Taiwan Today

Strolling down the streets of London and window-shopping in the high fashion shops of the magnificent hotels, several fashion models from Taipei excitedly dis­covered masterpieces of ladies' wear straight from home. The brand names on the labels hailed from Taiwan, the Republic of China.

In Paris, patrons are willing to pay high prices for unique jerseys from a famous designer's boutique. Through the display window a well-informed shop­per is well aware that the fine fashions are from Taiwan.

Very fashionable, and expensive, dresses are easily found in some of the biggest department stores in New York City, as well as boutiques along Seventh Avenue. Providing many of these re­markably attractive products are Taiwan suppliers.

Visiting a huge shopping center in Los Angeles, tourists from Taipei are surprised to see piquant Taiwan fashions flaunted in mini specialty stores. Dis­played is a cotton quilted suit, just exactly what caught their eyes in a Taipei de­signer shop a year ago.

In foreign markets, Taiwan-made clothing was once rated at middle or lower grade. Now, the ROC apparel in­dustry is improving quality and design in an apparel war for international top­ fashion markets. Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and India, to name a few, are among the opponents.

Some sharp ROC entrepreneurs took decisive action to create high quality pieces. They imported fine materials, joined them with excellent local skills and then successfully exported the finished products to quality foreign mar­kets. This profitable business inspired a great many competitors.

Producers accepted foreign buyers' instructions: importing special materials from Japan, Hong Kong, and European countries; following designs and specifi­cations provided by the buyers in a mass process operation under absolute quality control - and before the goods are shipped out, inserting labels with the de­signers' brand names.

After experiencing a series of suc­cesses, some thoughtful exporters devoted themselves to "research and development." They decided to create unique products. They began to adopt their own designs and build their own brand names. They hoped to make larger prof­its by promoting themselves.

In the past several months, some well-known domestic apparel merchants have followed suit. They designed fash­ions with a Chinese zest, and received a gratifying response.

Here are some true episodes about people involved in the "apparel" war:

Since 1978, Miss Eliza Wang's "Oriental Beauty" fashions have drawn attention from abroad. Her fashion career was totally supported by her late husband. After his death, she established a trading company to export her own designs in high fashion clothes. She tripled the size of the plant, entirely for exporting.

In July 1981, Wang organized a promotion trip to introduce the "Oriental Beauty" fashions more widely in Europe and the United States. During her stay in New York City, she utilized Ford agency models Karen Howard and Nancy Hunter for a fashion show of silk Chinese-made costumes. The response was gratifying.

Wang's local fashion clientele are often the wives of middle aged business­men. Sometimes, foreign buyers visiting Taiwan are impressed by Wang's fashion window - made up for local patrons - and finally close deals stimulated by the display.

Orders came in from New York, London, Hamburg, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. To better cope with the new buyers, and potential customers, Wang began classifying all dresses, suits, and blouses by specification and serial numbers. The company received agent re­quests from Europe and Japan. Wang was surprised to see a US$300 suit from her Taipei store sold at US$900 abroad.

To increase sales and broaden for­eign markets, Wang recruited an expe­rienced fashion designer, Miss Chen I-jun from New York. Chen received her training at the New York Institute of Fashion Design and worked as a designer in New York for six years.

Wang's first principle is strict quality control on every single piece produced. Since specifications differ for the United States and Great Britain, for example, Chen pays special attention to the exact­ness of sizes. She even supervises the packing inspectors and does the checking herself from time to time.

Fourteen years ago, Chen Teh-hsin started with only two knitting machines and now owns Lucky Textile Industries Co., Ltd. a dyeing and variegation mill and a ready-made clothing factory. Chen graduated from Taipei College of Technology with a major in textile engi­neering. After finishing his studies at universities in America and Great Britain, he underwent practical training in Swit­zerland, then toured big textile mills in the U.S. and Japan.

On this island, Chen is a foremost specialist in the ready-to-wear field. He controls a total operation: from idea to the final product. After he decided to make a high fashion dress with fine fiber materials, the new Lucky Textiles pro­ducts monopolized export markets for four years. In August 1979, Lucky Textiles raised new capital by issuing stock valued at US$100,000. Now this stock has jumped in value to US$3.4 million - a 35 fold increase.

During the past two years, Chen has been focusing on the company's internal management to better cope with economic recession. But he continued, also, to concentrate on his foreign cus­tomers... and potential buyers; he visited the United States, for that purpose, twice during the last four months.

Among Chen's main competitors, Cannontex Industrial Co., Ltd is usually the first mentioned. Three years ago, while Lucky was internally involved in labor disputes, many local buyers as well as foreign importers shifted their busi­ness to Cannontex.

Cannontex was founded in 1971. However, the company did not take off until it was brought under new manage­ment in October 1975. Chu Yin-lung and Hu Chiao-zong became new president and general manager respectively. Both were educated at European universities. They selected capable staff, opened new sales channels and maintained quality above acceptable levels. To accommo­date both labor and equipment expansion, the company plant was moved to Panchiao. The first strategic target was set: "Company success results from consumer faith."

According to recent statistics, 60 per­cent of Cannontex' fashions are sold to boutiques, and 40 percent, to large department stores.

When Chu took over Cannontex in 1975, the export of ready-to-wear clothing was at its peak. He shifted investment to manmade-fiber knitted fabrics, which were neglected at that time. Owing to this decision, Cannontex now enjoys a reliable flow of business, once the sole province of Lucky.

Cannontex is busy year-round, season after season. It produces 25,000 dozens of blouses per month, 300,000 dozens each year. During the mass­ production of the early days, the factory was inclined to reject any order below 500 dozens, a principle which discour­aged a great deal of business. General Manager Hu, in contrast, emphasized the plant's production flexibility. He once commented, "Small is beautiful. It is difficult to maintain a great volume of super-quality high fashions; we would rather concentrate on quality than quantity."

When talking about the export mar­kets for jerseys, another firm, New Northern Knitting Co., comes to mind. For the past two consecutive years, New Northern has been Taiwan's number one jersey exporter. It shipped 225,000 dozens for sales of US$14.7 million last year.

From 1967 onward, New Northern was a family-type enterprise. However, in 1975, the company adopted a modern management system after a major shake-up of personnel. It scattered its invest­ment over various types of businesses and engaged in both import and export. Two years ago, the company announced an employee profit-sharing plan, and paid the equivalent of an 18-month pay­ check to each employee in one year.

At the huge New Northern head office, it is surprising to see the strenuous business activity. Office clerks are busy as bees. If someone asks, "What makes New Northern what it is today?" They will tell you that, besides having a sound management system, they select the finest materials, carry their own designs, train their own staff and approach their tasks throughout the plant in an energetic manner.

In the competitive market, the Du-Mu firm offers high fashion clothes that aim for uniqueness. Pan Dai-li, the founder of Du-Mu, is a true fashion leader. Her fashions often penetrate the local market a year earlier than they appear in large American stores. There­fore, Du-Mu easily covers both domestic and foreign markets. Her "Design" label is a substitute for "Du-Mu."

In April 1981, Pan and her two sisters set up Malina Fashions in Los Angeles, California. The fashions are designed by Pan Dai-li in Taiwan, manufactured in Hong Kong and distributed to specialty stores and boutiques in California through Malina. Malina has also estab­lished sales territories in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In any business each individual has his own philosophy. Ready-made clothier Chen Teh-hsin of Lucky wants to help the industry grow and develop; Hu Chiao-zong of Cannontex looks to higher figures; Chen Ta-shung of New Northern eyes breakthroughs in apparel technology. They have one shared con­clusion: to develop reliable foreign markets for ready-made clothes, high-class market lines and strict quality control are the bottom lines.