Apparel specialist VF Imagewear established a foothold in the region last year and recently sponsored a seminar that looked at innovations in the oil and gas safety market.
Senior executives from VF Imagewear's brands Bulwark and Timberland Pro, and leading fabric manufacturers Tencate and Milliken were at hand to provide their insight into innovations in the oil and gas safety sector.
Peter Keene, a senior executive, said: "The purpose of this oil and gas safety seminar is to give people a comprehensive understanding of who we are and what we do. We have been around for over 40 years and we are very excited to learn more about the Middle East. We see the possibilities in the region as significant."
An exclusive from the VP :
Stan Jewell, VP & GM, Bulwark Protective Apparel talked to Oil Review Middle East about the importance of VF and Bulwark establishing an office in the region and how safety awareness is increasing everywhere.
The largest
"Bulwark is the largest flame-resistant apparel company in the world and we have expanded rapidly over the last ten years. VF bought over Timberland Pro in September last year," Jewell said at the seminar.
VF opened a regional office in mid December which took more than a year to establish but "sets us up very nicely for 2012," Jewell said to Oil Review.
"The office will cover the MENA region and will allow us to start hiring people and we will be adding people in 2012 both the sales and product sides," he added
Jewell went on explain that: "the office that we have established here and warehouse and stock all speak to a permanence and commitment to this market. This addresses not only our goal to be here for the long term but also to build the brands that we stand for. "
All about brands
He explained that one thing he observed about the Middle East is that there is a lot of brand recognition, making brands very important in this market. VF is a company about brands, he stressed.
"We aim to bring our innovation and comfort in apparel to the region. We offer great depth and breadth of product and we are committed to keeping inventory in the region," he said during the seminar.
Main focus
Jewell concluded: "We focus heavily on fabric development and we are always sourcing our fabric from carefully chosen partners. We see ourselves as innovators and we see our products as technical products not as clothes."
