MALAYSIA. Malaysian fashion brand Bonia showcased its 2008 collection theme of “˜Flavours of the Season’ at the recent TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition.
The collection consists of four gastronomically themed colour palettes: Sparkling (glossy looks on pale colours), Aromatic (neon on darker shades), Tandy (fresh colours on transparent), and Spicy (earth and mute shades).
The collection comprises over 100 new designs in women’s leatherwear, ladies and men’s footwear, men’s apparel as well as accessories such as wallets, ties, briefcases, sunglasses and timepieces.
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| Bonia’s new Flavours of the Season collection comprises over 100 new designs in women’s leatherwear, ladies and men’s footwear, men’s apparel as well as accessories such as wallets, ties, briefcases, sunglasses and timepieces | ||
Despite its wide range of products, Bonia will present a more limited offering in its travel retail locations. “For purely travel retail, especially the airport business, we want to stick to handbags and pocket items – small leather goods, wallets, belts, and keychains. We need to develop our handbag and leather business overseas before we can eventually diversify our product range,” Bonia Business Development General Manager Geoffroy de Drouas told The Moodie Report.
One of Malaysia’s leading local leathergoods manufacturers, Bonia was started in Singapore in 1974 and subsequently expanded to Malaysia.
Bonia’s product range consists mainly of leather handbags at affordable prices, men’s and women’s shoes (representing 30% of Bonia’s business), small leather goods and men’s ready-to-wear (Spring/Summer only).
Besides Bonia, the company has two other house brands: Sembonia and Carlo Rino. Targeted at a younger market, both brands are also available in travel retail.
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Bonia has two other house brands: Carlo Rino (left) and Sembonia (right) which are targeted at a younger clientele | |
In Southeast Asia, Bonia has stand-alone boutiques in Singapore Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It is also present in SkyPlaza at Hong Kong International Airport and through King Power International Group (Thailand) at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The company is also opening a Sembonia boutique at Changi Airport, added Drouas.
“Other than that, we are not present in any airport shops or travel retail destinations like Hawaii, Guam or the Caribbean but that is something we are aiming for in the long term,” said Drouas.
“Our immediate objective would be to widen our presence in the Middle East,” he added. “We already have 10 Bonia boutiques and three Carlo Rino boutiques in Saudi Arabia. We are negotiating with three different parties to open a Bonia boutique – at least one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi – hopefully by the end of this year.”
In terms of price, Bonia is considered mid-range compared to other international brands, according to Drouas. Sembonia and Carlo Rino retail lower than Bonia.
Bonia retails at S$170 (US$124) to S$1,900 (US$1,381), with an average retail price of S$400-600 (US$290-436).
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Bonia Business Development General Manager Geoffroy de Drouas at the TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition in Singapore | |
For more information, contact Geoffroy de Drouas, Business Development General Manager, tel: +603 9179 6888 or e-mail: geoffroy@bonia.com. Visit www.bonia.com, www.sembonia.com (currently under construction), www.carlorino.net.
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