A small but growing middle class of high officials, professionals and traders in Chiang Mai and especially Bangkok a new market for silk goods. Other Chinese-origin entrepreneurs from the Chiang Mai region recognized the opportunity, but the Sae Khu family was ultimately the most successful. Around 1932, they established a factory in Sankamphaeng that eventually carried out weaving, dyeing, and tailoring ready-made silk clothes (Plai-or 1987, 53-4). Chiang and Saeng had twelve children. From the early 1930s, the children began to reach an age when they could contribute to the business.