Guiping, Guangxi: A Sewing Machine "Weaves" The "Famous Town Of Leisure Sports Clothing In China"

"Since the early 1980s, every household in Mule Town has started a clothing business, and the family style clothing workshops integrating planking, cutting, sewing, and sales have taken root and sprouted, attracting merchants from Yulin, Liuzhou, Nanning, and Guangdong to receive goods." Liu Datian, who lives in Mule Town, Guiping City, Guigang, Guangxi, recalled that he once saw the "carrying pole team" Merchants carrying carrying poles went door to door looking for ready to wear clothes. If there were any in stock, merchants immediately "sold" and left contentedly after putting them in bamboo baskets.

Mule Town is located in the east of Guiping City. The textile and clothing industry is the traditional competitive industry of Mule Town. In 2016, the town won the title of "China's Famous Leisure and Sports Clothing Town" issued by the China Textile Federation and the China Garment Association. It is reported that the clothing industry of Mule Town will produce 7.46 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in 2023, with a total population of 78000, including nearly 50000 migrant workers weaving dreams of life here.

Since 1980, the residents of Mule Town found that there was a lack of leather products in the market, and they bought back raw materials across regions. Using household pedal sewing machines and household scissors, they switched from mending clothes to producing ready to wear clothes. They started making leather clothing, windbreaker, casual pants and other products, and tasted the "sweetness" of the clothing industry.

"If you want to get something from buying cloth, tailors should have good eyesight and fast hands. If you don't have enough people to make clothes, the whole family will go to war. I will use my own pedal sewing machine when I am under ten years old," said Liu Datian.

It is understood that since the development of Mule Town, from spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing to embroidery, rib weaving, elastic belt production, to design and sales, a complete industrial chain has been realized, making production, supply and sales seamless. At present, Mule Town has more than 500 textile and clothing enterprises, including 11 enterprises above designated size, 473 valid registered trademarks in the clothing industry, 108 self owned brands, and an annual output of more than 300 million sets of clothing. The products are sold to Europe, America, Southeast Asia, Africa and other countries and regions.

The picture shows workers cutting cloth with machines in the digital workshop. Photographed by Zhou Lishuo

Entering Mule Town, the reporter saw that a clothing processing enterprise was carrying out production in an orderly manner beside the main road. A worker in the digital workshop skillfully started the machine, and the cloth printed with the clothing style was slowly spread under the transmission of the machine. A "buzz" sounded, and the laser pen cut the cloth along the style side line according to the predetermined procedure. "From product research and development to process improvement, we are gradually moving towards intelligent development in all aspects, which can improve the competitiveness of our brand in the market demand." Li Linhui, who successfully transformed from the family workshop model, introduced.

Since 1993, Li Linhui has started from a small school uniform, opened a store, built a company, and gradually made his own brand. "I will produce whatever the market needs." Li Linhui said that the basketball clothes, football clothes and other sportswear produced now can accurately link to the national market, and even be sold to Germany, Italy and other countries.

The picture shows Pan Yongcong (first from the right) introducing clothes to customers. Photographed by Tu Liza

Pan Yongcong, the "post-80s" who is introducing clothes to customers in the shop, is the local "second generation". His father has been in the clothing business for six years. In 2007, Pan Yongcong, 22, took over his father's responsibility. With his sensitivity to the foreign trade market, he successfully opened a new channel for factory foreign trade wholesale and earned the first bucket of gold in his life.

Different from the rhythm of his father's generation, Pan Yongcong saw the importance of digital management and scientific and technological innovation, so he bought land to expand the factory, further study, adjust the development strategy, build a digital factory, and open up hot sales channels online and offline. "Now, we have turned from pursuing product quantity to becoming a brand factory, and under the transformation, we have improved the quality several grades to win the favor of customers at home and abroad. In 2019, the annual output will reach 3 million sets, accounting for half of the domestic and foreign sales, and the sales will be 75 million yuan."

Liu Yongyi, secretary of the Party Committee of Mule Town, said that, centering on the goal of "building the largest leisure and sports clothing production base in the country", Mule Town promoted the "Party branch+platform company+cooperative" model to solve the difficulties for enterprises, increase income for community people, and continue to promote the aggregation and standardization of small, scattered, chaotic and family workshop clothing industry, Actively create and promote local clothing independent brands, make a good business card of Mule Town's textile and clothing industry, and empower and increase efficiency for rural revitalization.

It is reported that Guiping Textile and Garment Industrial Park has a total planning of 15000 mu, which will be officially launched in May 2020. The total investment of the project is 7.5 billion yuan, which will be constructed in three phases. At present, the Phase I start-up area is under construction and is expected to be basically completed by the end of 2025.

(Source: China News Network)