Revitalizing Traditional Competitive Industries -- Investigation On Hubei'S Undertaking Of Coastal Textile And Clothing Industry Transfer

Textile and garment industry is a basic industry related to people's daily life. As a traditional competitive industry, Hubei's textile and garment industry has a long history, solid foundation and distinctive characteristics, but its industrial development has also experienced a downturn. In recent years, with the transfer of coastal textile and clothing enterprises to the mainland, Hubei has also ushered in new opportunities to revitalize the textile industry. Can Hubei seize this wave of new trends and opportunities?

With the reform and opening up, the textile and clothing industry has developed rapidly in Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and other coastal areas. Since the 1980s, Hubei people have come to the coastal areas to devote themselves to the clothing industry. After several generations of accumulation, they have created their own world.

In recent years, affected by factors such as raw materials, labor costs, and industrial policy adjustments, many coastal textile and clothing enterprises have moved to the mainland. At the same time, a large number of industrial workers from Hubei returned to Hubei, providing an opportunity for the "second entrepreneurship" of Hubei garment industry. Hubei attaches great importance to the employment situation of people returning to Hubei, puts forward a package plan to revitalize Hubei's textile and clothing industry, plans to build a number of textile and clothing characteristic parks and gathering areas, and has undertaken a large number of textile and clothing manufacturing enterprises moving from coastal areas.

How are these enterprises developing? What is the future development prospect of Hubei textile and clothing industry? The reporter came to Jingmen, Jingzhou, Tianmen, Xiantao, Qianjiang and other places to explore the revitalization of Hubei's textile and clothing industry.

　　 Sufficiency of bottom qi for undertaking and transferring

Objectively speaking, compared with coastal provinces, Hubei has shortcomings in developing textile and clothing industry. In terms of labor force, the high income of coastal provinces is more attractive to high-quality skilled workers, forming obvious talent competition with Hubei; In terms of industrial chain, although Hubei's yarn output and cloth output are among the top in the country, there is a lack of processing enterprises on the chain such as printing and dyeing, and supply enterprises such as surface accessories, especially the head enterprises. The industrial chain is still incomplete; In terms of location and market, Guangdong, Fujian and other coastal areas have more comparative advantages in cross-border e-commerce and other fields.

However, Hubei has many advantages in developing textile and clothing industry. From the perspective of industrial base, the clothing industry is a traditional competitive industry in Hubei, with complete systems and categories. Wuhan has long been the largest textile industry center in central China. From the perspective of brand, in the 1980s and 1990s, with Hanzheng Street as the birthplace, a number of Han style clothing brands, such as Aidi, Hongren and Maoren, became famous throughout the country, standing in a confrontation with Hangzhou and Guangdong, and the "Qianjiang Tailor" is also the gold lettered signboard of Hubei. From the perspective of traffic conditions, Hubei is located in the geometric center of China's economic diamond structure, the Yangtze River flows through it, the east-west and north-south backbone traffic lines meet in Wuhan, and Ezhou Huahu Airport, the largest freight airport in Asia, has been put into operation. These advantages are the foundation for Hubei to develop the textile and clothing industry.

"From the perspective of development, the transfer of textile and clothing industry is an inevitable choice in line with the economic law." Xie Qing, executive vice president of China Textile Industry Enterprise Management Association, said that today, the cost of land and labor in coastal areas is much higher than in the past, while Hubei's textile and clothing industry has a long history of development and has the basis to undertake industrial transfer.

At present, the garment manufacturing industry is moving towards high-end, intelligent and green. The domestic and international markets have undergone profound changes, and the product structure and sales market of China's textile and garment industry have also changed. Hubei textile and garment industry should actively respond to market changes and grasp the market trend to revive the momentum.

"In the future, Hubei's textile and clothing industry will have more opportunities than challenges." Sheng Yuechun, vice governor of Hubei Province and a member of the Party Leadership Group, said that Hubei has included the textile and clothing industry in one of the nine emerging characteristic industrial chains. According to the data, in 2022, Hubei textile and clothing industry will have 1651 enterprises above designated size, with an operating income of 335.86 billion yuan, ranking fifth in the country, and playing a positive role in ensuring supply, activating domestic demand, improving employment and increasing income.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Guangdong industrial policy adjustment and other reasons, a large number of Hubei skilled workers returned to Hubei. According to the feedback from the Fashion Industry Association of Hubei Chamber of Commerce in Guangdong Province, there were about 300000 people engaged in garment processing in the "Hubei Village" in Guangdong, and about 70% of the people returned to Hubei at that time. Experts predict that 60% of the 300000 people in "Hubei Village" will stay in Hubei for employment.

The return of skilled workers provides an opportunity for the transformation and upgrading of Hubei garment industry. As far as Hubei is concerned, these returning migrant workers are not only the employment problems that need to be solved urgently, but also the effective force for industrial upgrading. In this regard, the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and the provincial government attach great importance to it and have held several special conferences to study the measures taken by various regions to undertake industrial transfer and promote the development of the textile and clothing industry. Sheng Yuechun took the lead in hosting the on-site meetings of textile and clothing technology reform and the symposium of experts in modern textile and clothing industry for soliciting opinions for many times to solve problems and turn crises into opportunities, and draw a blueprint for the second take-off of Hubei clothing industry.

　　 Differentiated competitive synthesis direction

In order to seize the opportunity of industrial workers returning to their hometown and promote the overall transformation and upgrading of the clothing industry, Hubei Province issued the Three Year Action Plan for High Quality Development of Hubei Textile and Clothing Industry (2023-2025), which points out the direction for high-quality development of the textile and clothing industry.

The Plan clearly stated that we should seize the new development pattern and the opportunity of coastal textile and clothing industry transferring to the central and western regions, adhere to the direction of science and technology, fashion and green development, focus on increasing varieties, improving quality, creating brands, and strive to make up for weaknesses and forge strong ones.

Hubei has made specific plans for the development of the clothing industry with the Plan as the guide. Sheng Yuechun said that, on the one hand, all regions should focus on industrial advantages, carry out targeted investment attraction and counterpart investment attraction, and strengthen the introduction of leading enterprises, well-known brands and new business types; On the other hand, it is necessary to do innovation and lead, based on reality, deploy and implement a number of industrial upgrading, scientific and technological breakthroughs, and strengthening the chain of complementary projects.

The introduction of the "Plan" will undoubtedly add another fire to the transformation and upgrading of the clothing industry around the country. The main person in charge of Tianmen City said frankly: "The textile and clothing industry is a traditional industry of Tianmen, and the high attention of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government has increased the confidence of each city to further action."

The principal of Hubei Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology said: "In order to do a good job in the return of textile and clothing enterprises and support the high-quality development of the clothing industry, Jingzhou, Tianmen, Xiantao, Qianjiang and other places have introduced policies and measures with high gold content and strong pertinence."

Whether from the perspective of industry chain or clothing classification, the clothing industry has different segments. Different regions in Hubei have different priorities for the development of the clothing industry. By coordinating the differentiated development of the whole chain and multiple categories of cities in the province, we can avoid homogeneous and low-end competition, promote the road of differentiated competition and cooperation, and let each place have its own "main position".

——As the provincial capital, Wuhan has convenient transportation and numerous talents. It has outstanding advantages in clothing design, commodity trading, scientific research and innovation. Member of the Party Leadership Group of Wuhan Municipal People's Government Wang Yuancheng, vice mayor of Wuhan, said, "Wuhan has strengthened cooperation with Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan Textile University and other professional forces in product design, key technologies, product applications, etc. By cultivating new growth points, Wuhan has made great efforts in the research and development of functional fabrics, new garment fabrics, and industrial textiles, so as to enhance the competitiveness of textile and garment segments."

Hankou North Clothing City Phase II live broadcast supply chain base is the largest Hanpai clothing supply chain cluster in central China. Cao Tianbin, president of Hankou North Group, introduced that the base currently has 143 garment enterprises, including 33 supply chain merchants, 30 platform e-commerce merchants, 2 cross-border e-commerce merchants, and 78 live broadcast teams.

——In Jingzhou, children's clothing has become an important area of the local clothing industry. At the 2023 China Textile and Clothing Industry Chain Development Conference held in Jingzhou, more than 5.2 billion yuan of textile and clothing projects were signed on site, with an agreed investment of about 37 billion yuan. Jingzhou also gives play to its traditional advantages in the field of infant clothing to create a golden childhood town.

——"Qianjiang Tailor" is one of the top ten labor brands in China. In terms of garment processing, Qianjiang's production enterprises have cooperation with several garment brands; Xiantao's panties industry takes the lead in the country, and Maozui Town, a famous Chinese panties town, is located here; Tianmen hopes to further develop in the e-commerce field, and has established a regional clothing brand "Tianmen Yishang"

　 Take multiple measures to reduce costs

The park is a physical space to undertake industrial transfer, which can gather relevant industries in the region to form a scale advantage. The Plan proposes to guide local governments to focus on industrial advantages and characteristics, plan to build key parks, and improve their capacity to undertake. Among them, Xiantao, Tianmen, Jingmen, Xiaogan and other counterparts in Guangdong's clothing industry.

In the garment industrial park of Maozui Town, Xiantao City, the intelligent assembly line of the production workshop runs orderly. On the computer screen, the production of all kinds of clothes on the assembly line is recorded in detail. "The park covers an area of 5000 mu, with more than 1.8 million square meters of standardized factory buildings and about 400 garment related enterprises," said Liu Taoyong, secretary of the Maozui Town Party Committee.

Production cost accounting is the core issue of enterprise survival. Preferential policies in advance have effectively reduced the production costs of enterprises, which is an important measure taken by Hubei governments at all levels to attract garment enterprises to settle down and return.

The cost of land use is the major part of enterprise production cost accounting. The relatively cheap land price is a major advantage of Hubei compared with developed coastal provinces. In order to further support the development of relocated enterprises in the initial stage of entrepreneurship, the government's implementation of rent reduction and compensation for enterprises settled in the industrial park is almost a "must-have dish" in the policies issued by various regions.

"Xiantao regards the textile and clothing industry as the primary industry." The main person in charge of Xiantao City said that Xiantao City will give 3 years of rent subsidies to eligible garment manufacturers according to their size.

Similar policies have also been implemented in Qianjiang. Liu Gang, the head of Renshangge Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in Qianjiang, told reporters: "At present, the factory rented by the company has subsidies, and there are preferential policies for enterprise relocation, so it doesn't cost much to 'go home'."

The logistics cost of clothing enterprises cannot be ignored. As there was no scale effect before, logistics cost was a problem that Hubei garment enterprises needed to focus on. How does Hubei reduce logistics costs? On the one hand, gather production enterprises to facilitate logistics companies to quickly receive express packages and distribute materials; On the other hand, it connects with logistics enterprises to provide them with convenient policies and facilities.

The government has made great efforts in the negotiation with logistics enterprises. The main person in charge of Tianmen City calculated an account for the reporter: "In the past, the logistics cost of Tianmen clothing enterprises per order was more than 2 yuan, higher than that of Guangdong. After step-by-step discussion, the logistics cost of Tianmen has been reduced by half, even lower than the logistics unit price of Guangdong."

To implement policies, implementation is the key. The main person in charge of Hubei Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology said that Hubei deeply implemented the working mechanism of "chain length+chain owner+chain creation", and planned to promote high-quality development of the textile and clothing industry. Hubei has established a promotion system led by provincial leaders, coordinated by provincial departments, supported by expert teams, and implemented special work shifts. The special work team is led by Hubei Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, with the participation of multiple departments, to coordinate and solve major difficulties in industrial development. A transformation and upgrading of the clothing industry is booming in Jingchu.

　　 Preferential policies attract enterprises

Enterprises are the main body of production and operation activities and the new force of transformation and upgrading of Hubei garment industry. After years of hard work abroad, many Hubei clothing business operators have both the willingness to return to their hometown and the ability to develop their hometown.

Liu Jianyong is the head of Tianmen Yuezi Clothing Co., Ltd. He has worked hard in Guangdong for many years and built his own production plant. In March 2021, Liu Jianyong returned to his hometown of Tianmen and founded Yuezi Clothing Company.

"The atmosphere in his hometown is good." Liu Jianyong said that the atmosphere, on the one hand, refers to the policy environment, a series of support policies make Liu Jianyong more reassured; On the other hand, it means that Tianmen's clothing industry has a good foundation.

Many enterprise leaders said that preferential policies are an important factor to attract them to return home for development.

Starting Group is a representative garment manufacturer in Tianmen. In 2021, it will separate part of its business from Guangzhou and develop in Tianmen. At present, the Group has set up a number of companies related to garment production, involving multiple links such as surface materials supply, garment production, e-commerce sales and express logistics.

"In the past few years, the orders were intermittent, but the storage and personnel costs in Guangzhou were too high, and the losses were serious." Fei Wen, the head of the company, told reporters, "At the same time, we were moved by the policy of Tianmen. The government also held a conference to attract investment in Guangzhou, and actively contacted with enterprises." During the "push and pull" period, returning home became the most ideal choice.

Liu Gang returned to his hometown to start his own business through another path - fellow townsmen leading fellow townsmen. He worked as a tailor in Guangzhou in 2002. "I moved back to Qianjiang from Guangzhou in May 2022, mainly to process orders for a cross-border e-commerce platform. Business has been good since my return, and the orders are relatively stable. In addition, there are preferential policies in my hometown, so he advised me to go back to work together." Liu Gang said that after learning about the situation of the development of the small hometown, he took the initiative to go back to his hometown.

In addition to the policy environment, family is also an important factor affecting their return home. According to the reporter's survey, most of the returnees, whether entrepreneurs or workers, are "post-80s" and are basically in a state of aging and underage.

Liu Gang was born in 1987. He told reporters, "Now children go to primary school, and their parents are older. On the one hand, they go home for career reasons, on the other hand, they can take care of their parents and children.".

Enterprises are like geese, which determine the employment location of industrial workers. Li Hongxia is an ordinary sewing worker. At the age of 20, she went south to work in the north. Now she is more than 40 years old. "After drifting away for so many years, I didn't have time to take care of my family. A number of garment enterprises returned home to increase employment opportunities in my hometown. My husband and I discussed returning to work and taking care of the elderly and children. At present, my monthly income is about 10000 yuan." Li Hongxia said.

　　 The initial results show strong momentum

At present, Hubei textile and clothing industry is gradually building a supply chain along the development direction of "technology, fashion and green", deeply reshaping the industrial chain, and then promoting the upgrading of the value chain to achieve high-quality industrial development. With the implementation of various policies and measures, Hubei textile and clothing industry has shown some positive changes.

The degree of industrial agglomeration has been further improved. On the basis of earlier accumulation, the agglomeration development effect of Hubei clothing industry cluster is obvious. Wuhan, Jingzhou, Tianmen, Xiantao, Qianjiang and other places have formed a certain scale of clothing manufacturing cluster. Hanchuan City, a "famous Chinese clothing manufacturing city", Cenhe Town, a "famous Chinese baby and child clothing town", Maozui Town, a "famous Chinese pants town" A batch of famous industrial cities and towns such as Tianmen City, the "China Garment E-commerce Industry Demonstration Base".

In Tianmen, the e-commerce base for Baima original clothing production is under rapid construction. Wang Zhonghua, Chairman of Baima Group, said: "At present, the leasing and sales of the company's factory buildings are good, and most of them have been sold."

Industrial upgrading is accelerating. A number of industry leading garment enterprises have emerged in Hubei, and their influence and popularity are constantly improving. Hubei Lingshang Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (Xiantao) Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the production of work clothes, with a relatively high market share. In the production workshop, dozens of machines work at the same time to ensure both quality and output. Liu Jun, director of Xiantao Economic and Information Bureau, said: "The China Garment Association is developing the standards for chefs' clothing, and the company is one of the participants in the standard setting. This is also the performance of our clothing industry upgrading. I hope that more enterprises will participate in the industry standard setting in the future."

In order to do a good job of upstream and downstream undertaking and front and rear cooperation in the development of Hubei garment industry, relying on technological and talent advantages, Hubei Huafang Supply Chain Company and nine subsidiaries in Huangshi, Jingzhou, Huanggang, Xiantao, Qianjiang, Tianmen and other places have been established successively. Qi Zhiping, chairman of Hubei Huafang Supply Chain Co., Ltd., introduced: "Huafang Chain continues to make efforts to upgrade the intelligent digital system of traditional factories, explore the innovative application of digital scenes, improve the real-time management level of enterprise data platform, and enhance the digital application ability of Hubei textile and clothing industry."

Innovation has become the first driving force for development. Wuhan Textile University is the only ordinary university named for textile in China, with distinctive textile and clothing industry characteristics, and has a number of national research and development institutions, such as the State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technology jointly built by the province and the ministry. Relying on high-quality resources, Wuhan Textile University actively plays the role of "chain innovation" organization, promotes the landing of scientific and technological innovation, and serves the high-quality development of the clothing industry. "Next, Wuhan Textile University will work with relevant enterprises to jointly tackle key common technologies and actively promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements," said Feng Jun, vice president of Wuhan Textile University.

Of course, it will not be easy to undertake industrial transfer. There are still many problems testing the wisdom, courage and perseverance of governments and enterprises at all levels in Hubei.

The shortage of labor force is an immediate problem. The pressure of labor competition from coastal areas should not be underestimated. "We have orders, but we are short of capacity." In the face of a large number of orders, it is difficult to recruit workers, which is a headache for Xie Wenshuang, the head of Lingshang Intelligent Manufacturing. As a grass-roots government official, Liu Zhengchuan, the mayor of Sanfutan Town, Xiantao City, understands what enterprises need most. "Labor shortage is a common problem reflected by enterprises, and we are trying to solve it". Liu Zhengchuan rented 60 buses to go to the next city and county to "grab" people, "but this is not a long-term solution, which is not conducive to the coordinated development of the industry. What we need to do next is to keep pace with the coastal provinces, and improve the value of jobs in the province".

Brand building works in the long run. Compared with the coastal areas, Hubei lacks the well-known independent clothing brands, and the industrial level is low. Many domestic well-known brands' clothing OEM business is in Hubei. Take Xiantao as an example. At present, its clothing production and processing is mainly to undertake OEM orders. More than 80% of enterprises have no trademarks, and the existing brands are small, scattered and miscellaneous. Liu Kesen, secretary-general of Qianjiang Textile Industry Association, said: "The quality of clothes produced by Qianjiang is very good. We are not poor in technology, but it is a long-term process to build a distinctive brand."

In addition, some comparative advantages of the coastal areas are also weak points that Hubei needs to make up. One detail may show the wait-and-see attitude of entrepreneurs towards the development of the clothing industry in their hometown - many enterprises do not withdraw from the coastal areas, but still retain their own factories and workers there.

It's hard to pass. The road ahead is bright and long. The transformation and upgrading of Hubei clothing industry is imminent. As long as the above problems are solved, more high-quality clothing will go to the country and even the world.

　　 Reporters' investigation notes: tap the potential and make full use of the advantages

At present, Hubei has accelerated the cultivation of modern textile and clothing industry as one of the nine emerging industries with characteristics. Many counties and cities regard textile and clothing industry as a pillar industry, and many remote areas regard it as an important pillar for rural revitalization. As long as we can give full play to our existing advantages, conform to the general trend of the industry, tap the potential, actively play the role of enterprises as the main body, and strengthen professional division and cooperation, we are expected to achieve the set goal of Hubei textile and clothing industry to reach 500 billion yuan during the "14th Five Year Plan" period.

To better play the role of the economic ballast of the textile and clothing industry, Hubei should combine the characteristics of the regional industry, scientifically plan the upgrading of the whole industrial chain, constantly strengthen the chain repair and extension, adhere to doing something, doing nothing, and work hard on high-quality development.

Accelerate the transformation to "technology, fashion and green". Focusing on the development trend of the textile and clothing industry, increase varieties, improve quality, create brands, comprehensively improve the intelligent technology level of textile equipment, increase the application of digital design, smart supply chain, fashion personalized customization, etc. in the textile and clothing industry, and actively promote green technology research and development.

Accelerate the collaborative innovation of supply chain and industrial chain. While actively building a sound supply chain ecosystem, integrate the industrial development with the market, and build a number of professional markets with great influence and radiation, such as noodles, accessories, clothing, etc; Integrate with e-commerce to build a number of textile and clothing e-commerce platforms and e-commerce "small order fast reaction" industrial bases; Integrate with the city, introduce and cultivate a group of clothing creative design enterprises with international influence, and build a national clothing trade, research and development, design, exhibition and release center.

Accelerate the development of characteristic industrial clusters. Encourage all regions to strengthen and optimize the characteristic textile and clothing sub industry, solidly promote the integration of industry, town and city, promote the construction of "famous town" with textile and clothing "famous products", promote the construction of "famous city" with "famous town", create a batch of block industries with distinctive characteristics and prominent advantages, and build a textile and clothing industry cluster with strong competitiveness and influence.

Accelerate the construction of talent resources in the industry. The 300000 Hubei tailors working in Guangzhou are renowned in the industry. They should take advantage of the opportunity of the return of coastal industrial workers, combine the needs of returning workers, provide accurate and efficient services, and strive for high-level talents to return to Hubei. At the same time, we should make good use of gold lettered signboards such as "Qianjiang Tailors", strengthen the training of local talent echelons, and help the textile and clothing manufacturing industry become bigger and stronger with a higher quality workforce in the textile and clothing industry.

(Source: Economic Daily)