It has been over a decade since some Hong Kong manufacturers, responding to the mainland’s sweeping industrial upgrade and sensing rising US-China trade tensions, moved to set up factories overseas. Being nimble paid off, until President Donald Trump launched his barrage of tariffs on US trading partners as part of his “America first” economic plan. In the first of a three-part series, the Post focuses on a global underwear maker that moved strategically early, only to navigate new disarray in world trade today.
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At a cluster of Hong Kong-owned factories in Thailand last week, more than 3,000 workers raced against time stitching and packing brassieres as quickly as they could to meet a sudden spike in demand from the United States.
Kenneth Wong Kai-chi, managing director of the Top Form Group, said he received a flood of urgent requests from US clients wanting their shipments brought forward.
They woke him in the middle of the night, asking for their orders to be rushed. Everyone wanted to speak with him directly, but there were too many inquiries and too few solutions.
“Who will pay the extra overtime wages? Who will pay the extra cost of flying in material from China? There are many unanswered questions,” he told the Post.
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His four factories in remote Mae Sot, almost 500km (310 miles) from Bangkok and on the border with Myanmar, increased production to churn out 15 million units of bras and intimate wear last year, before US President Donald Trump’s array of tariffs created havoc for the company and its customers.
Top Form is one of the world’s largest makers of bras, underpants and sports underwear for brands such as Calvin Klein, Victoria’s Secret, Wacoal, Warner’s, Hanes, Marie Jo, PrimaDonna and others.