Star Fashion to update menswear

 Star Fashion (2551) Co, the maker Hazard and Garbang men's fashions, plans to rejuvenate its two menswear brands to prepare for more competition when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is formed in 2015.

Executive director Vitoon Tatiyamaneekul said that although many menswear brands, both local and international, had been introduced in Thailand in recent years, demand for Garbang and Hazard products continued to grow year-by-year.

"This is a good sign. And if we make the two brands more modern and trendy, they will have more market potential," said Sukris Vareerajuthai, the company's general manager for business development.

Hazard has been in the market for 28 years and Garbang for 24, and both will be rebranded in the third quarter 2012.

The company will introduce Garbang collections for executives and for the youth market.

Star Fashion aims to cover all provinces within two years. After that, it will look for opportunities in the Asean market, Mr Sukris said.

According to a company survey, there are many fashion brands available in the Philippines and Singapore, but the majority are international.

"If international fashion brands can parade into the Thai retail market, why don't Thai brands penetrate the international fashion markets?" Mr Sukris said.

Mr Vitoon said the company was currently studying the potential impact of the AEC.

With a sizeable population and increasing purchasing power, Thailand is a promising market for international brands.

"I'm not afraid about them entering Thailand after the AEC. They won't necessarily be successful here. The most important thing to surviving in the market is understanding local demand and taste," Mr Vitoon said.

Currently the company distributes 17 brands of shoes, fashion apparel and accessories through 500 points of sale across the country.

Mr Vitoon expects the fashion market in Thailand to grow by 15% this year, up from 12-13% last year. The footwear market alone is estimated to be worth about 10 billion baht per year.

The company plans to extend product lines. New shoe and bag brands include Tretorn from Sweden, Boxfresh, the British lifestyle shoe, and Herschel bags from Canada.

The company says sales will grow by 50% to 2.4 billion baht this year, up from 1.6 billion baht last year. Of the total, about half will come from apparel and fashion shoes.