2 Feb 2009
Holiday Joy(HKTDC Enterprise, Vol 02,2009)
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Christmas Decorations
One of the most popular festivals, Christmas can be further enlivened with the addition of decorative items from Hong Kong No Christmas celebration is complete without a host of colourful decorations, whether for lively in-store or street promotions, brightening commercial premises, or enlivening traditional home festivities. One of the world's leading manufacturing centres of gifts and premiums, Hong Kong is world-renowned for producing dynamic decorations that create fun and flair. For example, Greenfield Holdings & Mfrs Ltd is a prolific producer offering more than 800 varieties of Christmas decorations and in excess of 1,000 types of pre-lit and regular PVC trees, wreaths and garlands, swags, centrepieces and ceiling decorations. "Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands account for about 85%-95% of our Christmas decorations business, while ornaments are more of a sideline to match these designs," explains Sales Manager Katherine Tse. Vast variety The company boasts a regular client list of importers, wholesalers and direct retailers. "We produce 10-15 new lines annually, and each line includes matching trees, wreaths and garlands," says Ms Tse. "Among these, the most popular category is pre-lit Christmas trees in plastic mixed with PVC." Greenfield's business has expanded, primarily due to increased OEM orders. "We are doing a lot more OEM than before due to our strong customer relations," Ms Tse notes. "Our customers are long-term clients rather than those who change suppliers every year." Also offering a veritable treasure trove of Christmas decorations is Sheric Trading Co Ltd, whose products include artificial trees, potted arrangements, floral sprays, wreaths, candle rings, candleholders, treetop decorations, garlands and picks. Using more than 100 associated suppliers and manufacturers, the company offers more than 1,000 items. "Some 80% of our business is ODM," says Director Thomas Tam. Currently, Sheric's most popular Christmas products are floral decorations such as poinsettia, roses and amaryllis in red or gold with glitter effects and polyester stems. "These come with decorative features including glitter paint, gold leaf or silver foil and are often displayed in vases as tabletop pieces," he explains. "For red flowers we use a green stem, and for gold or silver treatments the stem will be in a matching colour." Mr Tam adds that wreaths are another very popular item. "We provide these for interior use to be hung on the wall." For the past two years, Sheric has expanded into the home decoration market and now offers porcelain tableware as well as other tabletop decor items. The company's products range in price from US$0.50 for a simple hanging ornament to US$20-30 for an elaborate, nine-foot garland, FOB China or Hong Kong. These products are showcased in two large showrooms with a combined floor area of 1,000 square metres. Brilliant choices Adding that all-important sparkle to Christmas decorations, Golden Eagle Industries Ltd produces an exhaustive range of high-end LED Christmas lights including rope, motif, twinkle, string, curtain, icicle, net, belt and solar styles. "About 80% of our business is OEM orders, but we offer about 20-50 items of our own designs," says Marketing Manager Monica Ng. Some 65% of the company's business is outdoor lighting, with the remainder indoor varieties. The LED rope chain is the most in-demand category, she notes, but adds that motif lighting designed in the shape and structure of popular Christmas symbols is also very popular. "Our motifs are intended for professional use in stores or street displays, and favourite designs include the snowman and snowflakes," explains Ms Ng. Golden Eagle's latest product range, which was introduced last year, is battery LED lights for indoor home or professional purposes. "We offer 10 different items in our range of 3-4.5V battery lights, which come in 5-6 individual colours as well as multicolours," says Ms Ng. "Favourite colours are white, warm white and blue and popular light designs are the flower, star, snowflake and snowman." The most popular lengths are 10m and 20m for strings and, although the number of LED lights depends on the design, usually there are 80-100 LEDs per string. Creating festive cheer worldwide is Kinwa Industries Ltd, which majors in the manufacture of PVC Christmas trees in a wide variety of styles, including Sherwood, Canadian and Alpine styles. "About 60% of our business is OEM and the remainder ODM, in the medium-price range," says Manager Raymond Cheung, who notes that other popular products include wreaths, garlands and sprays. Delightful designs "Our trees are available in traditional green, fashionable metallic and other colours," he explains. "Our 7-foot PVC mixed needle pine tree model KWI0900001, which comes with no baubles, is a very popular design, especially in the UK." The firm, however, offers decorative elements in other models. "Some of them are pre-assembled with forest materials such as pine cones, artificial berries, leaves and frost or snow treatments," Mr Cheung says. Whether it is snow-tipped trees, berry-fringed wreaths or dazzling baubles, Hong Kong's dedicated army of manufacturers are already busy making sure that Christmas 2009 is a happy holiday for all. TEXT BY SANDRA JENNER FAST FACTS
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