Roberto Inglesi- Emerald Head of Design & Technical presents the RI collection by Emerald

Emerald, Sri Lanka’s leading brand in shirts, today unveiled its latest range of ultra-premium shirts crafted by the celebrated Italian shirt “engineer” - Roberto Inglesi. The first Collection under this premium range is the “RI” Collection -which takes its name from Signor Roberto Inglesi himself, who is also the Head of Design & Technical of Emerald, and as such, represents a fusion between cutting-edge Italian men’s fashion and five decades of shirt manufacturing experience.

Mr. Murad Rahimdeen, General Manager, Emerald addressing the distinguished gathering at the launch, commented that, “Our Country is renowned for producing world class needle work: the very reason why most of the world’s top brands procure their merchandise from Sri Lanka.  However, not many of us get to experience those world class products in our own country - much like the Tea we produce locally.” He further added that the theme for the launch of this line into the country was aptly titled as “Sri Lanka deserves” which addressed the fact that Sri Lankans deserve and are worthy of experiencing world class products, especially those made in the country itself.  “Emerald with its rich heritage in shirt making and experience in producing shirts for internationally acclaimed brands will certainly enable us to lead the way in this innovative venture,” he averred.

Further addressing the media at the launch, the General Manager has this to say;

What ingredient does Sri Lanka lack to reach perfection? Fabric and embellishments are one area that we need to improve on locally, but we believe that we have enough experience and knowledge on how and where to source these. What we lack is a higher level of professionalism and exposure in design and techniques.

How do you overcome these challenges?  In order overcome these, we require a professional designer and apparel engineer who could walk the talk. It is essential to have the experience and exposure of working with some of the world most talented individuals as well as internationally acclaimed brands.   

Roberto Inglesi is our new head of design and technical. His experience and exposure in shirt making says it all. He brings with him experience from over 3 decades of shirt making in 3 continents. His repertoire includes working with world class brands such as Armani, Roberto Cavalli, Dior, Pierre Cardin, Stanza, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England - just to name a few.

 In the long term we are confident our designers will gain from working with this high profile executive and in turn will pass their new knowledge to the whole of Sri Lanka.

What is Emerald’s secret to success? The legacy left behind by the founder of Emerald International Mr. M.A Fatha is – “Be Honest In All That You Do And Claim”. This has been the underlying success of the organization. Therefore we believe that it is imperative that we have world class talent and infrastructure in order to ensure that our claims of delivering world class products are authenticated.

The beautifully choreographed fashion show and Roberto Inglesi’s introduction of the RI range and the various body fits were the highlight of the event.

Every shirt in the RI collection has been designed & crafted by Roberto Inglesi himself. “This range of exclusivo shirts is of alta qualita, designed by Roberto himself for any type of gentleman to fit any body shape. Every yard of fabric, every button, including the minute shirt clip used to manufacture these shirts, is handpicked by Roberto himself from the best worldwide producers” When requested to comment on the shirts, Signor Inglese says: “The perfection of these shirts will only be realized once they are worn. Simply, these shirts are… eccellente!”

He further added: “The RI Collection is the premium summit of the Emerald shirt range. It comes under three different tags to suit any occasion. Platino – the ultimate expression of passion, created for the height of fashion, Classico – which is synonymous with classic Italian style, created for the corporate world and Dolce Vita – ‘the sweet life’ is the casual range.”