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Published on September 15, 2007

"Before creating our own Adda brand, the company had manufactured and supplied sandals to many leading international footwear brands in Europe for 15 years, including Puma and Diadora. And we are now ready to re-enter the European market  with our owned Adda identity," said Kavi Prucksapornpong, vice president for sales and marketing.

Kavi said the company started creating the Adda brand to focus on the domestic market six years ago and has totally turned from the original-equipment manufacturing (OEM) business to the development of its own brand identity.

"At that time, the domestic contribution was only 1-2 per cent of our business. That's quite different from today, when almost 90 per cent of our business comes from domestic sales and only 10 per cent from exports," he said.

Kavi said that Adda (Thailand) currently exports its sandals to major markets in Asia, including Vietnam, India and South Korea, through the appointment of local agents. Adda has become major sandal brand and is being copied by local footwear makers in China, both in design and logo.

"We've been approached by local players in Italy and Spain for OEM deals for their own branded products. However, we've given the condition that we will supply them only with our Adda footwear, and they have accepted that for further study and discussion," said Kavi.

Kavi said Adda currently enjoyed a 20-30-per-cent market share for local-brand scandals, worth between Bt3 billion and Bt4 billion last year.

"The overall market this year is expected to show a significant decline, 10-15 per cent, due to the economic slowdown, particularly upcountry," he said. "But we expect our Adda products to grow 8-10 per cent this year to between Bt900 million and Bt1 billion in sales."

Kavi said the Adda factory in Bangkok's Bang Bon district currently produced about 40,000 pairs of sandals a day. The factory's maximum production capacity is 60,000-70,000 pairs.

He said a good design element was a crucial factor for Adda to penetrate the domestic and export markets.

"We try to segment our products to serve various customers, such as adults aged 35 and above, university and high-school students and children, by creating designs that fit their lifestyles," said Kavi.

Adda yesterday announced the winners of its latest campaign, "Adda Design Contest 2007", which allowed local university students to design sandals under the theme "Design for Trendy Lifestyle". The campaign fit with the company's strategy in promoting Adda sandals among young teenagers and university students.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn, The Nation