Trying to do business in Thailand is an affair of love & hate, annoyance, understanding and overall confusion as to the way things are done. Couple that with the high-paced bitch world of Fashion and you have a recipe for months of fun and games

It’s not much to expect people to phone you back, especially when you are willing to pay someone a good Thai monthly salary for 5 hours work, but it seems that most in the fashion industry here just don’t care enough to earn any money. Now you may say that this farang doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on here, or that this is Thailand and it’s relaxed attitude is a way of life, but at what point does it end up hurting Thailand’s perception outside of this country?

Gregoire Glachant recently covered the story of Antoine Bouillot’s attempt at helping Thailand’s fashion designers move forward on the international stage. One of the quotes that I found very true was “The other thing is that they don’t believe in using pros from the outside, in building strong teams. They design everything in-house. If you want a nice logo, you just can’t do it yourself on MS Word.”
This for me sums up the attitude of operating on a global scale. Thai’s love being immersed in global brands such as Mercedes, Gucci, Chanel, Prada and others, but it seems when wanting to work with outside talent, an instant Mai Mii is the respone from anyone in the industry.

Is it really that bad working with talented foreign people and all collaborating on projects to make it all the more better? Why shun outside help so easily?

There is every indication that Thailand can move away from the copy capitol of the world and really represent the cutting face of Thailand fashion, but not with this insular attitude that is prevalent in todays Thailand.