Released in Vietnam Economics News, No 567, 2008

Silk products have not been particularly popular with the young and fashionable for many years but it looks like Vietnamese people might have started to go back to this traditional fabric. One wearing silk today exudes elegance and taste.

For 10 years Hang Gai Street, in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, has been the place to go when shopping for silk clothing. With its dozen of silk shops selling both custom-fit and ready-to-wear clothing, the street is always crowded with Vietnamese and foreign people. In earlier years there were silk shops along  this street but nowhere near the number that there are today.

In recent years several shops  have been trying to become leading silk sellers on the street. They are more closely watching the quality of their products, they have periodic sales and they’re trying to learn what people want. One of the shops on Hang Gai street, the Kenly Silk Shop, is listed in tourism brochures and tourist guide books that are published outside Vietnam. Kenly Silk customers have been foreign tourists, diplomats and business people who have been in Vietnam for a long time. These include a former Swedish Minister of Foreign Affair, a Malaysian Queen, a Japanese Prime Minister’s wife, a New Zealand Prime Minister’s family and even Hillary Clinton’s dear old mother. Many foreign customers have sent letters and pictures from their home thanking Kenly silk again for their clothing. The Kenly Silk Shop keeps two letters it has received from the White House. Vietnamese silk is obviously well-liked by tourists.

Back in 1994 Tran Quoc Tuan and his two brothers lease a 15 sq.m shop and got themselves started selling silk and ready-to-wear clothing. At that time, silk shops along the street did not display their prices and one had to bargain the best one could. At Tuan’s shop the price was displayed and that was the real selling price. Foreigners felt that they were being treated fairly and naturally and chose Kenly Silk as their favorite shop. Tuan and his brothers have worked hard over the years and Tuan has on many occasions been up in the 10sq.m attic ironing fabric and clothing to have it ready on time. For years he ate at 10pm and stopped working at two or three in the morning. There have been foreigners that were staying in Hanoi for just one day and wanted to have some clothing made before they left town. In times like these, Kenly Silk employees stay up all night and then deliver the finished clothing to the customer’s hotel. Sensing the changing times, in 1997 Tuan and his brothers set up the Kenly Silk Company, registered the Kenly Silk brand name and moved to 108 Hang Gai Street where they now have 300sq.m of space.

Now Kenly Silk is a leading brand in Vietnam. Several Japanese journals have called Kenly Silk the number-one Vietnamese brand of silk clothing. Apart from its retail sales, Kenly Silk also produces high-quality, ready-to-wear clothing for US, New Zealand and Singapore wholesale buyers. Under the Kenly Silk brand, garments are being made from silk, linen and cotton fabric by residents of craft villages in Ha Dong, Nha Xa, Bao Loc and Thai Binh, with Kenly Silk keeping a close eye on product quality.

Nowadays Kenly Silk is finding it harder to attract customers because of increased competition and so the company is focusing on sales to Vietnamese customers. Apart from its thriving branch in Ho Chi Minh city, the company plans to open retail shops in tourist resorts all over the country. Tran Quoc Tuan, the director of Kenly Silk, said, “Our policy is to make friends with our customers.”

By Di Li