​ODEL launches Elephant Parade in Sri Lanka

Elephant Parade retail launches in Sri Lanka for the very first time in nine of ODEL’s stores. These stores include the flagship store at Alexandra Place, Dutch Hospital complex in Colombo, at Crescat, Centara Ceysands Resort & Spa Bentota, the Galle Fort, Queen’s Hotel Kandy, Negombo and Pinnawala and at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). A unique range of handcrafted elephant replicas and key chains of the Elephant Parade collection will be available across all of the stores.

ODEL is the premier fashion and lifestyle department store in the country of international standards which offers a diverse range of products. The store is renown with both locals and visitors, with many tourists who visit Sri Lanka making ODEL a must stop destination in their itinerary.

Elephant Parade® is a social enterprise and runs the world’s largest art exhibition of decorated elephant statues. Created by artists and celebrities, each Elephant Parade statue is a unique art piece. The life-size, baby elephant statues are exhibited in international cities and raise awareness for the need for elephant conservation.

Limited edition, handcrafted replicas and a select range of products are created from the exhibition elephants. 20% of Elephant Parade net profits of sales from ODEL will be donated to elephant welfare and conservation projects.

Over the years thousands of artists and public figures have supported Elephant Parade including; Sir Richard Branson, Khloe Kardashian, Katy Perry, Tommy Hilfiger, Paul Smith and Prince Henrik of Denmark. ODEL joins Elephant Parade’s list of over 245 global retailors including; TANGS Singapore, Hyundai Seoul, Selfridges London, Central Group Thailand and Renaissance Italy.

Elephant Parade is committed to Mosha at Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital in Thailand. Mosha is the founding inspiration of the brand. As a baby elephant, she lost part of her foot whilst stepping on a land mind. She became the first elephant to receive a prosthetic leg. Elephant Parade is committed to her through an annual donation of at least one million Thai Baht to support her welfare and cost for a new prosthesis. For the last decade, Mosha has featured in every Elephant Parade exposition around the world, symbolising the need for the protection of the endangered Asian elephant.

“ODEL is pleased to partner with Elephant Parade and launch this amazing collection in Sri Lanka for the very first time. The initiative to raise awareness on elephants and promote their conservation is one that is very close to the heart of ODEL and has been a key area of support in many of our social endeavours focusing on animal welfare. It is also very noteworthy that Sri Lanka has one of the highest concentrations of elephants in Asia. As a fashion and trend setting store, it’s a great match to work with Elephant Parade who use creativity and the arts to convey an important message about the status of the elephant. One that is really important to communicate since numbers have diminished within Sri Lanka by at least 50% over the last few decades” said a spokesperson for ODEL.

The Asian elephant is now on the endangered species list. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation, poaching and fragmentation. Although humans and elephants have shared a rich cultural heritage, elephants and humans are now at constant conflict due to shared habitats and increased urban development.

The Sri Lankan elephant is an integral part of the ecosystem in terms of forestry and general biodiversity, hence it is absolutely empirical that these pachyderms are conserved.