Interpretation of "Password" for Women's Industry in Hangzhou, Shenzhen

On the map of China, there are two cities south of the Yangtze River—Shenzhen and Hangzhou. Their women's wear industry often talks about the domestic apparel industry. The two development paths that are different in the women's wear industry in these two cities are the most vivid manifestations of the Chinese clothing industry's growth over the past 30 years. In this issue, we will compare the development of women's wear in these two cities and hope to present their most characteristic aspects to readers. This may allow readers to find the code that explains why they are theirs.

Different start-ups The Shenzhen women's wear industry started in the 1980s with the “three to one supplements”. This type of export-oriented model played a very important role in promoting the start of the garment industry in Shenzhen; The model of "front shop and rear shop" has grown bigger, and at the same time formed its own women's style.

Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta and is adjacent to Hong Kong. In 1980, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was formally established. This original small fishing village gradually evolved into a bustling metropolis today.

Hangzhou is located in the Yangtze River Delta. Since ancient times, the products have been abundant, and they have been known as the land of fish and rice and the home of silk.

For both, although they have their own advantages, economic prosperity is the common ground. To a certain extent, this laid a good foundation for the development of the apparel industry.

Due to the geographical characteristics of Shenzhen itself, the apparel industry in the area began with "three to one supplements" and "OEM processing." After Shenzhen established a special economic zone, this city, which is China's experimental field for reform and opening up, has enabled many overseas companies seeking domestic market opportunities to be treasured. "Make-up" became the natural choice of Shenzhen garment industry at that time. More than 20 years ago, now a brand that is already represented by domestic high-end women's clothing brands, like other foundries, took orders and processed the export brands in a factory in the Shatoujiao Free Trade Zone in Shenzhen.

In the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, many garment processing factories in Shenzhen were processing materials according to orders. Products were sold without exception and there was no concept of a brand. However, thanks to the inward migration of Hong Kong's garment industry, the garment industry in Shenzhen has developed rapidly. However, this is only limited to processing and manufacturing because Hong Kong will maintain its design, marketing, management, consulting, brand planning, advertising and other supporting links. In the base camp.

He Shujun, the chairman of Kavong, originally came to Shenzhen with the inward migration of the Hong Kong garment industry. She is a Hong Kong person herself and catches up with the opportunities for companies entering the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone after China’s reform and opening up. She said that at that time, the SAR Government had preferential measures such as tax exemption for enterprises that had “three replacements and one supplement”.

According to a large number of women's brands in Shenzhen, it was recalled that at that time, there were a large number of garment foundry companies in Shenzhen. In order to earn meager profits, everyone had to accept strict selections from foreign companies. According to an industry insider, foreigners at that time took orders, and at the same time found several Shenzhen OEM companies to negotiate, who are of good quality, fast speed, and low cost, whoever is most likely to get orders.

The Chairman of a Fashion Co., Ltd. recalled that at the time, a man's shirt was processed, and the foundry cost was only 6 yuan. It eliminated the necessary expenses such as employee wages, utility bills, and rent, and the profit was thin. At that time, he firmly believed that the processing of incoming materials could only be an expedient measure.

Looking at the current situation, the “three to one” company is the main body of the garment industry in Shenzhen more than 20 years ago, and it has formed an export-oriented distribution model. This style adapts to the needs of the free competition of the garment industry at that time, and it has indeed played an important role in the Shenzhen garment industry.

However, for Hangzhou, because it does not have the same conditions as Shenzhen to do foreign trade, large-scale export is not the mainstream of the garment industry at that time. According to records, in the early 1980s, Hangzhou garment enterprises were mainly state-owned, collective, and township enterprises, and were distributed in the industrial, commercial, and township enterprise systems. In the later development, Hangzhou clothing (women's clothing) formed a production model of "front shop and factory." According to records, with the traditional advantage of "Hangzhou Silk Silk," Hangzhou Women's Wear has formed the scale of production and sales of "thousands of factories, thousands of stores, million machines, 100 million clothing."

Hangzhou is a city with a vibrant private economy. This is a soil for the garment industry that dominates the garment industry.

The newspaper reporter once interviewed Meng Ping, deputy chairman and secretary-general of the Hangzhou Women's Wear Chamber of Commerce. He said that Hangzhou women's wear started in 1994. At that time, a group of university clothing majors began their own business after graduation, laying a certain foundation for the start of Hangzhou women's clothing. The number of brands at the start was small, about 5 or 6 brands, such as a romantic life, Jiangnan commoner and so on. At this time, Hangzhou women's clothing initially had its own style, namely the lady style of Jiangnan Water Village.

Although Hangzhou does not do the natural advantages of foreign trade, its rich silk cultural heritage and developed silk industry have given Hangzhou Women's Clothing another advantage. Due to the influence of traditional silk culture, Hangzhou and the surrounding areas have become the gathering place for the textile industry. China Textile City in Shaoxing, Shaoxing is China's largest textile silk specialty market. Coupled with several large and small specialized markets such as Sijiqing, it has created a good environment for Hangzhou women's clothing.

Almost at the same time in the middle of the 90s of the last century, Hangzhou women's wear began to gradually enter the public view, and a few companies broke through the development mode of the “front shop and factory” in the previous period and began to enter a new stage with the brand; Shenzhen Women began to enter the transition as a whole, gradually stripping the barriers brought by foreign trade, breathing fresh breath brought by the brand.

In the late 1990s, Shenzhen's women's wear industry began to transform from OEM to brand development. Numerous commercial brands emerged. With the power of creative design, they polished the signs of Shenzhen women's clothing; The prestigious name on the Chinese women's landscape has left a deep impression. She is more of a designer brand. In any case, the two cities eventually walked on the same road. They all rely on the power of creativity and design to not only make the women's wear industry a local advantageous industry, but also become a leader in the domestic apparel industry.

If we want to summarize the development of Shenzhen women's clothing, we can divide it into three phases. One is the foundry phase from the 1980s to the mid-1990s. The second is the global financial crisis from the mid-1990s to 2008. Local brands have shifted to national big brands. Third, from 2008 to now, some of them are domestic large-brand companies and are making efforts in the direction of international brands.

In the mid-1990s, it was an important time node: Many companies slowly took off the OEM's hat after they realized the strength of the brand, and at the same time effectively grasped the brand's hand.

After more than 10 years of development, the Shenzhen garment industry has formed a clear industrial clustering advantage, achieved a brand-based industrial model, and achieved a leading position in the country. It is understood that as of 2012, the garment industry in Shenzhen achieved an output value of 160 billion yuan, and exported nearly 10 billion US dollars. There are more than 1,000 self-owned clothing brands, including more than 100 domestic well-known brands. The products sell well in more than 100 large and medium-sized cities in China. The market share of a type of mall in the city is as high as 60%. Shenzhen has become the "women's capital of China," forming the industry structure of "China Women's Watch Shenzhen."

The reason why the Shenzhen women's clothing brand can occupy a place in the domestic garment industry is not only due to geographic advantages away from Hong Kong, receiving fast fashion information from overseas and other reasons, but also more important is the importance of original design.

It is understood that after the preparatory application, Shenzhen City was approved to join the global creative city network on November 21, 2008 and was awarded the title of “Design Capital” by UNESCO. In the apparel industry, both original designer brands such as Tianyi and Yizhihui, as well as commercial brands such as Masfil and Yinger, are all designed to win. In the 11th China International Fashion Week, Liang Tzu, the design director of “Tianyi·TANGY” won the highest award in the Chinese fashion design “Golden Summit Award” and the 2007 Women’s Best Designer Award. This is the China International Fashion Week since Since its inception, it has for the first time awarded to the same designer the two most important prizes in China's fashion design community.

Nowadays, Shenzhen women's wear has changed from an advantageous traditional industry to a high value-added and high cultural content fashion and creative industry. Many brands have also strived to develop from domestic brands to foreign brands.

Let’s look at Hangzhou again.

According to Meng Ping, 1994 was the first stage of Hangzhou women's development. It could be called the starting stage. At the time, after graduating from a group of clothing majors, they started their own businesses and laid a solid foundation for the start of Hangzhou women's wear. The number of brands at the start was not large, such as a romantic life, Jiangnan commoner and so on.

1995-1998 is the second stage in the development of women's wear in Hangzhou. It can be called growth period. At this stage, the number of women's brands increased, and some brands completed their original accumulation and began to expand production.

The third stage from 1999 to 2005, Hangzhou Women entered a period of stable development. Around 2000, Hangzhou women's clothing began to grow bigger and stronger. There were nearly 300 brands and a total of more than 1,000 women's enterprises. At the same time, the market eliminated a group of small enterprises and a group of large enterprises continued to develop steadily.

From 2005 to now, Hangzhou women's clothing has entered a mature period, and it is also a new period for the development of women's wear in Hangzhou. At this stage, the market began to subdivide and some brands entered the multi-brand development stage. For example, Jiangnan Puyi founded the “Sketch” menswear brand, and Qiushuiyiren made the COCOON premium brand. At the same time, at this stage, different styles of brands began to appear, and some brands began to take the international route. The sales of individual brands reached 1 billion yuan.

Hangzhou women's clothing has its own strong brand of Hangzhou in the development process. Hangzhou has institutes of higher learning such as the China Academy of Art and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Women's brand designers mostly come out of these colleges and universities, and they come from the college. The background is the source of Hangzhou women's "school".

Qian Feng, president of Hangzhou Fashion Designers Association, believes that Hangzhou colleges and universities have concentrated a large number of outstanding talents. Later, some of them became the backbone of various garment companies, some became excellent clothing entrepreneurs, and also were brand designers. Drive the growth and development of new brands.

For example, Shi Jie is the creative director of “Jieshi”, a womenswear brand in Hangzhou, and the founder of the brand. Since 2010, Shi Jie has participated in the Chinese Creative Exhibition of Paris Fashion Week as a designer. “Jieshi” has won the Asahi Kasei Chinese Fashion Designer Creative Award.

Therefore, comparing Shenzhen and Hangzhou's women's wear industry, Shenzhen is more dependent on a highly prosperous market. At that time, Shenzhen was the window of the country’s opening to the outside world, and the operation of the company was completely in accordance with the laws of the market. After practicing the skills in the market in the morning, as the competition intensified in the future, the skills of the market became apparent. The power of design creativity has brought Shenzhen's womenswear industry to another fast-track development. Hangzhou, on the other hand, is after breaking through the development model of “front shop and factory”, it has relied on a large number of academic design talents. It is a large number of students graduating from clothing colleges who start their own businesses and gradually expand their brands. The foundation of Hangzhou women's development.