TCF POST Report
Epyllion Group has appointed Ruwan Indrajith Gunapala as its new Chief Marketing Officer, bringing aboard an executive whose career is most closely defined by more than 16 years with UK-based Next Sourcing — experience the company is banking on as it sharpens its push into the European market.
“We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Mr. Ruwan Indrajith Gunapala as our new Chief Marketing Officer at Epyllion Group,” the company said in a statement. “Bringing over two decades of international leadership and expertise in the apparel industry, Mr. Gunapala’s strategic vision will drive our next phase of global growth, creative innovation, and market excellence.”
The Next Sourcing Years: The Core of His Career
Gunapala’s professional identity is anchored in his long tenure at Next Sourcing Europe in Leicester, England — a relationship spanning roughly 16 and a half years and forming the backbone of his industry expertise.
He spent nearly 14 years at the company as a senior manager before being elevated to country head, a post he held for more than two and a half years before departing for Epyllion Group. That trajectory — rising through the ranks internally before taking the top leadership seat in one of Next Sourcing’s key European markets — gave him direct, sustained exposure to how a major UK-headquartered sourcing operation engages European retailers, buyers, and supply chains.
It is this Next Sourcing grounding, more than any other line on his résumé, that appears to have shaped Epyllion’s decision. Next Sourcing’s own market is heavily European, and Gunapala’s years navigating that landscape from within a UK sourcing house give him a working familiarity with the region’s buyers that few other candidates could match.
The Rest of the Résumé
Beyond Next Sourcing, Gunapala has held roles across the apparel supply chain in multiple countries: Director – Supply Chain at Sri Lanka’s Crystal International, Head of Marketing & Merchandising at SQ Group in Bangladesh, and Chief Marketing Officer at Fashion Garments in Vietnam. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colombo.
Why It Matters for Epyllion
The appointment signals Epyllion’s intent to pursue a more direct marketing push into Europe, where the group already draws close to 80 percent of its export business, with Germany and the UK standing as its top two single markets. Placing a former Next Sourcing country head — someone who spent years managing that exact UK-Europe corridor — in the CMO seat is a clear alignment of hire to strategy.
About Epyllion Group
Epyllion Group began manufacturing and exporting knit apparel in 1994 and has since grown into one of the top ten textile conglomerates in its market, with backward-linkage facilities spanning knit garments, textiles, wet processing, and garment accessories. Beyond apparel, the group has diversified into real estate, food and beverage, and testing lab services, and operates its own retail brand, “Sailor.”
Operating under the motto “Human Spirit,” Epyllion runs major factories across Dhaka, Gazipur, and Narayanganj, with more than 200 sewing lines and a workforce exceeding 25,000. It serves as a sourcing partner to globally recognized brands and buyers across Europe, the USA, Asia, and Africa.
