Malaysian's Baju Kurung Venture In Vietnam

By Zabidi Ishar HO CHI MINH CITY (Vietnam), Feb 22 (Bernama) -- It is no looking back for Hasmin Nahazanan who embarked on a textile venture in Vietnam eight years ago to produce the traditional Malay apparel, the baju kurung. With sheer grit, Hasmin, along with her husband, Alfashah Che Othman, took a bold step to manufacture the apparel in Vietnam under their brand name ‘De'Alfa’. This move has helped the couple to save on labour costs, and the savings passed to the customers by providing garments of quality at competitive prices. STARTING FROM SCRATCH Together with a local partner, Nguyen Dhang Dhue, 35, the couple established a company, Armada Kiara, and started production services in a house in Ho Chi Minh City’s town centre. With 16 workers and 20 sewing machines, they started sewing baju kurung to be exported back to Malaysia. Their effort paid off as their apparel offerings have been well received back home. "Previously I use to supply about 2,000 pairs of baju kurung a month, now my factory can produce more then 20,000 pairs per month for the Malaysian market. "I'm happy to see my baju kurung enjoying good demand. I hope that the baju kurung will be well received by people in other countries too," she told Bernama here recently. MOVING AHEAD Two years ago, Hasmin shifted the company's operations from the house to a factory at the fringes of the city and now employs about 200 workers, mostly villagers living nearby. To ensure that only high quality garments are produced, workers with sewing skills are carefully selected. "During festive period like Aidilfitri and Aidiladha, the demand multiplies and so is the production output up to 60,000 pairs per month," she said. Hasmin who is the managing director of Armada Kiara said getting the factory started was no easy task because of the stringent approval process in Vietnam. "Thank god, they finally gave us to set up the factory with the condition that the employees had to be locals and with an investment of RM1 million this factory was realised," she said. (US$1=RM3.10) GETTING MATERIALS The company gets fabric, mainly high quality cotton from Vietnam, Arab, Korea and China. "All the fabrics will arrive at the factory and the baju kurung is stitched based on the designs created by my husband," she said. The apparels are sold through their own boutique, Butik De' Alfa, in Malaysia with the prices ranging from RM38 to RM150 per pair. The prices are highly competitive and Butik De’ Alfa offers apparel in a number of colours and designs. Today, there ara three branches nationwide, at Taiping Central in Perak, and at Kota Baharu Trade Centre and Lembah Sireh in Kelantan. FRANCHISING To increase the customer base, the company is looking into a franchise business model for Bumiputera entrepreneurs who are keen on selling apparel. The company hopes that by 2018, there will be a total of 50 franchise businesses. The franchisee needs to invest RM250,000, to participate in the franchise. "We provide one to two months training for the franchisees at our head quarters in Kota Baharu, Kelantan and the franchisee's accounts will be inspected monthly by an accountant dispatched by the company. "This is to ensure that franchisees manage their businesses well," she said. Hasmin hopes that the government would help franchisees by providing loans and financial assistance. So far there are two franchisees one in Jerteh, Terengganu and the other in Plaza Metro in Kajang, Selangor. DIVERSIFYING PRODUCTS The company is keen on launching another brand ‘Seri’ and marketing it through its existing boutiques to diversify its range of products. "Baju kurung under this brand name will be much cheaper. This is to cater for a different market segment including students while maintaining the quality," she said. And there is nothing to stop this couple from expanding their business empire; they are now contemplating on venturing into the hotel line as well with a budget hotel in Lembah Sireh on the cards. More than anything else, this couple is hoping that their textile venture in Vietnam will take the baju kurung to the global fashion stage. -- BERNAMA