Korea Textile Centre (KTC) is gearing up to create a stronghold in BRICs countries of Russia, China, India, and Brazil by establishing permanent exhibition rooms and support companies to export goods to these countries. The KTC has been striving continuously for progress and change. Talking about Korea’s outlook towards fashion retail business Kim Hong Ki, Managing Director, KTC says “The Korea Textile Centre was formed 10 years back. We have branches all over the world including Shanghai and Los Angeles. We help Korean companies in export of fabric and reduce their cost by helping in marketing. The factories can use our overseas branch, laced with showrooms, with no costs. Customers can contact our branches for more information on Korean products or fabrics,” said Hong Ki.
Elaborating on KTC’s role he said, “The KTC is not a government body. It comprises some 65 contributing member companies from all across Korea. But the government also contributes its share. These factories export fabrics worth US$ 50 million. These factories are in export only. They don’t sell within Korea.”
Hong Ki points out Korean companies are in competition with China and their products are almost similar. “We have to develop different products, so we use different fabrics, yarns, and dyeing processes etc. We keep developing new products and that’s how we compete with China. Our products are more expensive than Chinese products. Our fabrics are $5 a yard. These are polyester and fabrics mixed with cotton, nylon to be used for men’s wear and women’s wear.”
For Korean exporters the main markets are the United States, Europe and China but they also lay stress on expanding to India. Hong Ki explains, “We can take part in exhibitions like Texworld to boost Korean exports to India.”
On the growth trajectory of Korean textile exports he says, “Our exports are growing 10 to 15 per cent a year. The KTC was founded to streamline the growth of Korean textile export and promoting fashion. We have to execute ‘Daegu Textile Industry Overseas Marketing Project’ that is one of the four local industry promotion projects in Korea.”
