时间：2022-10-08 11:10:21
Innovation and performance were the watchwords at INVISTA'sRendezVous 2oo7 exhibition and conference which kicked off today inChina's fashion capital, Shanghai. INVISTA's flagship brands LYCRA~ andCOOLMAX~ competed for the attention of buyers and cameramen alikeeager to catch a glimpse of the newest technical and design innovations.
Taking place each year alongside one of the industry's most importanttrade events - Intertextile Shanghai - iNVISTA's annual INVISTA Rendez-Vous has become one of the region's "must-attend" events and anacknowledged showcase for the latest and most innovative fabrics, treatmentsand treatments.
This year's event was no exception, with COOLMAX~ fabric proving itscontinued moistrure management performance and popularity in ready-to-wear and active sportswear categories and INVlSTA's world-leading LYCRA~brand on show in categories as diverse as ready-to-wear, active outerwear andthe ever-popular intimate apparel. They included XFIT LYCRA~ jeans, whichuse a mix of denim and four-way directional stretch LYCRA~ technology tocreate what are arguably the leading/most comfortable fitting pants on theplanet. Also on show was the breakthrough new FREEF!TTM LYCRA~ fabrictechnology.
Behind the glorious shows, it's the accelerating investment of Invista inChina. In the middle of May, Invista started its nylon yarn mill in Shanghai atthe cost of 5o million dollars. China Textile interviewed Mr. Serge Vigouroux,the Executive Vice President of Apparel Marketing Business, in Shanghai.
China Textile: Would you please give tne an introductionabout lnvista's development since it comes to Chinese market.
Serge Vigouroux: lnvista is an American company. Itsheadquarter, as you know, is located in Wichita Kansas, It isa leading company as a fiber producer and in textile industry.Given China's role in the value chain today, from exportprospective and local market prospective, one thing whichis very important is that, we are one of the best brands in thebusiness today, and we want to deliberate these brands, whichwe consider as sub-assets, and all the assets, the laboratories,factories we have all over the world, especially in China. Sothat's why we consider China very important based from thefortune perspective and industrial perspective.
The brands belonged to Invista has been presented inChina for a long time. previously through different ways.The presence is more than 1o years for sure. And we havebeen investing steadily in these businesses both for apparelbusiness and the fiber business we have always had, such asmaterials and so on. We see China as amarket for functional fibers extremelyimportant globally. It's definitelyone of the most important, if not themost important market in the world.So as far as we are concerned it's thebiggest priority. As I have said, we aretrying to grow through the investmentwe have put in the assets, we have
invested constantly in the past fewyears to enhance our manufacturingability.
Just like in the last twelve monthsfor example, for the apparel as wehave concerned, we have establishednew plants in Foshan, extending theother plants we have in China. Wehave lots of manufacturing sites allacross the Asia, which create andmanufacture directly. Asia is the keypriority area for the group, as 1 saidbefore, it's a key place for fibers'developments and it's the key pIacefor the garments development in theworld, and it's very key in the valuechain. What we're interested in is that it's not only an exportbase for reaching the rest of the world, it's also a local base totalk to the Chinese consumers.
Invista has one of the strongest brands in the world,the LYCRA~ brand has been accepted by over 8o percentof consumers in China. We have been investing steadily invery cutting edge marketing programs in China since 2oo1and before, l'm sure you have heard of LYCRA~ My Prince,LYCRA My Hero. We have a long and lasting relationshipwith the Chinese consumers. We plan to invest even more inthe future because we believe that this relationship with theChinese consumers is absolutely crucial. Another thing is Italk about the consumers. I talk about the export, I would alsolike to talk about the customers that we have in China in otherbrands. We have a very dedicated team of people to work onthe brands. You can see our brands in the television, on theinternet. It's all because we have a very strong collaborationwith these Chinese brands such as ready-to-wear and sportivewear.
China Textile: 1 can see youhave joined the hltertextile exhibition,and l noticed that you are the largestexhibitor. Can you introduce to me your]hture strategy in Chinese market?
Serge Vigouroux: Well, we havea business philosophy: market-basedmanagement. It's a business philosophythat basically relies on different aspectsbut mainly two: we are doing businesswith integrity and being alwayscompliance. And that's important for usbecause that we see that we are doingthe bases for the future. I don't thinkyou can do a successful business inlong terms if you don't do it with eitherintegrity or in a non-compliance ~yay.So it's very important, and based on thisstrategy, we will expand our asset base,and acquire new assets when we thinkit's acquiring, and keep investing in theassets. When I talk about the assets Imean all the assets, the factories, thebuildings, and the soft assets such asthe brands, the people we have. So weare in the growth mode.
As you have said we have thelargest booth in the fair, because weare the leader in the industry, so it'sall roads basically lead to this industryis innovation, and innovation is thekey area for us moving forwards,developing our brands and developingour innovation. That's the way thedirection we want Io take in China. So
we want to invest more in our brands,to link our brands with the consumers,the customers, and the rest of the valuechain. And also invest in the soft assets,such as the people. So we're really ingrowth mode. and I mean we are hiringnew people, and we are investing moreand more than we did in the past. Ithink these can prove our commitmentto China. We are the partner in the past,and in these years,we also plan to bethe partner in thefuture. Becauseit gives us theopportunity toexplain who weare better, givesus the opportunityto talk about ourproducts.
I don't knowwhether you havethe attempt to lookaround to see thenew products weare introducing, butfor us it's importantbecause this isone of the Izlobalforums that we have to introduce thenew products and new brands. So youcan see on our booth we are featuringnew innovation for almost all segments,talking about swim wear, this time webrought Xtra LifeTM LYCRA~ fabric,which offers chlorine and UV resistancefor coloured swimwear as well as fitand shape retention which are criticalattributes for swimwear, especially forserious swimmers.
Besides technology, Invista alsosees cooperation with the cutting edgedesigners very important. Cooperationwith top designers can help you developtop fabrics.
China Textile: I can see lnvista hasbeen very, active with innovations.
Serge Vigouroux: Well we believein one thing which is we are built on theheritage of innovation. So innovationis the key no matter what we are doing,and you can innovate in various ways.But what we believe is that everyjob is to create superior value for ourcustomers and consumers. This startsbasically by understanding what ourcustomers want. And when l'm talkingabout the customers, I'm talking aboutthe consumers, all the brands andretailers we are talking to all aroundthe world. And l'm also talking aboutwhat we can do with the brands: wecan be very innovative with the brands.So, one thing very important for us isbeing consumer-centric: we are tryingto understand what the end-consumerswant. and trying to understand alsowhat our direct consumers want.
Invista bring svalue to the differentlabels of the value chain, and we seeourselves as the innovation provider ofthe entire value chain. We have one bigstrength: wc are a global company, wehave rich that is absolutely global, wehave factories around the world, andmarketing, sales and technical teamsall around the world. So we are ableto understand the trends and fashion,understand the consumers, understand themills, understand all the people that playa part in the value chai.n, and based uponthese we can make the best strategy. Soyou would see more innovations from usgoing fbrwards, that's for sure, but so farI can't disclose any details. But what youwould see in the future would be reallyconsumer-driven or customer-drivem that'
s above all.
China Textile: How do youcolntttellr the investntent environment inChina?
Serge Vigouroux: We have beeninvesting really a lot in China: I'mtalkin~ about millions of China. Wehave committed to this market withreally big numbers because we seeChina as a very important base for thetextile industry. There is no doubt in ourmind that we will have competitions inChina, haha, but we see China as a verykey role in the textile industry in theworld.
China Textile: How do you see thepolicies, the circumstances concerningthe textile industries in China?
Serge Vigouroux: You are talkingabout the latest changes of policiesby the Chinese government towardstextile? You know I'm not an economicsexpert so l cannot comment. 1 thinktextile has been a good industry forChina in the past, which provided lotsof jobs and lots of growth. I believe thatChinese government is trying to makeall the industries grow, and is trying tomake the textile industry into a higherstandard.
In the international market you cansee the highest level of mills, brandsand products; you can also see playerswho are just in entry level. The newpolicy would push the whole industryinto a higher standard to produce moreadded-value products. 1 think it's a goodthing, because you can create somethingof more value, and you can providehigher quality to the consumers andcustomers. So in the end it's beneficialfor everyone. 1 am quite confidentabout Chinese textile industry, franklyspeaking. You have a position thatwould be very difficult to replace, andthat's why we have invested so muchinto this market. We've spent millionsof dollars in the consumers' spending,the brands marketing in China.
China Textile: Since lnvista isvery active in innovation, have you metan3, problems concerning intellectualproperty?
Serge Vigouroux: That's afair question, Let me just tell youa little about lnvista regarding thetrademark and later more aboutintellectual property. We have a verystrong philosophy, market-basedmanagement. And we believe in actingintegrity, compliance with the businessenvironment. For us the intellectualproperty is something extremelyextremely important. When I'm sayingintellectual property I'm not onlytalking about our intellectual property,but also the intellectual property ofpeople who work with us. So we want tobe respected on intellectual property, butwe also want to be sure that we respectthe intellectual property of people whowork with us. We have around the worldmore than 1ooo patents and intellectualproperty rights.
So we are very active in this front.This is something very key for us.So you will never see us infringingpatents, nor will you ever see us notusing properly others' trademark.So we are very active as far as trademark is concerned, both internally andexternally. And we are trying to protectour assets, as I have said before, wehave hard and soft assets. So far wehaven't met any specific problemsconcerning intellectual properties.China has been evolving drastically inthese years, and we won't do businessin a country if we feel our intellectualproperties won't be respected there. So,again, we have made the best decision,that we would not invest in certaincountries where all business principalscan't be respected. I believe there areproper ways to do business in China,and that's why we are here.