Market Change: The Integration Of Domestic And Foreign Trade Drives The "Double Cycle"

China's famous clothing manufacturing city, China's transnational clothing procurement industrial base, China's travel luggage capital; It does not produce down, but produces more than half of the country's down jackets; It does not produce leather, but has become one of the three major luggage production bases in China... Pinghu City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, is a national clothing and luggage industry cluster, which is a typical "made out of nothing" block economy.

At present, we are accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system. How to position the traditional manufacturing industry and what is its space? When the reporter walked into Pinghu, he saw that when the block shaped economy actively embraced change, it showed a "star studded" development in the reform, reflecting the resilience and vitality of traditional industries in building a modern industrial system.

　　 Role change: from "passive order receiving" to "original order picking"

Walking into Pinghu China Garment City, bustling wholesalers and buyers shuttled back and forth, while shop assistants were busy writing out bills, packing goods and sending them to all parts of the country. It covers an area of more than 100000 square meters, gathers more than 2000 merchants, and launches more than 20000 down jackets every year.

"I want to draw inspiration from Chinese traditional culture and integrate it into the design of down jackets." Pinghu young designer William Shen focused on pushing down jackets into the fashion circle. He once appeared in Milan Fashion Week with his own original high-end fashion down brand Christophe Reich, and made his debut in the international show.

From OEM (OEM) to ODM (original design and manufacturing), Pinghu's role in the clothing and luggage industry chain is changing significantly.

In the 1980s, Pinghu developed the first batch of garment and luggage processing plants by virtue of its geographical advantages. Since then, industrial clusters have rapidly formed and processing orders have been received with ease. Until recent years, processing orders were very unstable due to trade environment, labor costs, raw material prices and other factors.

There is no way out waiting for orders. We must take the initiative to change. With the courage to "change" and the spirit of "second entrepreneurship", a large number of Pinghu enterprises began to look for opportunities in the higher threshold industries, especially in ODM.

"We have made statistics that in 2016, there were no more than 200 original designs in the market, while this year there were more than 20000 original designs." Hu Guohua, chairman of Pinghu China Fashion City, introduced that in order to encourage and protect original designs, the market introduced a strict filing and management system.

Based on the traditional advantages of industrial agglomeration and being close to the market, Pinghu garment and luggage enterprises focus on original design to rapidly "modernize" and adapt to the market, and a large number of manufacturing enterprises achieve iterative upgrading from "passive order" to "original order picking".

"Every month, we have hundreds of new models of original design for customers to choose from." Jin Chonggeng, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Ginza Luggage Co., Ltd., said that the original design caught up, making the manufacturing advantages more prominent. Therefore, the enterprise created co branded bags with more than ten well-known IPs, and stood firm in the high-end market.

People from Pinghu Garment and Luggage Industry Association said that it has been the consensus of Pinghu traditional manufacturing enterprises to transform from a pure manufacturer to a designer and brand. At present, the design R&D investment of enterprises accounts for 4% of the annual sales.

　　 Manufacturing change: digital subverts "traditional" manufacturing mode

In the central control room of Zhejiang Banyu Industrial Co., Ltd. located in Pinghu, the progress of garment fabric cutting, finished product inspection, subsequent packaging and other processes, as well as the number of products completed in each workshop and the rate of plan fulfillment, are displayed on the big screen in real time.

"At least 30% of the impact on the production efficiency of garment enterprises is due to invalid waiting between processes and rework caused by quality problems." The relevant person in charge of Pinghu Garment Industry Association introduced that the digital revolution of Pinghu enterprise workshops has become a common practice.

The rising mainstream consumers of "Generation Z", e-commerce platforms, live broadcast with goods and other emerging distribution channels have put forward higher requirements for manufacturing efficiency. For Pinghu enterprises, "efficiency is life" is more prominent.

It is not a new start, but a combination of the old and the new, so that the traditional manufacturing can be inserted with the wings of "modernization".

From the upgrading of manufacturing equipment, to the whole process energy efficiency management of enterprises, and then to the coordination of regional industrial clusters, Pinghu clothing and luggage block economy actively embraced the digital wave, and vigorously promoted the modernization of manufacturing methods.

Zhejiang Ginza Luggage Co., Ltd. has built a flexible production line, switching from manufacturing one product to another. The adjustment time of the intermediate production line is only half an hour, which supports the enterprise to launch the "unlimited starting order" mode, and orders of several or more than a dozen boxes can also be received, showing its advantages in adapting to the small batch and personalized customization needs of cross-border e-commerce customers.

In Pinghu, the digital supply chain platform of the luggage industry supports the capacity collaboration of local enterprises: large companies can contract on the platform after receiving orders, and small and medium-sized enterprises can grab orders online, so a large number of local luggage factories have found development space in the subdivision link.

The reporter learned that in recent years, Pinghu has vigorously guided and supported the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises. Through the construction of an industrial Internet platform, it has formulated measures to promote the customized transformation of traditional industries and create a city of fashion and customization, and other measures to drive the transformation of traditional manufacturing production methods.

　　 Market change: the integration of domestic and foreign trade drives the "double cycle"

A few years ago, Qiu Jiawei, a Pinghu native, created the "Orolay" brand down jacket, which was popular with American consumers. Its sales volume ranked among the best sellers on the Amazon platform, and even became the "top seller" of women's down jacket.

"From mass production to 'small quick', there are new opportunities for garment foreign trade." Qiu Jiawei analyzed that in recent years, the consumption power and consumption habits of foreign markets have changed, and the ability of Chinese enterprises to adapt to needs, produce in small batches, and iterate quickly has become more prominent, which has brought competitive advantages to emerging garment enterprises in Pinghu.

Relying on the strong domestic manufacturing foundation and supply chain capacity, plus Internet thinking and cross-border e-commerce channels, Pinghu enterprises have accelerated the integration of domestic and foreign trade in recent years, optimized the market layout, and quickly responded and explored opportunities in the domestic and international "double cycle".

In order to adapt to the complex and changing global trade situation, Pinghu Xinyu luggage not only expands overseas customers from Europe to South America, but also actively targets domestic consumer groups and develops new products.

"We have set up a 200 square meter dithering live broadcast base in Pinghu urban area to open the domestic sales market online and offline." Li Zailin, chairman of Xinyu Luggage, said that foreign trade and domestic trade "walk on two legs", making enterprises more pressure bearing.

The reporter learned that Pinghu has accelerated the construction of Zhejiang Provincial Pilot Base for Integration of Domestic and Foreign Trade based on the characteristic traditional industries such as bags, baby carriages and clothing. At present, the number of local "leader" enterprises, integrated industrial bases and high-quality development projects in Zhejiang Province for integration of domestic and foreign trade ranks first in the province.

In the first three quarters of this year, Pinghu's GDP reached 55.508 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6% at comparable prices. During the same period, Pinghu achieved 41.735 billion yuan in import and export of goods, of which 27.319 billion yuan was exported, up 15.1%. From a subregional perspective, exports to countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" reached 9.762 billion yuan, up 24.7%.

"There is no break between tradition and modernity, but continuous updating and iteration." Zhong Xudong, secretary of the CPC Pinghu Municipal Committee, said that the transformation and upgrading of local traditional industries have withstood the market test and demonstrated resilience and vitality, which indicates that in the construction of a modern industrial system, traditional industries that strive for progress in change can also find new space and new power for development. (Reporter He Lingling, Tang Tao, Fang Wenyu)

(Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph)