Armani puts Yulon's suit maker Carnival back in black

July 15, 2005

Carnival Industrial Corp., a subsidiary of Yulon Group and Taiwan’s leading maker of men’s suits, has received some needed backup from the Italian clothing brand Armani. Famous for its use of black, it seems appropriate that the Italian brand has brought this color back to Carnival's account books.

Carnival has faced some rough times in recent years, and in 2004, it ultimately posted after-tax losses of NTD 293 million, its worst annual performance ever.

Although Carnival has been Taiwan's Armani representative for less than a year now, the Italian brand has had a turn-around effect on the clothier's accounts. In the first five months of the year, Armani has brought over NTD 100 million in revenues and more than NTD 30 million in profits to Carnival. While Carnival has posted just NTD 6 million in profits overall in this period, this year's performance is far better than the before-tax losses of NTD 45 million racked up in the same period last year. Armani sales already account for 30% of Carnival's domestic revenues. With plans to open more Armani sales points next year, Carnival hopes to raise this contribution to 50%.

Those in the clothing sector are giving all the credit for this Armani effect to Yulon Group chairperson Kenneth Yan, who has headed the Carnival board of directors for three years. It was his personal desire that Carnival take on the Armani brand. Always well dressed, Mr. Yan has been praised for his foresight and taste for this business move, and people are even pointing to him as Taiwan's superlative Armani spokesperson. Carnival is famous for its own-brand suits, but Mr. Yan hopes to develop a greater number of strong brands and to diversify into casual clothing and accessories.

Raised in the United States, Mr. Yan returned to Taiwan to take over management of his family's business. While some businesses that get passed down through families suffer from a lack of professional management, Yulon Group has only grown stronger under Mr. Yan's direction.

Another Yulon Group subsidiary, Yulon Motors, the Nissan manufacturer and sales representative in Taiwan, is a leader in Taiwan's auto industry that has major auto manufacturing and sales operations in China and the Philippines.

(United Daily News)

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