As a fabric manufacturer navigating the competitive global landscape of apparel, innovation is key to adaptability and agility. It drives customer acquisition, cutting-edge product development, operational excellence, and overall business success.

Innovation is fuelled by the capabilities of our employees across the globe, our robust processes, and continuous investment in technology and R&D. Our pervasive culture of innovation empowers us to consistently deliver multifaceted and unique solutions that anticipate and satisfy the rapidly evolving needs of our customers.

Intellectual Capital Strategy

Teejay's intellectual capital strategy empowers the Group to capitalise on growth opportunities, enabling diversification, facilitating efficient adaptation to market conditions and driving the transformation of our operations to keep us at the forefront of the industry. To proactively address customer and market needs, we utilise a Long-range Planning (LRP) tool alongside diversification strategies, supported by a strong emphasis on digitalisation and continuous product development. Our Research and Development (R&D) investments are strategically guided by data-driven insights, identified market demands, technological requirements and sustainability impact.

Actioning Our Intellectual Capital Strategy

Step 1. Assessment and Planning:

• Comprehensive evaluation of the Group’s existing intellectual capital assets.
• Identification of any gaps or opportunities.
• Development of a strategic plan containing objectives, timelines, and responsibilities.

Step 2. Execution:

• Implementation of defined strategic initiatives through cross-functional and extended teams.
• Systematic monitoring of progress, with adjustments to ensure strategic alignment and efficacy.
• Cultivation of an ethos of innovation and continuous improvement.

Step 3. Evaluation and Improvement:

• Measurement of overall efficacy of the strategy using KPIs (patents, R&D productivity, market impact).
• Refinement through reviews and stakeholder feedback.
• Integration of emerging industry trends into the intellectual capital strategy – to sustain a competitive market position.
• Effective management of human, structural, relationship, and innovation capital.

Transformation Through Innovation

In 2024/25, to cater to current and future market expectations, Teejay prioritised the evolution of operations and products to include multifaceted solutions. Our efforts reflect our commitment to delivering value through innovation while meeting the sustainability and performance needs of modern consumers and global brands.

1. Technology Advancement

• Research and Development (R&D): The Group directs steady investment towards R&D in the exploration of new sustainable materials, manufacturing processes, and technologies, such as digital knitting platforms, product longevity engineering, cost conscious premium products and new value upgrading technology and bio-based fibres.
• Digitalisation: Setting the foundation for future innovation, we leverage automation and digital tools, including historical data analytic tools for enhanced process optimisation across our operations. Analytics for leveraged quality control and efficient resource allocation.

2. Market Demand and Consumer Trends

• Customisation and Personalisation: Consumers and global brands increasingly seek customisation to differentiate and enhance brand loyalty, requiring small-batch and made-to-order production with a focus on innovation, traceability, and consistent quality. Teejay meets these demands through agile manufacturing systems, direct to brand sales models, and tailor-made offerings.
• Functional Apparel: With the rising demand for functional apparel, consumers seek quality, durability, comfort, and specific performance features such as moisture-wicking and UV protection. Teejay has enhanced its capabilities in finer knitting technology and jacquards, while expanding into long-life premium fabrics and performance-enhancing knits. The Group closely monitors competitors’ strategies and industry trends to identify emerging opportunities and threats, ensuring that its offerings remain at the forefront of innovation. Additionally, Teejay systematically gathers and analyses customer feedback and insights to continuously refine its product portfolio, ensuring alignment with consumers’ evolving needs and preferences.
• Sustainable Apparel: We are expanding our portfolio to cater to the eco-conscious consumer with a preference for slow fashion. By methodically collecting and evaluating customer feedback, Teejay ensures that its sustainable offerings align with consumers’ expectations for ethical and responsible choices. Furthermore, the Group’s commitment to competitive analysis allows it to anticipate market shifts and stay ahead of industry trends, enabling the development of innovative, eco-friendly products that resonate with sustainability-conscious consumers.

3. Sustainability and Regulatory Driven Initiatives

• Evolving Regulations: Increasing regulations in regions like the US, UK, and EU (e.g., EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, Extended Producer Responsibility schemes) requires Teejay to meet the demand for low-impact products, designed for durability, recyclability and circularity.
• Sustainable and Biodegradable Materials: Brands increasingly demand sustainability at product level, in response Teejay focuses on attributes like recyclability, long-life capabilities, recycled polymer fabrics, bio-based synthetics, biodegradable blends, regenerative cotton and traceable organic cotton.
• Sustainable Manufacturing: We prioritise continuous improvement of manufacturing processes to reduce waste, energy, and water using green chemistry and closed-loop systems.
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCAs): To minimise the environmental impact of our textiles LCAs are conducted to measure gate-to-gate environmental impact, and to identify and implement improvements.

4. Our Culture of Innovation

• Innovation in Product and Process: Teejay has shifted its product focus to categories such as athleisure, activewear, and lounge/casual wear, delivering sustainable and functional fabrics to brand partners. This is underpinned by agile, tech-enabled processes that ensure speed, flexibility, and co-creation.
• Manufacturing and Process Innovations: The Group has introduced closed-loop systems and low-liquor dyeing to reduce water and chemical use, while refining existing technologies to produce long-lasting fabrics that meet evolving customer expectations.
• Leadership and Vision: Strong leadership drives Teejay’s commitment to innovation, setting a clear vision that guides the transformation of its product portfolio and operations.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaboration across departments such as R&D, marketing, and production encourages a holistic approach to product transformation and ensures customer-centric solutions.
• Innovation Ecosystem: Teejay continues to strengthen its innovation ecosystem by building strategic partnerships with universities, research institutions, and industry consortia, fostering knowledge exchange and accelerating innovation.

Product Development through INSCOPE

Product development and innovation at Teejay are spearheaded by INSCOPE, a central element of our broader Strategic Innovation Framework. INSCOPE actively drives advancements in both existing and new products, enabling Teejay to diversify into new markets and remain a key strategic partner for global brands. Going beyond textiles, the INSCOPE Innovation Hub cultivates cross-industry partnerships to explore and innovate new avenues for textile manufacturing.

INSCOPE’s core mission is to evaluate product value from the perspective of customers and end-users. They focus on delivering innovative product solutions, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, by leveraging new raw materials, technologies, and processes, while also creating clear end-use benefits such as product enhancements, value additions, and product transformation.

The INSCOPE Innovation Hub features a collaborative innovation space designed for cross-disciplinary teams, including design, R&D, and customer representatives, to co-create and incubate ideas. A dedicated design incubation zone is available for internal and customer teams to work together on concept development and prototyping. To fuel next-generation product development, the hub has a dedicated budget for research into new materials and chemical technologies.

The relevance, responsiveness and value creation of our innovation initiatives are rigorously assessed through customer satisfaction surveys with key vendors and strategic brand partners. This feedback is integral to our innovation KPIs and outcome-driven metrics, which are part of the overall innovation process and structure guided by INSCOPE.

Product transformation framework

Expanding Our Product Portfolio: Enhancing the existing product range with unique offerings through new technologies and diversified processes.

Boosting Product Value: Pinpointing underperforming, end-of-lifecycle products and proposing alternatives, while refining existing products to extend their market relevance.

Optimising Our Product Lifecycle: Adding value to existing core products and securing future business through seasonal valuation and trend forecasting, combined with cost efficiency measures.

Integrating Green Sustainability: Identifying and applying sustainability solutions, including raw material traceability and advanced testing like nanotechnology, across product lines.

Our Progress in 2024/25

• Material innovation:The company has turned out innovative materials with enhanced properties, including durability, flexibility, breathability, and environmental friendliness. Examples of such creations include graphene-based textiles, bio-based synthetics, recycled fibres, and moisture-wicking fabrics.
• Functionality and performance: Textiles are designed to meet specific functional requirements like thermal regulation, antimicrobial properties, and resistance to wear and tear.
• Product Development
  • Expansion of Synthetic and Functional Fabric Portfolio: We prioritised high-margin, high-demand segments like Athleisure and Performance Wear by integrating features such as sustainable synthetics (bio-based, recycled, biodegradable, elastane-free, closed-loop). Our Loungewear offerings were enhanced for superior softness and thermal comfort.
  • Investments in Advanced Technology: We invested in finer gauge knitting, enabling lightweight, breathable, and premium-feel fabrics suitable for innerwear, elevated basics, and activewear. Advancements in fleece and jacquards have improved softness, stretch, and thermal regulation across casualwear and loungewear. Raw-cut engineering enhancements in activewear and intimates delivered tailored fits, reduced chafing, and minimised waste.
  • Material Innovation: We continued to develop innovative materials with enhanced properties, such as durability, flexibility, breathability, and environmental friendliness. Notable examples include graphene-based textiles, bio-based synthetics (like castor seed oil nylon), recycled fibers, and moisture-wicking fabrics.
  • Customer Co-Creation: A dedicated "Co-Innovation Strategy" was launched to collaborate with vendors and brands on developing fabrics aligned with sustainability and performance goals. This included support for design-for-recyclability and the implementation of speed development models.
  • Functionality and Performance: Our textiles are designed to meet specific functional requirements including thermal regulation, antimicrobial properties, and resistance to wear and tear, ensuring performance and comfort across product categories.
• Innovation Processes
  
  • Streamlined R&D Process: The INSCOPE Innovation Hub adopted a structured stage-gate model to manage the R&D pipeline, ensuring disciplined progress and efficient resource allocation from ideation to commercialisation.
  • Digital Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): PLM tools were integrated to streamline workflows, reduce time-to-market, enhance traceability, and leverage analytics for optimised resource use.
  • Innovation KPIs and Outcome-Driven Metrics: Teejay set clear targets for revenue from new products and established both quantitative and qualitative KPIs for research-to-product conversion. Customer satisfaction surveys were conducted to assess the relevance and value of our innovations.
  • Innovation Blue Sky Initiative: A dedicated team with specialised resources was established for long-term, research-based product engineering. This multidisciplinary team fosters diverse ideation and has formed strategic partnerships with research institutions (SLINTEC, University of Moratuwa, and University of Sri Jayewardenepura) to support advanced material science and textile innovation. Time-and-action-based KPIs guide all Blue Sky projects.
  • Automation for Efficiency: Teejay upgraded our digital fabric libraries and 3D sampling tools to accelerate design-to-market timelines.
• Product Sustainability
  
  • Bio-based Materials: We introduced PLA (Polylactic Acid) derived from renewable plant sugars for experimentation with bio-synthetics. We also expanded product ranges using castor seed oil nylon.
  • Recycled Fibres: The use of recycled polyester and recycled cotton was scaled up, targeting full circularity across product lines.
  • Green Cotton: Teejay actively participated in regenerative cotton farming initiatives and partnered to develop genetic traceability platforms.
  • Undyed Fabric and Non-toxic Finishes: We expanded undyed fabric ranges, eliminating water-intensive dye processes, and advanced our finishing processes toward Green Chemistry, minimising hazardous chemical use.
  • Performance Upgrades: Shrinkage control was optimised through new chemistries and brushing technologies, complemented by the use of less resource-intensive materials.

Teejay’s Diverse Product Portfolio

At Teejay, we offer an extensive range of innovative textiles crafted to meet the diverse demands of our customers. From high-performance activewear fabrics that keep up with dynamic lifestyles, to luxurious intimates that prioritise comfort and support, our portfolio caters to every need. Our commitment to excellence, sustainability, and versatility ensures that every product from casual lounge and sleepwear to eco-friendly sustainable textiles delivers superior quality, comfort, and style.