VLISCO, a leader in the textile manufacturing industry in Ghana, recently launched its ‘Connoisseurs of Style’ campaign to help clamp down on the activities of people who are engaged in the production and sale of fake wax prints to unsuspecting Ghanaian consumers.

As part of the campaign, Vlisco is embarking on sensitization workshops to educate identifiable women groups in the country.

The textile manufacturer has also engaged the Zonta Club of Accra as well as the Old Students Union of Saint Mary’s and Wesley Girls High School.

Interacting with the groups, Salomey Gyamfi, Marketing Manager of the Vlisco Group, emphasized the importance of ensuring that Vlisco customers purchase the true and original Vlisco Hollandais print.

The Vlisco’s ‘Connoisseurs of Style’ campaign is to educate and sensitize consumers of the presence of counterfeit Vlisco prints on the market and how to identify them would be useful in helping guide consumers in their purchases.

Addressing the gathering, Eugenia Tachie-Menson, the 2014 Vlisco Ambassador, took the women through a number of markers to help them differentiate between original Vlisco prints and the imitated ones that keep flooding the market.

Such markers as the Sun, the label on the fabric, the design number, and the selvedge, she reiterated, are crucial in identifying the original Vlisco wax print.

Commenting on the relevance of the campaign, Eugenia stated that beside the negative impacts that the activities of counterfeiters have on Vlisco’s business, the company was also concerned about the economic impacts on its consumers, as purchasing fake prints would offer them less value for their money. Again, customers would have to spend more on purchasing wax prints as fake prints lose their shine and deteriorates easily, she added.

Besides the education and sensitization, Vlisco is also working with local government authorities, as well as the customs and police services to take swift action against counterfeit producers and limit the entry of such products onto the Ghanaian market.