Thailand eyes to become world leader in fashion and textile design

BANGKOK, September 29 (TNA) - The Thailand Textile Institute (THTI) has targeted to develop Thailand to become a world leader in fashion and textile design within 15 years, or by 2030. The target was announced at THTI's annual conference on textile and fashion, inaugurated by Vice Minister for Industry Pramote Withayasuk in Bangkok on Monday, in which an exhibition on award-winning and qualified entries from the Creative Textiles Award 2014 contest were also included. THTI Director Suttinee Poopaka said that, to meet the target, her institute has worked out 15-year strategies to develop the Thai textile industry and to respond to the national industrial development master plan. Suttinee acknowledged that the strategies consist of three phases, the first of which will begin in 2016, when THTI will make Thailand a regional center for fashion and textile procurement and trade, which will also promote relevant business operators in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the second phase, the THTI chief revealed, Thailand, backed by national readiness in terms of infrastructure, public utilities and human resources, is eyed to become a center of product design and development for world-renowned brands by 2021, when the Kingdom is foreseen to be then suitable to house headquarters and regional offices of fashion and textile businesses and to play roles as a transit point for product distribution to other Asian countries, including those in ASEAN and South Asia. For the third phase, the THTI chief declared, by 2030 her institute will promote Thailand to be a world leader in fashion cultures and textile design by integrating the country's strong contemporary cultures with relevant industries.(TNA)