It is rather obvious that Malaysians are in love with international brands. Some would take the liberty to book a flight over to certain countries to purchase brands that are not available here.
However, recently, Sarawakians were fortunate enough to have a taste of Europe right in their own backyard. The ‘Exclusive European High Fashion Textile Display and Sales’ organised by ICT Commerce Sdn Bhd (East Malaysia) provided all the necessities for European textile lovers under one roof – La Habana, Merdeka Palace Hotel and Suites, Kuching until November 14.
Their first ever sneak peak was held at the State Legislative Building on November 9 with Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Ragad Kurdi Taib given the privilege of having the first look at the fabric.
Speaking to ICT Commerce Sdn Bhd Director, Laveen Balaprabhakaran, said the key objective and phrase for the exclusive event is ‘Fashion conscious with a cause’.
“While buying the designer textiles, we are at the same time contributing back to the society,” he mentioned. Elaborating on this, the company’s head of sales and marketing Lyna Doll disclosed that part of the proceeds from the sales will go to the autism foundation in Sarawak.
“Close to 30,000 children with disabilities were registered in Malaysia in 2012, and 19,150 of them were children with learning disabilities, according to Unicef records,” she added.
Lyna said also that ICT Commerce would like to assist parents with autistic children in lessening the burden to raise their child. “We would like to start with different campaign initiatives throughout 2019 onwards and we hope that it will make a difference to the community we are assisting.”
When asked how was the response of the sales, Laveen commented as overwhelming. “Judging from the response, we might make the sales an annual event. We find that this event is feasible as instead of flying, ICT Commerce is constantly finding ways to bring international brands into Sarawak.”
This year’s event highlighted two behind-the-scenes Italian textile designers, Grazia Mazzuccheli from VEMA, and Natalina De Vecchi from TGM International.
The duo are suppliers to most top international brands with VEMA having 80 years, while TGM with 30 years of experiences. Both companies produces exclusive one-of-a-kind textile designs and both generate 3,000 new designs annually.
Photo for a photo, ICT Commerce Sdn Bhd (East Malaysia) Special Adviser Mohamad Salleh Sani.
No longer needing to worry about having the same designs as others, both took their inspirations from the surrounding. Whether it is a visit to the museum, or a page in a book, they constantly observe their surrounding to gather ideas for new designs.
While both are excellent in textiles, each individual has their own specialty. TGM International’s specialty is towards the art of printing designs on cloth, while VEMA leans toward embroidery. At times, TGM’s printing can be seen on a VEMA, while VEMA’s embroidery can be seen as the finishing touches of a TGM.
While introducing these two lovely ladies, ICT Commerce Sdn Bhd is also introducing the use of their new prepaid payment services and payment solution.
The ICT Money Visa PayWave is in line with Sarawak government’s initiative towards a cashless society. The prepaid card programme can store a maximum capacity of RM 10,000 and is approved by Bank Negara Malaysia.
“ICT Lifestyle is all about empowering various community and we are starting this initiative in Saarawak before launching our products and services throughout the country.
“We hope to raise the awareness for the various ICT Lifestyle programmes and we hope there will be an overwhelming support for our initiatives,” said ICT Commerce Sdn Bhd (East Malaysia) special adviser Mohamad Salleh Sani.
