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Native SonA triumphant homecoming for a former refugee
By Lisa Asher
In 1980, a scared nine-year-old boy fled with his family from an
oppressive Communist regime in Vietnam to find a new life in the United
States. Tony Truong '95 could not have imagined that he'd one day
return to his homeland as a successful designer and manager. And he
certainly couldn't have visualized the dramatic changes that would make
his return possible.
Truong (pictured, center in pink shirt, in Vietnam) speaks in a sure, confident tone, with barely a trace of an accent. But
he does have a prominent accent when speaking Vietnamese, which he is
called on to do as a globalization manager for Hanesbrand, Inc. "As
soon as I speak, even though I'm speaking in Vietnamese, there's a
Texas accent," he says with a laugh. "They can understand me, but they
can definitely sense that I'm not from around there."
The irony, of course, is that he is
from "around there"--specifically, Saigon. After the fall of that
pivotal city in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the region came under
Communist rule. "We were cut off from the Western world, and food and
jobs were very limited, especially if you had ties to Westerners," says
Truong, whose parents worked for the U.S. government, making them
particularly vulnerable.
So the family "got on a boat and sailed for freedom," as Truong puts
it. They eventually settled in College Station, where the young boy
quickly adapted to a new culture. That quick adaptation would become a
habit for Truong as he came to enjoy immersing himself in different
worlds.
He entered the "apparel world" in the early 1990s when he decided to
major in fashion design at Baylor. "I didn't really have fashion in my
blood growing up, so when I got to Baylor I didn't know how to sew or
anything like that," says Truong, who credits family and consumer
sciences professor Dr. Judith Lusk with getting him up to speed. As for
often being the only man in his design classes, he says, "I actually
enjoyed it very much!"
While at Baylor, Truong focused on designing women's outerwear, and in
1995 he won the Best Senior Design Award. After graduation, he worked
as a pattern engineer in men's and women's apparel. But in 1997, he
entered yet another world when he began designing for Sara Lee
Underwear.
So, why underwear? Truong laughs at the question. "I guess part of it
was my overconfidence or ego or something like that," he admits. "It's
just underwear, so it should be simple, right? It turned out to be much
more of a great learning experience for me, and I just love it."
Truong began as an apparel engineer, which involved managing and
developing men's innerwear products for Hanes and Polo Ralph Lauren. By
the time Sara Lee Branded Apparel became Hanesbrand in 2006, Truong had
worked his way up to technical design manager, which involved leading a
team of engineers to test garments in a lab environment and on live
models. One of his team's more innovative concepts was the development
of tagless underwear and T-shirts.
While he is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Truong can more
often be found in some far-flung location. Part of his job entails
technical training and in-country development at Hanesbrand's many
foreign factories. He has worked in Puerto Rico, Columbia, Turkey, and
India, and now he is focusing on the Asian market, which is developing
at a rapid rate.
It's this development that finally brought him back to Vietnam, where
he has been working in Hanoi and Hue to hire workers and supervise the
start-up of manufacturing plants. Truong's parents were initially
worried about his return visit. "When they left, it wasn't an easy
departure for them," he says. "They had to leave everything they owned
behind. But what they knew then and what's happening now is so
different."
Truong says the Vietnamese people are much more open and eager to learn
than what he remembers. He says that while the media focuses on China's
rapid growth, Vietnam is quietly becoming known for its industrial
businesses, especially in the apparel field. And the culture of the
country is changing as well. For a relaxing weekend, Truong traveled to
China Beach, once a haven for wounded American soldiers during the
Vietnam War. Today, he says, the area is a thriving tourist resort.
In 2009, Truong will continue his work in Thailand, China, and Vietnam.
As for future destinations, he's not quite sure. "I have a girlfriend
and the future to think about," he says, "but it's hard for me to see
no traveling in it. Traveling has allowed me to see that people all
over the world are so much the same and also so different. That's the
beauty of it."
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