TAIWAN: Tri Ocean to switch production from nylon to more profitable polypropylene

The company plans to raise funds to transform its nylon 66 yarn factory in Thailand into one making polypropylene yarns next year, Tri Ocen Textile chairman Jammy Huang said. “The nylon yarn business is not profitable unless we can make nylon chips ourselves,” Huang said. The transformation is set to cause the company to post another year of net losses, he added.  The reason for the company focusing more on making Dreamfel polypropylene yarns is because of the global popularity that the product has gained, Huang said.

Tri Ocean’s polypropylene yarn is used by Adidas AG to make its Climacool apparel, a company official said. Adidas purchased 150 tonnes of polypropylene yarn in 2012 and 180 tonnes last year via a trader from Tri Ocean, the official said. The order accounted for about 7.35 % of the company’s revenue of TBD 882.21 million last year, according to Tri Ocean. Adidas launched its Climacool apparel before the FIFA World Cup this year after developing the product for two years, the official said. Currently, Adidas sells two types of Climacool apparel: one with 100 % polyester and another with 75 % polyester and 25 % polypropylene, the official said, adding that Tri Ocean’s yarns were used to make the latter type of the apparel. The official estimated that Adidas used Tri Ocean’s yarn to make between 4.57 million meters and 5.49 million meters of fabric last year for its Climacool apparel with 25 % polypropylene.

The same yarn is also used by Les Enphants Co and French firm Decathlon Group, the official said, adding that the company is in talks with US-based Under Armour Inc. and a Japanese outdoor brand for selling the yarn. Local clothing brand Zu Zai also uses the company’s yarn to make its products, which are priced between TBD 3,000 and TBD 5,000 a piece, the company said. Zu Zai currently has two shops in Eslite outlets in Taipei’s Tianmu area and Hsinchu City, and plans to open 20 to 30 more stores in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tri Ocean said.

Source: Daily “Taipei Times”, Taipei; 16 Oct 2014
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)