Neko-a Macao brand in the Mainland market, showcases the transformation of Macao’s manufac­turing industry to ensure survival and development

The manufacturing industry, one of Macao’s four economic pil­lars in the past, has been faced with severe challenges and tests in recent years. Rapid economic transformation brought about by the liberalisation of the gaming industry following Macao’s handover, the elimination of export quotas on textiles and garments in 2005 and other new developments have caused Macao’s manufacturing industry to shrink and has forced manufacturers to blaze new trails in order to survive.

In view of the challenging economic environment, by leveraging experience and a good reputation built up over the years and Macao’s rising international reputation a local manufacturer has ad­opted a brand new strategy of “venturing out of Macao,” founding a Macao brand and successfully entering the mainland market and now plans further expansion into the wider Asian market.

Neko, which means “cat” in Japanese and is a shortened form of the founder’s English name, Catherine, shows how the new generation of Macao manufacturers can create a success story with the “Macao Brand”.

A new way forward for manu­facturers

Catherine Ng Kai Yin, President of Neko Garment Company Limited, is representative of a new generation of manufacturers in Macao. She says that thanks to the past quota system, her father and uncles made garments for overseas buyers for several decades. Hit by economic globalisation, the removal of export quotas in 2005 and dramatic changes in Macao’s economic structure, the local manufacturing sector has had to find a new way forward.

“Macao’s manufacturing industry took off in the 60s and 70s and was once one of the four economic pillars.” Ms. Ng goes on to say that Macao’s manufacturing industry is still compet­itive thanks to the wealth of experience it has gathered over the years, the tech­niques it uses, it’s good reputation and the image of its products.

She says that she began to think about the direction for her garment factory back in 2002, because she fore­saw that Macao would not have the cost advantage that some of the developing nations in Southeast Asia have once the garment quota was eliminated in 2005.

After careful consideration, she took steps in May 2003 by creating Neko Gar­ment Company Limited in her hometown of Shunde, Guangdong Province and launched the Neko- brand from Macao, which is known for sports wear.

After three years of hard work, Neko now has 130 sales and wholesale outlets on the mainland, in Dalian, Shunde, Jiangxi, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenyang, Zhuhai, and Xi’an to name a few. The company owns ten percent of the outlets and the rest are licensed franchises. Neko set up on the main­land in summer of 2003 and now has a successful burgeoning business and is deploying its plan to open outlets throughout Asia.

Macao Reputation plays role

Ms. Ng says frankly that Macao’s attraction as a brand destination has been very useful to efforts in cracking the mainland market. She says that after years of reform and opening-up, the mainland now has a more developed economy and people enjoy a higher standard of living. As a result, they pay more attention to clothing, one of the four necessities (clothing, food, hous­ing and transportation) and are aware of brands and the guarantees of better quality. Macao has successfully seized this opportunity because it has always manufactured garments for export to Europe and the US and has better qual­ity than mainland. This is one of the advantages of the manufacturing indus­try here.

Ms. Ng says she feels very fortu­nate to have been one step ahead of the others because with the economic trans­formation of Macao, the manufacturing sector will face increasingly more ad­versity. She thinks garment factories in Macao are now under tremendous pres­sure because they mainly either manu­facture high quality garments or take on orders at short notice from clients. Nevertheless, she believes that the man­ufacturing industry does not have to to­tally abandon Macao because its mature banking system and free financial sys­tem facilitates their order transactions with customers.

As somewhat of a veteran at doing business on the mainland, she believes that one needs to thor­oughly assess the risks and choose familiar sectors. She adds that timing and luck are both important. In addition, Macao’s image as an international metrop­olis increases the profile of “Made in Macao”.

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Dora Tam Design —Tourism boom leads to new Brand

Dora Tam is a jewellery designer from Hong Kong that has cutting edge in­novation. After eight years designing for jewellery houses in Hong Kong, she moved to Macao with her family to successfully launch her own brand. Macao’s booming tourism and retail market has become an excellent setting for starting a brand.

“While in Hong Kong, I designed what was requested and never thought of setting up my own boutique or having my own brand. After I came to Macao, where rental is lower than Hong Kong, my friends suggested that I should open a boutique to enable more people to see my designs.”

The road to success came after com­pleting her studies in Jewellery and Met­als in Canada. In 2000, she entered a dia­mond head piece “Crown of Fashion” in the “De Beers Diamond Design Contest.” The theme of the contest that year was “Embrac­ing a New Millennium.” Competitors from 42 countries submitted an unprecedented 2, 520 types of jewellery. Dora Tam drew on the crowns of Greek goddesses and win­ter hats for her design. “Crown of Fashion” was inlayed with 2, 881 diamonds (total weight 117.04 carats). Garnering impres­sive results, Ms. Tam was one of 29 winning designers awarded top honours and recog­nition at the De Beer’s contest.

Ms. Tam won several awards in various international jewellery contests and created a brand with her name Dora Tam. Tam’s jewellery has become popular among the expatriate community in Macao. Celebri­ties, movie and TV stars have also been seen wearing her latest creations. The current in­flux of tourists has seen an increase in the number of new patrons and fans of her in­novative designs.

The retail sector is one of the main re­cipients of Macao’s economic takeoff. Ac­cording to the Macao Statistics and Census Service, total retail sales were MOP8.78 bil­lion in 2005, up 6.77% from in 2004. Of that, total watch and gold ornament sales were MOP893 million, up 20.95% from in 2004. With increasingly more tourists trav­elling to Macao, three new ornament and jewellery franchises opened on Avenida Al­meida Ribeiro alone last year.

Seeing the opportunity for jewellery and ornament sales brought about by cur­rent economic development in Macao, Ms. Tam decided to settle down in Macao with her family and establish her own brand. Dora Tam Design was registered in 2001 and in 2002 the launch of her first boutique followed.

Avenida Almeida Ribeiro is the busiest street which runs through the heart of Ma­cao and is the key retail area. Any high-end jeweller interested in tapping the Macao market must have a shop here.

Away from the bustling Avenida Al­meida Ribeiro, Dora Tam Design bou­tique is located on a quiet street corner in Nape. Its white exterior walls, glass windows and green plants at the door exude an elegant and fresh image much like the brand itself. Although there are no long queues, Dora Tam Design has its own unique attractions.

Fairies, Magic Flute and Starry Night are three of Dora Tam Design’s collec­tions. Fairies are known for their diverse design. Her inspiration for Fairies stems from the whimsical fairies in western fairy tales. Magic Flute is named after famous composer Wolfgang Mozart’s opera and uses silver as the main underlying colour. Starry Night is inspired by the sparkling stars on clear nights. The pieces are so full of imagination that one can easily, envi­sion, fairies, blowing a magic flute, and a night full of stars. Dora Tam says, “I think my jewellery has my soul in them.”

The three collections with their similarity to European styles have at­tracted a number of fans. When the boutique first opened, patrons were mainly local Portuguese and a few tourists. With Macao’s expanding re­tail market the boutique has seen more clients from Japan and Europe.

Besides the highly individual styl­ised jewellery Dora Tam Design is a high-quality ornament shop, that also provides “specialty design” jewellery, for that extra special present or souvenir. In Ms. Tam’s view, overseas investors come to Macao not only to build casinos, but also to develop Macao into a conference and exhibition centre. More exhibitions and conferences generate more demand for souvenirs, which develops another business area for Dora Tam—souvenir novelty design. Dora Tam has already designed some souvenirs for the Insti­tute for Civic and Municipal Affairs (IACM), such as bookmarks featuring attractions throughout Macao and a col­lection of bookmarks featuring Macao’s gardens.

Ms. Tam frankly admits that Macao is a very small market, so the brand needs to have a global reach to develop. To this end, Dora Tam continues to participate in contests to further market her name and give Dora Tam Design an enhanced pro­file. The designer has plans to travel to Germany and Italy in May and September this year. She also plans to spend more time in Paris. Ms. Tam says that a major firm known for marketing high-end or­naments has taken an interest in her cre­ations. “Cultural Sushi Public Relations are fond of my work, so they are currently in talks with department stores in Paris to set up Dora Tam Design counters.” Dora Tam hopes to have her display counter in major department stores in Paris in the near future.

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