TODAY

Cotton clothes are now among Myanmar’s home-made products on the market. There are an increasing number of them, including those from the country’s various states, such as Kachin, Rakhine, Chin, Karen, Shan etc, with their respective traditional designs. The following is an interview with Daw Nu Nu Wai, proprietor of 14-year-old Forever Cotton Clothes.

Daw Nu Nu Wai

How did you come to the decision to do this “Forever” business?
I started up this business in 2000. I’d been a university physics lecturer until I was about to be posted to a distant township as associate professor. It occured to me then that my family was not likely to get along without me. So I quit the job. I could not get used to a life without work. That’s why I decided to do a business that did not require me to stay away from my family. I first thought of setting up a minimart in our house compound but likely damage by cock-roaches and mice made me drop that idea. So, instead, I started to do the cotton clothes busi-ness. I myself have great fondness for cotton clothes. I decided to sell not just any other cotton clothes but only those made of genuine Myanmar cotton. I opened the shop near the International school in Golden Valley.

Any other handicrafts on sale along with cotton clothes?
At the beginning of the business we sold some pieces of Myanmar cane furniture, paintings, etc, in addition to our cotton clothes. But they did not sell well unlike cotton clothes. So we have been selling only cotton clothes.

Types of cotton clothes available
All things cotton are available- for men, women and children. Also available are cotton bed sheets, blankets, pillow cover, cushion cover, shoulder bags, wallets, tissue boxes and also cotton paintings. All are handmade.

Raw materials and finished products
We get raw materials in the form of handwoven fabrics from Inlay (Inle), Southern Shan State. The texture is a bit hard so we treated it with boiling water. We now offer this processing service – a process that makes rough materials soft and tender. For sewing, we have young tailors, who do it at their homes according to our designs. We don’t have such a thing as you would call a factory.

Design innovations
For design innovation I adopt my young daughter’s idea. Simple and plain – that is my idea of beauty.

Pricing and mode of selling
We sell at competitive prices, with fixed price tags. Instead of discount offer we have give-aways for our customers. We do it just out of kind-heartedness for them.

Number of Customers
Formerly, 9 in 10 customers were foreigners. Following the opening of the Myanmar Culture Valley Shopping Mall, we began to have a larger number of Myanmar customers. I’m really pleased to see Myanmar people buying Myanmar cotton clothes so eagerly.

Forever Cotton Clothes: Why this name?
We requested a Buddhist monk, whom we respectfully regard as our own father, to suggest a name for the shop. He suggested a name that is made up of words fitting in well with Satur-day-born and Wednesday-born people. I am a Saturday-born person. My husband suggested “Htawara”, a Myanmar word consisting of astrological characteristics of Saturday-born and Wednesday-born person. But foreigners find it a bit difficult to pronounce. So we settled on the name Forever Cotton Clothes. “Forever and Htawara” mean the same.

Something noteworthy about Cotton Clothes
What’s noteworthy, I should say, is simply: “Once bought, forever liked”. People buy our cotton clothes, just because they’ve seen some-one wearing these ‘nice-looking clothes’. That is something noteworthy, I think.

What’s unique about cotton clothes?
They feel cool, and you feel comfortable in them. They’re light with tiny pores in the fabric which I think allow air to get in and out well, and that is what’s unique about Myanmar cotton clothes. The older they become, the softer they become – that is where they are better than others.

Plan for export or expansion
Not yet. I’m just doing it on a manageable scale. I’m already overloaded with work for the exist-ing two shops. I’ve got no plan for expansion. I enjoy doing it the way I like, at a steady pace. However, I feel I should think of expansion.

How Myanmar cotton clothes stand in relation to modern fashionable clothes.
To me Myanmar cotton clothes look beautiful and graceful. I prefer cotton clothes that are made of real cotton, not of any other stuff.

Any handiwork of your own?
As a university student, I was interested in decorating my clothes with floral designs and with tiny beads sewn on. Embroidery requires you to try combing strands of various colours before you set to work. That is an art in itself. Some of the cotton pictures on display here are my own works of art.

Any cotton clothes worn by Myanmar indigenous races?
We only have Shan pants and shirts.

Management style
When I can’t cope with work overload, I have to close the shop in Inya Myaing. I now tend to be forgetful, so I keep a book where. I write down the names of my work contacts, jotting down what I should discuss with them. This is my simple management style.

Any ambition to do for progress?
I have an ambition to open sale counters, each selling products specifically from various states of Myanmar such as Rakhine, Kachin, Chin, etc.

Address
Forever Cotton Clother: B 55, Myanmar Culture Valley. Open daily from 10:30 am to 8 at night. For designs view: http://www.tarbook.com/ forevercottonclothes.
Translated by : Nyunt Thaung