Zhejiang Garment Industry Develops From Foundry To Private Brand

"Familiar and strange"

Speaking familiar, because

We are also unfamiliar.

When the cost of labor is rising, Zhejiang garment manufacturing industry, which has traditionally been classified as a traditional industry, has reached the critical point of industrial pfer. If we insist on staying, what should Zhejiang garment industry leave behind? After many years of foundry export, did Zhejiang clothing enterprises display their own brand opportunities? Did they have the strength?

All these problems point to the same proposition -- Transformation and upgrading.

All these questions require a systematic consideration.

The worry of leaving:

"Before going out to run a factory, it is the face of the other party's investment promotion.

Now it's really about to move. "

In July 14th, Li Rucheng, chairman of the YOUNGOR headquarters in Yinzhou District, Ningbo, spoke frankly to us.

Don't misunderstand Li Rucheng.

At least this year, YOUNGOR's chances of moving all factories to the Midwest are zero.

Until today, YOUNGOR, which is famous for its whole industry chain, has been sticking to Yinzhou District and tens of thousands of workers in addition to the latest hemp fabrics.

But Li Rucheng said what he said.

He is familiar with the history of the development of the clothing industry. He has an intuition that the per capita GDP of Ningbo has exceeded 10 thousand dollars. "How can the traditional manufacturing industry continue to do as it did in the past?"

In fact, the clothing industry in Zhejiang is a result of industrial pfer.

It can be traced back to the 60s of the last century, from Japan to Korea and China's Hongkong and Taiwan regions, and then to mainland China, India, Pakistan and Southeast Asian countries. The route is very clear.

What determines the migration attribute of the garment industry?

Because the labor force has changed.

In the mainland of China, garment industry still belongs to the processing and manufacturing industry, and labor cost is one of the core competitive factors.

For most garment manufacturers, 3% of the profit margin is quite good, but in recent years, this fragile 3% has been unable to bear the rise of labor costs.

The rise is so rapid.

Rong Chuan Chuan, chairman of the other leading clothing enterprise in Ningbo, Bo Yang Chuan, gave the reporters an account: two or three years ago, the workers increased their wages by 100 yuan each time. This year, they added 300 to 400 yuan. Two or three years ago, the wage increase for the workers was once a year, and two times this year.

The change in the labour force is not just as simple as raising wages.

We found in the survey that compared with the rise in wages, it is more difficult for the heads of Zhejiang garment enterprises to adapt to the new generation of post-80s and post-90s industrial workers.

"They came out to see the world."

What makes Li Rucheng feel helpless is that after working for YOUNGOR, 80 or 90's value is no longer working overtime to earn more money. Instead, they have no rest, eight hours work and personal job satisfaction.

And the position of garment enterprises is relatively hard.

In YOUNGOR, 1% workers are lost every month. Some young people have left in the workshop for a few days.

Workers can, of course, keep on recruiting, especially YOUNGOR, which is known for its high reputation and better treatment. Recruitment is more attractive.

But those small and medium-sized enterprises that constitute the foundation of Zhejiang's garment industry will not have much room for maneuver to cope with these changes.

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In July 22nd, during the interview with the Wenzhou clothing association, we just caught up with the survey on the optimization of employment environment organized by the association.

One representative said that now the garment factory is difficult to recruit workers. After 80 and 90, the workers are highly demanding, and unwilling to work overtime. If they want to rush orders, they must ask workers to work overtime and order profits are low.

The only way to solve this problem is to pick up orders, only to order those with high added value.

But precisely in this respect, factories have no choice.

Zheng Chenai, President of the Wenzhou clothing trade association, told reporters that there are nearly 2000 productive clothing enterprises in Wenzhou. The production capacity is so large that you do not accept orders.

The changes in the new generation of workers are deeply stimulating the heads of every Zhejiang garment enterprise.

They understand that industrial pfer is no longer just a warning of "wolf coming".

If we can only create a single digit profit margin, it is necessary to find the cost depression.

What is left behind? "Historical experience shows that first mover enterprises always shift the lowest value part of their value, and grasp the links of high value-added brand creativity, product design, raw material procurement, commodity pportation and product retailing.

This is true for European and American enterprises. Zhejiang clothing enterprises must also.

Han Li Cheng said.

Zhejiang garment industry association is working with the garment industry associations of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces to find suitable subcontracting enterprises for Zhejiang enterprises. First, pfer some of the orders, and Zhejiang enterprises concentrate on brand and marketing.

The reason why Han Licheng did not choose the overall migration was that, for the time being, the investment environment and industrial support in the central and western regions were not as good as those in the eastern coastal area.

Debate on pattern:

Who should learn and learn?

The difference between "UNIQLO" and "Yi Yi faction" is one word.

Few people who love online shopping may not know the name of "UNIQLO".

This clothing company, which is the largest richest seller in Japan by selling popular fashion clothes, keeps pace with ZARA, H & M.

No one knows so much about the "Yi Yi faction".

In July last year, 8 Wenzhou garment enterprises jointly established the "Yi Yi faction".

A year later, in Wenzhou's French faction group, we learned that "Yi Yi faction" opened more than 60 stores in the country.

Similar to "UNIQLO", the 80% is direct battalion, which integrates the production resources of more than 150 local clothing and shoe leather enterprises in Wenzhou.

Although it was an imitation.

But from "UNIQLO" to "excellent clothing faction", we have seen the pformation attempt of Zhejiang garment enterprises, and its significance is, of course, not only a simple replication of Japanese enterprises.

"Yi Yi faction" specializes in design, brand and channel, which is also the weakest link in Zhejiang's clothing industry.

Therefore, in the trend of processing and manufacturing pfer of garment industry, the significance of its establishment lies in providing a useful exploration for what Zhejiang garment industry should leave behind and how to stay.

The result is in the second place. "

Han Licheng thinks so.

"Integrate the market at the same time and integrate production at the same time."

Zheng Chenai's "Olympic dress" is also a member of the "Yi Yi faction".

In his view, these 8 member enterprises have two kinds of resources: production and market, but they are weak and single.

As such, it is better to integrate resources and turn the disadvantages of decentralization into the strength of Baotuan.

Once successful, for thousands of enterprises in Wenzhou clothing industry, the breakthrough is far-reaching.

"UNIQLO" and ZARA, H & M are all representatives of fast fashion mode. Their common characteristics are strong design and channel capabilities, without exception.

In the clothing industry of Ningbo, Taiping bird is a typical example of learning fast fashion.

In recent years, the company's women's clothing has risen rapidly in China, and the sales reached 2 billion 800 million yuan last year.

Liu Jun, deputy general manager of the company, told reporters: "fast fashion is a new pformation of Taiping bird. It was learning from ZARA 10 years ago."

The change is impressive.

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Fast fashion has two elements: first, the clothing industry is not the traditional processing industry, but the fashion industry; secondly, there is a new launch speed that imitators can not keep up with.

In Taiping bird, 95% of manufacturing outsourcing.

Entering the Taiping bird headquarters in Haishu district is like entering the creative block, not listening to the sound of machines, but seeing the fashion show.

Taiping bird's national stores also opened to more than 1600.

At the same time, the Taiping bird will put in more than 5000 new models in a year. In Taiping bird store, there are new models every day, and the "quick list" with a period of more than 20 days has accounted for 15%.

Before the Taiping bird, Metersbonwe's world-famous "virtual manufacturing" follows the path of fast fashion.

Fast fashion is certainly not the only choice for the pformation and upgrading of Zhejiang's garment industry.

In the survey, we also saw other paths.

In YOUNGOR, we understand that the single brand image has been replaced by diversified brand refinement, and the corresponding brand studios and independent creative companies have been established.

The introduction of "Han Ma family" and "GY" brand has changed the stereotyped sense of great unity in the eyes of the people.

It is particularly worth mentioning the family of Han Ma.

Just like in the past, in order to improve the quality of cotton cloth and extend the industrial chain to cotton planting industry, Li Rucheng said that in order to develop hemp fabrics, YOUNGOR invested 300 million yuan and invested six or seven years in planting hemp in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.

Similarly, in Bo Yang, the brand studio is responsible for the whole operation of a brand, from design, order, production, logistics to sales, all links are built around the operation of the brand, as well as as many as thousands of foundry enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region, and through the franchisee to establish national channels.

At the same time, the company also requires all brands to set up online sales companies and open more than 20 online flagship stores online.

All roads lead to the same goal.

If an abstract generalization is made, "desalination, light load" and the high-end of the value chain may be an accurate generalization of what remains and how to stay in Zhejiang's clothing industry.

The confusion of exports:

How difficult is it from foundry to licensing?

Exports were 3 billion 807 million, down 1.18% year-on-year, and the total amount was $20 billion 738 million, down 3.92% from the same period last year.

This is the export performance report of Zhejiang garment industry in 2009.

This happened in the context of the 10.63% and 12.08% decrease in clothing export volume and export volume in the same period last year.

In Han Licheng's view, this is the first negative growth of clothing export in our province since the reform and opening up. Although it can be attributed to the impact of the international financial crisis, it still conveys some information.

"The time has come for our brand to go abroad."

There are two meanings of Han Licheng's timing.

First, from the development environment, the modern clothing industry is a fashion driven industry. In essence, it is eyeball economy. Whether a clothing brand can become a world famous brand is not only of quality and design factors, but also matches with the cultural and economic strength of the country.

With China's Olympic Games and World Expo's hosting, the world's eyes begin to aim at the East, and Chinese elements are increasingly sought after internationally.

At this point, going abroad to develop brand will undoubtedly get twice the result with half the effort.

Two, from the development of Zhejiang's garment industry, many years of experience in processing OEM production abroad and creating brand in China have accumulated rich experience. The powerful Zhejiang enterprises should go out first instead of following others.

The same is true.

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In 2008, Russian clothing sales suffered a drop in customers and purchasing power.

But Russian dealers found that Busen, a Menswear brand from Zhuji, Zhejiang, has sprung up, with sales growth of more than 30%.

"We regard adjustment as an opportunity."

Wu Yongjie, executive deputy general manager of Zhejiang Busen apparel Limited by Share Ltd, told us that Busen started its own brand export in 1999 and positioned itself in the emerging markets such as Russia, the Middle East and Latin America.

In the process of developing the market, we also introduce the way of building brand in China.

For example, in Russia, the wholesale market began, and then the channel was put into stores. When the international financial crisis left some European brands out of the department stores in Moscow, Busen increased its brand investment and supported the dealer's occupation of blank spots.

For Hangzhou's "Jiangnan Buyi", 2009 was also an important year. In this year, the sales volume of Russian stores reached RMB 14 million, after Moscow, Tokyo, Paris and Vancouver.

In the overseas market, 6 years of "Jiangnan cloth dress" broke out. In 2006, the "High Island House" of Tokyo's Shinjuku, Japan's first class shopping mall, encountered a return rate of up to 10% to 15%.

There is no way to find a Japanese cosmetics company in Shanghai. It costs 1 to 2 dollars for a dress to glance around.

There are too many details.

In the memory of Zhu Hao, manager of the overseas market of Jiangnan Buyi, the most troublesome thing is that every batch of clothes made in the store has hundreds of different styles and colors, and only one piece of the same clothes is two pieces.

The pressure is on.

Today, in the exclusive store in Suhe District, New York, the price of clothing in Jiangnan Buyi is between 80 and 550 dollars, with an average price of more than 200 dollars.

Fashion journalists in New York lamented: "the style is unique, breaking the low-end image made in China."

In Japan, sales are also growing.

Yao Heqing, general manager of Dong Wei Group Co., Ltd., the biggest worry now comes from followers.

Although many people in China are not familiar with it, in the Middle East and the African continent, the western trousers and casual pants that are labeled with Dong Wei mean the quality and the trend, and the pricing power.

How to maintain pricing power? In addition to the quality assurance of 200 pants for a pair of trousers, Dong Wei's killer trick is to control the whole industry chain.

A pair of trousers needs two or three months' development cycle from fabric design to formal listing. The control of the whole industry chain is conducive to confidentiality of the technical links.

The competitor can only follow up after the product is released, and wait for the opponent to launch the imitation product in two or three months.

The grass roots wisdom of Zhejiang clothing enterprises has enabled Han Licheng to see the bright future of independent brands in the international market.

While Li Rucheng does not fully agree that the moment is a great opportunity for Chinese brands to go abroad, he is not enthusiastic about owning his own international brand.

At the end of 2007, YOUNGOR bought YOUNGOR's high-end menswear brand Hartmarx into China after buying 100% stake in XinMa company and Smart company in 120 million US dollar.

"It's not necessary to start from scratch to become an international brand."

Li Ru Cheng said.

From foundry to private brand, perhaps this road is not as high as it can be imagined.