On the spur of the moment, when Opras Lavichant walked past the Coach store on Madison Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan, he had an idea to get the American heritage brand on the racks in Thailand.
"I saw a very nice collection of women's handbags and accessories. Thailand has a very fashionable culture. And I said to myself it'd be a really great thing to have Coach in Thailand," Opras remembered of the days when he was a 29-year-old equity consultant with no experience in fashion.
"I did a lot of research to find out more about Coach and who to contact. At the end of the day, I just called up the CEO [Peter Emerson] and asked him, 'Hey, can I represent Coach in Thailand?'. He was a little surprised. I think he was trying to be gentle and said, 'Why don't you send in a business plan?'. I spent a lot of time writing a pretty good one. He called me back and asked me to come and meet him in New York. And that was the start of it.
With American leather goods landing first on the portfolio, Opras broke into fashion. Although the story sounds like plain sailing, he admitted there were a lot of challenges, with many competitors trying to win the "modern luxury" brand to come to Thailand at the time. The winning recipe, he believes, is to be involved, detailed and very passionate about the brand.
"Psychologically, every time you partner with somebody, it's like a marriage. You have to be very open with them and there's no secrets," the 44-year-old CEO of Pacifica Group, an importer and retailer of international luxury brands, said.
Opras Lavichant, Pacifica Group's CEO. Somchai Poomlard
In real life, Opras tied the knot with his long-time friend Sopana (née Pattapanichchote), 43, currently at the marketing helm of the venture.
"Back then, I wasn't involved in the business, but I was very supportive of his ideas," she said.
It took two years from first meeting with the CEO to the opening of Coach's first Bangkok store at Erawan Bangkok in 2004. From there, Opras has developed a retail and distribution network in Thailand, managing a collection of international fashion, accessories and cosmetics brands, including Kenneth Cole, Camper, Coccinelle, Keds, American Eagle Outfitters, MaxMara and Nyx.
"To be successful in business, you have to live it. You have to understand the fashion business. It's not about, 'Oh, that bag looks beautiful'. That's individual, personal taste," he said. "It's about understanding the consumer and seeing what they want and what attributes they look at. It's a bit more scientific for me than just saying, 'Oh, that's a beautiful bag'."
"Consumers are becoming more democratic," he observed. "They don't want to be told what is fashion. They want to discover it for themselves. There's a lot more influence on personal style versus brand style. A lot of mixing and matching. The consumers are more about wearing something they're comfortable in but also having something they cherish."
Seeing that the Thai market boasts a very sophisticated taste, Sopana further stressed that brands are about giving values to the customers willing to pay extra -- not merely for the material worth but for sentimental value, added service and niche identity.
Describing himself as "a jeans-and-T-shirt type of person", Opras has gained more insight into the consumer as Pacifica Group has grown. Price-points, to him, are another key to fashion success. Being an importer and distributor of diverse lifestyle products, he plays up the "accessible side" of the luxury business. Thanks to an accumulation of data-driven decisions, continual conversations and market research, Opras feels that his enterprise established itself as a key player around 2013.
In building Pacifica, Opras, who grew up and was educated in the US, not only thrives in business, but has also accomplished a life goal he'd always longed for.
"I always knew I was going to come back to Thailand. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Because I felt that I wanted to come back to live in Thailand, the best thing to do is be an entrepreneur here."
When Opras and Sopana got married in 2004, Opras still worked for a corporate job in China. Two times a month, he flew over either to Bangkok or Hong Kong to meet their children. It was in 2009 when he realised it wasn't the life for him and decided to return to finally settle in his motherland.
"I didn't want that life anymore. It wasn't something I wanted," he recalled. "It's important that you're at a stage of life where you have no regrets. If you're successful, that's great. But if you have money, what's the point of it while you can't enjoy life?"
Running the business together, Opras and Sopana blend work and life seamlessly and offer each other support. The husband sees that there are more pros than cons in the 24/7 partnership because they can spend a lot of time together, understanding each other more as the relationship becomes stronger. Despite disagreements regarding work, the two realise they share the same goal and have built a meaningful life together, both at home and at work.
"We don't have the relationship where the husband comes home and throws this clothes on the table and then drinks," he said. "In a complementary perspective, every single reason why we are [where we are] today. Whether you call it success or just growth, it's because of my wife as well as our employees."
Sopana, who according to her husband "wears the pants as much as he does", provides emotional backing as well as practical day-to-day support, as she also oversees some of the in-house brands she is especially passionate about.
Although Pacifica Group now houses 14 brands, 350 employees and 80 stores/shops-in-shops, their three children, aged five, eight and 10, are the entrepreneurial couple's top priority. The CEO enjoys cooking for the kids, taking them out to tennis and reading to them: "It's important because it's my connection with them. As a parent, your job is to give the time necessary to the kids, because it's something money can't buy."
