Asean Economic Community would benefit Thai apparel brands

27 Oct '12

2 min read

The Asean Economic Community (AEC), which would come into effect from 2015, would benefit the Thai apparel brands, rather than giving rise to stiff competition for them, according to Reno (Thailand) Co, manufacturer of fashion apparel brand AIIZ.

Under AEC, all member nations would earn a leverage to establish their production bases in any other member nations, hence there would be no issue of low labour cost, the Bangkok Post quoted Mr. Piya Thanakitamnuay, Chief Executive of Reno, as saying.

He said Thai fashion firms are quite good at brand-building and marketing, as compared to their Asean counterparts, hence they are not much bothered about survival of Thai brands in Asean markets or entry of Asean brands in domestic markets, and look upon it more as an expansion opportunity.

Further, he said, Thai fashion brands have already outlived long years of political instability and tough competition from international brands.

On the other hand, tough competition in Thai fashion industry, which has over 1,000 domestic and global fashion brands, would make entry of Asean brands in Thai markets difficult. Thus, fashion apparel is looked upon as the sector where Thai firms can benefit the most from AEC, he added.

Informing that Reno eyes around three to four billion baht in sales revenues from Asean markets during 2013-15, Mr. Piya said they are also in talks with several retailers in countries like Vietnam, Dubai and Indonesia for setting up AIIZ shops in those countries.

Eyeing a shift to big format outlets measuring around 1,000-2,000 sq m, almost 10 times bigger than its existing outlets, the company sees its sales turnover for current year touching four billion baht, 25 percent above its last year’s earnings.

Besides, it also plans to launch 40-50 big AIIZ outlets next year.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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