Safilo targets Chinese market

In an interview with Milano Finanza, Vittorio Tabacchi, president of Safilo, spoke about the group's prospects in the Asian market.

In Hong Kong since the beginning of the Nineties, today Safilo Far East has offices in Shanghai and Beijing with distribution to the West, and in the richer eastern and southern areas near Canton and Shenzhen.

The Hong Kong office coordinates commercial activities in the main markets of the Asian basin, and the distribution of high-fashion products (Gucci, Dior, Burberry) is growing. 'Everything is going in the right direction', Tabacchi said, 'even where state entities are concerned. I expect that there will be strong growth in the market as well as in Chinese buying power. Hong Kong was off-limits for the Chinese, but since 2001 families can visit Hong Kong; this is why we have doubled sales on the island in a short time'.

However, counterfeiting is increasing. 'Things are not going well', Tabacchi said, 'the importation of Chinese products is growing rapidly, with copies of our products being sold at a fraction of the cost of the originals. We are seeking an answer together with associations such as Anfao and Centromarca. Confindustria has also set up a specific commission to tackle the problem'.

Tabacchi then spoke about Made in Italy and, in reply to those who believe that high fashion products are made in China but sold to customers as if they were made in Italy, he underscored: 'All the high range lines are produced in Italy; the production of the low range lines is sometimes moved to China. But when this happens we distribute regular products with the Made in China label'.