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Published on November 13, 2007

People in the lower South, North and Northeast are not able to buy "authentic" shirts supplied by the Commerce Ministry.

The minsitry's Department of Internal Trade yesterday ordered 30,000 pink shirts - with HM the King's 80th birthday logo stitched to the pocket - for sale nationwide to meet the surge in demand.

Schoolteacher Ruhaina Kharoe from Muang Pattani said she and her friends went to Songkhla's Hat Yai district last weekend to buy the quality, authentic pink polo T-shirts. "We were disappointed to find none, but we placed an order with a shopkeeper," she said.

In Surat Thani, most of those wearing pink polo T-shirts were civil servants. The shirts there sell at Bt100 to Bt200 apiece.

However, most of the available shirts were counterfeit. Vendors claimed demand was so great they were unable to get authentic ones, so they had to sell fake ones instead.

In Khon Kaen, in the Northeast, Internal Trade official Withan Laosamaporn said his department had produced 30,000 pink polo shirts with the 80th birthday logo. They would be sold nationwide for up to Bt250 for a 100-per-cent cotton shirt, and Bt150 for a mixed cotton fabric.

Khon Kaen Industrial Committee member Wutthikrai Suwanwanich said news of the trend led many people upcountry to look for the shirts.

The price of the pink cloth had also risen by 5 to 10 per cent.

The Nation