Textiles and clothing are my country’s traditional labor-intensive export industries and have always accounted for a relatively high proportion of my country’s exports. Since 2015, affected by factors such as weak external demand, my country’s textile and apparel exports have continued to decline, and the situation is not optimistic.
After interviewing some exhibitors at the 121st Canton Fair, the reporter found that although my country’s textile and clothing exports rebounded in the first quarter, companies did not relax and remained sober. To maintain the export recovery trend, a “protracted battle” is needed. It has become a consensus among enterprises.
Transforming to high-end products to get out of the dilemma of shrinking production capacity
Gu Xiaoyan, general manager of Jiangsu Golden Sun Home Textiles Co., Ltd., said in an interview at the 121st Canton Fair that companies have already felt signs of recovery in textile and clothing exports, especially in mid-to-high-end products. “In the past, the market had a huge demand for mid-to-low-end products, but as the market situation changes, companies are transforming to high-end products. Since this year, the market has higher requirements for product cost-effectiveness and quality. At present, corporate orders are saturated.” Gu Xiaoyan said .
Talking about the difficulties faced by enterprises, Gu Xiaoyan bluntly said that the current domestic textile industry production capacity is shrinking, which is not only related to the transfer of orders to Southeast Asian countries and regions, but also related to the difficulty of recruiting workers in domestic factories and the rising labor costs. Although moving to the central and western regions can reduce production costs to a certain extent, it also increases corporate logistics costs. In addition, there is still a gap in production efficiency between the central and western regions compared with coastal areas. “I hope that relevant national departments and business associations can effectively integrate resources in the textile industry.”
Industry insiders pointed out that the government should guide and encourage enterprises to carry out technological innovation, improve labor productivity, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the textile and garment industry. In the long run, transformation and upgrading are the ultimate solution for labor-intensive enterprises. For enterprises, it is necessary to update or technologically transform existing equipment, eliminate outdated equipment, conduct technical training and optimize the combination of employees, improve production efficiency and quality, and reduce dependence on low-end labor-intensive industries, so as to ease recruitment Difficult dilemma. “This year we launched new products using new technologies such as digital printing, which are very popular among merchants. It is expected that the warming situation of textile and clothing exports will continue before the end of this year.” Gu Xiaoyan said.
Relying on quality to achieve long-term growth
Industry insiders believe that with the shift in the focus of the global economy, new consumer groups will be brought about, new consumer markets will be formed, and a series of changes such as productivity layout will also be brought about. Textile and clothing companies must focus on the mid- to long-term core Build competitiveness, benchmark with international brand companies, and identify gaps. “We are a state-owned enterprise and have always used order cooperation and sent people to factories to follow orders, so the transformation method of investing in and building factories in Southeast Asia is not suitable for us.” said Chen Jing, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Sainty Co., Ltd.
Jiangsu Shuntian Co., Ltd. was established in 1979 and is mainly engaged in the import and export business of clothing. Last year, it achieved sales revenue of 4.751 billion yuan and a total profit of 128 million yuan. The “Sainty/SAINTY” brand has been awarded as “Key Support and Development Brand Export Commodities”, “Key Cultivated and Developed Export Brands in Jiangsu Province” and “Jiangsu Province Famous Export Brand” by the Ministry of Commerce and the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce for many years.
Chen Jing said that the company initially started with contract processing business and competed for prices in the market. “If an enterprise wants to truly become bigger and stronger, it cannot rely on scale growth, but must rely on quality growth.”
According to market changes, Jiangsu Sainty advocates design-oriented development, but it is difficult to increase the order rate of original design products. Therefore, in terms of independent brand product design, Jiangsu Sainty adopts the “shared model” design model, which is composed of Overseas designers provide styles, and domestic designers make modifications on this basis.
According to Chen Jing, Jiangsu Sainty currently combines overseas designers with domestic designers to find customer terminals that can match the design requirements, break through from “points”, and improve the level of the supply chain.
In terms of exploring advantages, Chen Jing said that the company has become more detailed in terms of industrial stratification. For example, the ready-made garment business is mainly located in Italy and Japan, and other business segments are also retained in China. Through industry stratification and refinement, we are looking for The advantages and foothold of the enterprise. “Facing problems such as rising domestic labor costs and shifting orders, garment export companies are going through the industry’s ‘shuffle’ process. Many customers will return through this process, which may be a good thing for the company.” Chen Jing explain. Behind the recovery of textile and clothing exports, we still need to stay awake
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