In the fashion world, taste is no longer a collective concept. It is characterized by the desires of every individual.

After dressing to look beautiful and elegant for decades, Chinese people today have an increasingly strong desire for individuality.

Seeing market potential in this, Tianjin-based joint venture Jin Tak Garments Co Ltd plans to launch its tailor-made brand Pirouni in China in the middle of this year, a move to further upgrade its product portfolio.

Named after Jin Tak's President and Chief Executive Officer Stavros Pirounis, the brand Pirouni is targeted at providing comfort, quality and unique garments to contemporary men. It is a combination of European flair, Italian chic and an eye for detail, the firm claims.

Pirounis, half Greek and half Italian, has worked in the fashion industry for 30 years. He is also a Jin Tak shareholder.

He calls the move "bringing Italian-Napoli tailoring to China." The firm has introduced special technology from Italy, and recently established a hand-made Italian tailors workshop, headed by a designer and 28 top craftsmen chosen from the existing 700 plus workers in the company.

All the suits under the brand Pirouni are 100 percent hand-made, with each hand-made jacket taking 20 hours of work, compared with machine-made times of five hours for a jacket and matching trousers.

So far, the workshop only produces 12 pieces a day, but Pirounis says the firm plans to increase production to 10,000 pieces annually by 2008, tripling the number of workers.

"We see a trend in China of people preferring high quality products, and many of them go for handmade suits," Pirounis says.

Currently, Pirouni hand-made suits are already sold in prestigious shops in London and Milan, and the company has carried out a trial business in Beijing, receiving very positive feedback, Pirounis tells China Business Weekly.

"We carried out joint activities with private clubs, targeting high-ranking government and corporate officials. Those niche customers all believe there is no right or wrong way in how someone dresses. There is only suitable or unsuitable," he explains.

A man's clothes should marry practicality with style, the utilitarian and the artistic, Pirounis says.

The Pirouni image combines classic elegance with contemporary style, including oriental touches. It will be launched first in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, before moving to other Chinese cities. The final goal is to build up the brand across Asia, according to the president.

To produce the finest clothes only the finest materials should be used, the firm believes. In order to uphold its reputation for quality, the company only sources quality materials from the most exclusive suppliers, including Cerruti, Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana and some of the best fabric suppliers in China.

Loro Piana is one of the world's major suppliers, with employees scouring the earth from Mongolia to Tasmania to obtain the right fibres.

Pirounis notes that the Pirouni suits are all made in the typical Italian way. For example, instead of gluing canvas to the main cloth, Pirouni first soaks the canvas in water for six hours, dries it, then hand stitches it to the cloth.

This process makes the whole jacket lighter, flatter and more comfortable, the president claims.

In addition, the company has strict quality controls for all its products, and believes its quality standards are the highest in the Chinese textile industry.

The president says both the cost and profit of a handmade product is high compared with normal machine-made clothes.

"Production costs are at least five times higher and the profit is about 20 to 30 percent higher," he says.

Upgrading the product portfolio is a crucial strategy for Jin Tak in the coming few years. In addition to the Pirouni brand, it will introduce two foreign brands to the market, one from Europe and one from the United States, by the end of next year, the president said, declining to reveal which ones.

As for the license business of Pierre Cardin, the company will continue to put more effort on design and technology innovation. A made-to-measure service will be offered with the Pierre Cardin "Sartoriale" line.

With an exclusive license for Pierre Cardin suits and overcoats in China, Jin Tak manages the brand from design, fabric selection, cutting, stitching and pressing, to distribution and retailing.

Today it has 298 sales outlets and annual revenue of $30 million, accounting for half of Jin Tak's retailing turnover.

Jin Tak is also a vendor for international brands, such as AX Armani Exchange, CK and Joan & David.

The president says Jin Tak does not plan to compete with the large number of local apparel manufacturers, but rather focus on the top-end market. "Our strategy is on small volume but high value business," Pirounis says. Jin Tak is a very small company, with only 700 employees, while many other small-scale garment manufacturers easily have 3,000 to 4,000 employees, he adds.

(China Daily 01/06/2007 page7)