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Nepali Pashmina awaits trademark to reach out to high-end clientele abroad

Posted by: NTN | Date: April 12, 2010

Nepali Pashmina, which has a history spanning 20 years, is still awaiting its trade mark registration, thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the government. Though Nepal Pashmina Industries Association (NPIA) got the assurance for prompt trade mark registration a year ago, the ministry concerned is dilly-dallying to award the same, according to NPIA president Shanker Prasad Pandey.

He said that the registration process has fallen through for want of approval from the line ministry, where the proposal is pending since a year.

“It’s been more than a year since NPIA applied for trade mark registration here but it is still awaiting the approval,” he said, adding that without the government providing the trade mark registration, NPIA can not register in USA and Canada.

According to Pandey, since the NPIA got the assurance from the concerned ministry regarding the trade mark registration, the association had officially launched the brand Chyangra Pashmina, its official trade mark and official hologram in the local market but in utter disappointment, they later learnt that the registration process was still due.

“Though we were moving ahead with brand registration in the international market, we were lacking our trademark back home, which can create difficulty in our brand registration process too,” he added.

Nepal Pashmina has successfully made its trademark registration in six different countries, including the European Union. They included Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

According to NPIA, the association has also completed its trademark registration process in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, New Zealand, Brazil, and Mexico. NPIA has applied and got confirmation of trademark registration from the EU, USA and the UK — the largest buyers of the Nepali Pashmina products.

The trademark in the local market will be available for the members of NPIA who vow to check market against fake Pashmina both in the country and abroad.

In recent years, lack of public awareness and absence of trademark in the market has increased the export of fake Pashmina. At the moment, customers are being cheated with fake Pashmina having inferior quality and available at comparatively cheaper prices than the original Pashmina. It has also come to the fore that due to lack of its own brand, different countries are still misusing the name of Nepali Pashmina and selling the products made up of Viscous Polyester, wool, cotton and other textile materials.

According to Pandey, the issue of trade mark registration has, however, raised awareness among buyers and sellers of pure Nepali Pashmina, who have come to reject fake Pashmina thereby increasing fair trade.
Source: THT