China's garment industry top three pressure experts analyze how to break through

In the invitation book of the 21st China International Clothing and Apparel Expo (CHIC2013), the cover background is the famous "discus thrower". He is muscular and full of movement. With the theme of 2013, "Lian Lian", People feel full of power. For such a design, the organizer, China Garment Association, has its own explanation-if in the past 30 years, China's garment industry has suddenly grown to 1.85 meters like a junior high school student, then the junior high school student can only say that it grows fast but has no muscle, and what Chinese garment enterprises need to do next is not to grow taller, but how to practice muscle. In this process, garment enterprises need to calm down to tap their own power.

From being one of the best performing countries under pressure in the financial crisis in 2008 to becoming the world's second largest economy, China's economic growth has been favored by the outside world. However, the external appearance is very bright, but the internal crisis exists due to the impetuous and rapid expansion of many enterprises. Chinese clothing is one of the industries with many crises.

As Chen Dapeng, executive vice president of the China Garment Association, said, in China's 30 years of rapid development, although the clothing industry has ups and downs but is still stable, it has really experienced a turning point in 2012. In the past, companies were talking about transformation and upgrading., But I have been thinking about when and how to turn. "Now is the time when we must change. The conditions, environment and foundation of China's clothing industry and market have changed. The whole industry has developed very fast. Originally, the expansion of enterprises relied on speed, scale and low cost, but now the important thing is to enhance the endogenous power." Chen Dapeng's words make people feel profound after careful consideration.

In fact, there have been different opinions and opinions on the topic of poor development of the industry in the past two years. As many industry experts have said, the development trend of the industry is gradually becoming clear in 2012. Perhaps high costs, sluggish domestic and foreign sales, transformation and upgrading, and innovation are all major issues of concern to enterprises. However, in the past few years, many companies are also accumulating energy, hoping to solve the obstacles to development. On this basis, the China Garment Association also hopes that the industry can go through the fog and practice internal skills. Therefore, from the "crossing" in 2012 to the "strength" in 2013, the China Garment Association is extending CHIC's help to enterprises to a greater extent, and "strength" is also an idea generated after considering several major pressures on the development of garment enterprises.

Pressure one: high costs kick away low-cost competition

"Cost pressure is one of the biggest pressures on Chinese garment enterprises, in which labor costs have been high. In the 30 years of reform and opening up, the treatment of workers should be improved, and such an increase is also the result of China's economic development. The bottleneck in the development of garment enterprises is not the increase in costs, but what enterprises should do after the increase in costs." Chen Dapeng said that compared with China, the labor cost in Europe and the United States is nearly ten times higher, but the value created by European and American workers is more than ten times or even dozens of times that of Chinese products. "China's low-cost era should be over. What companies need to do is to adjust production methods and business methods after costs increase. In the past, they may rely on quantity to win, but the profits brought by mass production are actually not much. Marketing concepts must be changed., Create personalized brands in accordance with market changes, enhance creativity and innovation, and especially ensure continuous innovation."

Since last year, due to the rise of labor costs in China, the production orders of many foreign brands have been transferred to Southeast Asian countries. However, in Chen Dapeng's eyes, these are only low value-added orders, which does not mean that China's clothing production has no advantage. "Chinese clothing accounts for 1/3 of global exports, which is not only low-cost, but also high value-added products. The manufacturing advantages of Chinese clothing still exist, and the future direction of the clothing industry must be to enhance the level of creativity."

To improve creativity and added value, enterprises need to improve endogenous motivation, and these all take time. Obviously, the old era of Chinese clothing, which used to develop at a high speed of dozens of percent, has come to an end.

Pressure 2: N roads for the transformation of export enterprises

From Chen Dapeng's introduction, we can understand that the form of clothing export this year is not good. From the fourth quarter of last year to May this year, the export volume has been negative growth. Because the low-price advantage is no longer available, many export companies have also given up producing low value-added products. Seeing the vigorous development of China's domestic market, there are not a few export companies that hope to switch to domestic sales.

But after the experience, many enterprises will find that it is not so easy to export to domestic sales. Chen Dapeng said: "more than half of China's clothing exports are still supported by volume, and once such enterprises switch to domestic sales, a series of factors such as research and development, design, purchasers and suppliers will have to be reconsidered, which is also very difficult."

Frankly speaking, Chinese garment enterprises still have a long way to go in R & D, but it also indicates great potential. Compared with the large cost of export enterprises to switch to domestic sales, it is a better way for export enterprises to cooperate with domestic brands. "Foreign trade enterprises have good processing ability and certain design ability. If they can cooperate with domestic brand enterprises, it is a very good idea." As the executive vice president of the China Garment Association, Chen Dapeng has seen many successes and failures in the transformation of export-oriented enterprises, so he does not approve of the transformation of export enterprises into terminal brands. "There are also many enterprises that have lost tens of millions of dollars to become brands in the transformation of export enterprises. If exporting is a smooth road, then turning to domestic sales is more like climbing a mountain, which requires good physique, good equipment and scientific methods."

Obviously, the transformation of foreign trade enterprises into brands is a way of thinking, but it is not the only way of thinking. China's garment manufacturing has entered a new period of development, enterprises should consider the next step of development in accordance with the idea of manufacturing brand.

Pressure 3: Fair Deduction for Shopping Malls

There is pressure for export enterprises to switch to brands, and there is also pressure for domestic brands to enter shopping malls. Some people say that if you see the same clothes of the same brand abroad, the price abroad is much cheaper than at home, and a large part of the profits go to domestic shopping malls. The guaranteed deduction of domestic shopping malls is a huge nightmare for clothing brands. In the past two years, the price of clothing in shopping malls has been rising day by day, and the doubling growth has made many consumers unable to bear it. In fact, it is not only the buyers who can't bear it, but also the brand owners. A few days ago, when a reporter from the clothing times interviewed the marketing director of a clothing brand, she said: "I don't want to come to the mall to buy clothes now, because I know that a large part of such a high price is given to the mall, but the value really attached to the clothes is very small."

Faced with the issue of guaranteed deductions, Chen Dapeng said it's an old problem, but the same old problem needs attention: "The mall is asking for high prices, it's a market problem, there's nothing wrong with selling and buying, but what we want to emphasize is that the mall should give all brands fair treatment." Chen Dapeng has been emphasizing fairness, "Shopping malls should choose international brands and domestic brands equally. The state should further regulate the market order, and shopping malls should not distinguish between international brands and domestic brands, which is what the association should call for and what the media should call."