Complacent Industrial Co., Ltd.

You have just received a gift from your beloved. What makes you find it most appealing? Is it the wrapping paper’s colour or its pattern? And most likely you might be fascinated by the ribbons tying around this specially-chosen present. The small ribbon here adds big value to the overall outlook of the gift. Ribbons and related products become an indispensable part in the realm of decorative packaging.

Complacent Industrial Co., Ltd. has been a specialist producer of ribbon and ribbon-related products since 1989. It has an office in Hong Kong, with a highly modernised production factory in Mainland China started in 1992. “We are now working towards to become one of the largest ribbon suppliers in Asia,” says Jo Jo Hung, the managing director of Complacent.

“In the early days we worked as a trading company, and Avon, the celebrated US-based cosmetic brand, was our first customer. At that time we supplied not only ribbons, but also garments, zippers, cosmetic packaging and some other accessories. Avon felt extremely satisfied with our products and services, and it referred to us many customers. That was why and how we set up our China factory in 1992 to produce ribbons and plastic containers. It was a great snowballing effect that helped our business to grow larger and larger,” continues Miss Hung.

Miss Hung enthusiastically introduces the wide array of products manufactured by Complacent, “We produce ribbons in sheer, plaids, silver and gold, satin, jacquards, rainbow colour, printing ribbons, nylon cords, raffia, metallic cords, ribbon with plastic pearls, ribbon bows, flowers and pouches.” You can literally find at Complacent all sorts of ribbon in every different colours and patterns you can imagine. “Most of our products are for packaging or being used as accessories. Up till now, ribbons are seldom sold as single items. They are used to ‘decorate’ other products. What we are going to do is to make ribbons into finished products of their own which can be sold on the market as single items. We are now working on a whole brand for a product line, which will be available on market in 2008-2009,” Miss Hung adds.

“In the beginning, we manufactured ribbons for Christmas and toys packaging. To date, there were few competitors since industry entry was not easy. We also witnessed the ups and downs of the Christmas decoration and toy industry over these years. That is why we need to change and diversify our products,” says Miss Hung.

Miss Hung tells MegAsia how the company caters to the increasing competition in the field. “Though our prices are not as cheap as some of the competitors, many customers keep coming to us. Some of our long-time customers are those large brands, like Avon, Hallmark Cards , Dior, Disney, and Wal Mart. It’s all because of our excellent quality, on-time delivery and brilliant after-sale service,” says Miss Hung.

Complacent’s ribbons are manufactured to that supreme quality to meet the stringent requirements by different markets. “Our products pass various tests to gain international recognition. For the US market, we pass the bleed test, fade test as well as the flammability test. For standards in Europe, we pass through the Formaldehyde test as well as the AZO free test,” Miss Hung quotes confidently.

Having a large but well-managed production plant is also crucial for producing high-standard ribbons. “Our factory, which is located in the Conghua Taiping Industrial Zone, China, has a total area of 40,000 square meters housing around 1,000 workers with lots of automatic production machines and equipments. To cope with our expansion plan, we are going to build in the near future another new factory with a much bigger size of 70,000 square meters to employ 3,000 workers,” reveals Miss Hung.

Complacent ribbons are shipped to many markets. “The US is a big market. While western European countries like Germany, France and Italy are our important targets, we are now interested in getting into the Eastern Europe, like Poland,” says Miss Hung. “There are some emerging markets too, in particular, India and Russia,” she adds.

Complacent will continue to make use of trade fairs as a key marketing channel for promoting its products. “To reach for more potential customers, joining trade fairs and advertising in trade magazines are effective marketing tools. Trade shows like those by Kenfair are very useful. We have been an exhibitor since the 1990s. We got amazing results,” says Miss Hung.

As an experienced ribbons producer, Miss Hung can “predict” the upcoming industry trend. “I perceive that die-cut ribbons, special printing ribbons and pull bows made by woven-edge ribbons are going to be the popular types. We already have laid out plans to buy more equipment to cater for the production of these types of ribbons,” says Miss Hung.