Internationalization of Thai silk

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the internationalization of Thai silk in terms of its international market and factors that make it internationalized. Some part of the data used in the analysis was taken from governmental documents. The other part was collected from five hundred foreign customers of Thai silk by using questionnaires and five Thai silk shop owners dealing with the industry and business of Thai silk by interviewing. Descriptive statistics was used to determine how much Thai silk has been internationalized and how much it is accepted by foreigners. The result of the analysis reveals that over the past six decades, more than thirty countries around the world have imported Thai silk for use in fashion and home decoration. Thai silk export has generated an income over 40,000 million baht for the country. It is found that there are four main factors that make Thai silk developed to the international level. They are: (1) support from important organizations divided into two kinds; internal support divided into public and private organizations, which play an important role in prompting Thai silk industry, and external support which helps ensure the growth Thai silk industry; (2) the effect of world political and economic situation, which affects the export of Thai silk by changing the purchasing power of the world customers; (3) the great variety of designs of Thai silk, which are composed of both traditional and modern patterns; (4) the adaptation of Thai silk to suit foreigners’ taste and preferences. Thai silk has adapted both its designs and functions; i.e., its designs have been more westernized and its function has been expanded from being used for clothing to being used for home furnishing