Cardin ventures Vietnam

Cardin ventures Vietnam

HANOI (Reuter): French fashion house Pierre Cardin has taken a new partner to produce its shirts in Vietnam after sacking a state-owned firm for producing and selling fakes.

Nguyen Du, Pierre Cardin's managing director for Indochina, said yesterday the company had withdrawn state-owned Viet Tien's exclusive producing and distributing rights and authorized the privately run An Phuoc Garment Company to make its shirts.

Du told Reuters that Viet Tien, which was supposed to sell the shirts at around US$35-40 each, had been caught selling fakes for as little as $5-6 each at a trade fair this year.

The head of Viet Tien told the government-controlled weekly Vietnam Investment Review last month that his company had canceled the contract because it was facing too much competition from counterfeiters.

Du said sales of Pierre Cardin products in Vietnam came to less than $250,000 a year, but insisted that it was worth keeping a presence in the country despite huge copyright problems.