Lahore Meets Saigon
Meet our new partner in Vietnam!
In a beautiful four-story workshop in Saigon, Vietnam, a few dozen men and women work alongside each other to create premium leather goods. The space is clean and spotless, with ample sunlight flooding into the room through big windows. Large tables fill up the space, reminiscent of an artist’s studio. Men and women work together in groups of two to four, cutting leather, sketching, hammering.
The workshop, which goes by the name Red Pearl, is owned and run by Huyen Nguyen, a down-to-earth woman with short hair and a big, friendly smile.
Over the past year and a half, Popinjay has been working on building an exciting partnership with Huyen’s workshop. The hunt for new collaborations in craft took our CEO Saba Gul to Saigon in 2014, where, inspired by the craftsmanship and quality of bag making, she decided to finish an order for Popinjay in Huyen’s workshop. Popinjay’s signature embroideries, created by our artisan women in Hafizabad, are now regularly shipped to Saigon, where they are finished by the Red Pearl team into premium leather bags.
“For the 10 days that I was in Saigon, I went to Huyen’s workshop every day and worked with the Red Pearl team,” says Saba. “We had to ship an order to Anthropologie and were looking for high quality finishing for our bags. I was really inspired by Huyen’s set up and her team’s focus on quality.”
“Huyen and I connected because we’re both entrepreneurs, we’re both women, we both work with artisans”, says Saba. “Huyen was truly inspiring to me — this fiery woman heading this thriving business, and commanding so much respect from her team. I loved getting to know all the men and women on Red Pearl’s team. I wanted to work with a smaller workshop where I could build a personal relationship with the owner, and where I knew the artisans were treated well.
Red Pearl and Popinjay have similarities but we’re different in scale. I look up to Huyen as a mentor. We’ve had many a call at 7am talking about how to scale our businesses, how to maintain ethical supply chains, how to hire the best people.” she adds.
Huyen’s own passion for fine craftsmanship comes from her childhood fascination with handmade leather bags that she saw during her frequent trips to Italy.
“I was heavily influenced by Italian fashion,” says Huyen.
Between 2014 and 2015, Huyen set up a design team and started training her staff to compete with international standards. “I tell my workers how much our craftsmanship is valued in other markets and our collaboration with Popinjay is an example of that,” she explains.
As a single parent, Huyen looks after her two children single handedly whilst also running her business and paying special attention to the well-being of her employees. Her business now also has a retail side, with 10 stores in Saigon. She wants to see it grow to become a global company that can compete in international markets.
The skills of her artisans combined with Huyen’s ethical business practices makes for a collaboration that provides interest and learning on both ends.
A large part of Huyen’s workforce comprises of women who, besides earning a wage equal to the men they work alongside, are also raising children and doing housework.
“I am a woman so I understand the struggles of my female workers”, says Huyen. “I try my best to support them not just at work but in their personal lives as well. At work, I provide lunch facilities. If my female artisans have problems in their lives, I try to help. If somebody is getting married, I try to provide assistance.”
Inspired by Popinjay’s mission, Huyen is keen to see more players in the ethical fashion industry. She emphasizes the importance of practicing and promoting fair business practices, particularly within the fashion and craft industry. This collaboration between Lahore and Saigon is exciting and continues to result in an exchange of knowledge, skill and inspiration.
“This partnership is about bringing their skills together with ours to make a truly world class product!” says Saba. “Popinjay is lucky to have found a partner that values the same things we do — fair wages, beautiful craftsmanship and impeccable quality!”
