I am getting ready to travel to Hong Kong this week. There are several arrangements tobe made. My hotel and transportation arrangements are made by my hosts. They are my contacts in Hong Kong. Raymond Law is my apparel agent. He is in charge of finding factories for me to produce my designs. He works on behalf of me in Hong Kong to make sure everything moves smoothly. He works on quality control and makes sure everything is sent out from China on schedule. I have been working with Raymond for three years. Importing would be too difficult todo without an apparel agent in the Orient.
Hong Kong Dress Design Trip
Asian’s do business differently from North Americans. They introduce you to their culture. They try to spend as much time as they can with their clients. When I first visited Hong Kong it was almost too much company for me. They took me out everyday for lunch and dinner. I know this sounds great, but that much exotic food at once can be pretty hard to take. I really try to be careful when I am there. Its a real inconvenience getting sick when you are traveling.
Usually, the first part of my trip I spend looking for fabric in the market. The market is huge and everything you could ever want as far as fabric is available. There is also a similar market for accessories-buttons and lace. I spend a few days looking at fabric and then Raymond and I travel to China. I visit the technicians at the factory to discuss colors, styles and quantity. I really like the girls I work with. They are my age and very pleasant to work with. They also take me out after we are finished working. Usually only to eat. At the end of the day we go back to the hotel. Always a masseuse comes to the room at the end of the night. That’s pretty much the best part of the day.
I have designed a second dress line, that I will be viewing samples of when I am in Hong Kong. I will most likely visit a second factory in China to meet with design technicians. I will be introducing a jersey line to my existing line. This will be more casual day dresses. The same customer that wears Cake dresses now will be interested in the jersey dresses.
I will also be meeting with other Canadian’s from Toronto, when I am in Hong Kong. A well established dress company has asked me to design a line of bridesmaid dresses for them. This is a great opportunity for me and it will be interesting meeting in Hong Kong.
