innovation Hub, treatments can be tested on real garments, variables can be adjusted and different process combinations can be explored before moving to industrial implementation.
It shortens the path between experimentation, sampling and production, while giving brands and manufacturers more freedom to explore new aesthetics and more responsible ways of achieving them.
For Tonello, the Hub is also a concrete expression of a broader vision for the future of garment processing.
Innovation does not happen through individual technologies alone. It happens when technologies, chemicals, materials and different skills are able to interact.
The most interesting solutions are often found exactly there, at the point where different areas of expertise meet around the same garment.
With the Asahi Innovation Hub, Japanese chemical expertise, Sri Lankan industrial knowledge and Italian garment finishing technology now come together in one place, creating new opportunities for textile innovation in Sri Lanka and beyond.
