From a pair of socks, a piece of clothing, to a 100 billion yuan industry. Taking advantage of the "east wind" of digitalization, the mainland's clothing and accessories industry continues to go international. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, in the first five months of this year, the country's textile and garment exports were 115.84 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.4%, and the growth rate was 0.8 percentage points faster than that from January to April. Tracing the "origin" of "going to sea" clothing accessories, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong are in the forefront, and there is no lack of "Made in Lingnan" in the clothing and accessories industry chain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
In Nantong, Jiangsu, which is known as the "home textile capital", Boss Zhang of Dianhua Textile Co., Ltd. is checking the order with the processing factory on the other end of the phone. "Recently, there is a foreign trade order for toys and clothing, the company found a factory in Dongguan for processing, just the goods were delivered, I confirm here, if there is no problem, the customer will arrange overseas logistics to take the freight away." According to reports, Dianhua Textile is mainly engaged in the manufacture and sales of textile accessories, such as the production of tables, chairs, pillows, toys and other related textiles, and the products are mainly sold abroad, with an annual output value of about 20 million US dollars.
Boss Zhang was originally a native of Huizhou, Guangdong, and has worked in clothing companies for many years, and has always had great confidence in the development of the industry. After working for many years in a Guangdong garment factory was cancelled, he realized that logistics and transportation is an important part of the clothing industry chain, so he turned into his own logistics company, specializing in providing logistics services for clothing enterprises, at that time, Nantong was one of its main cargo transportation destinations. With the surge in demand, Boss Zhang decided to leave Guangdong and work hard in Nantong. With his understanding of the apparel industry and his keen judgment on logistics scheduling, Boss Zhang soon went to Dianhua Textile as the person in charge of logistics.
Considering the production technology and product cost, the company cooperates with factories in Dongguan, Guangxi, Guizhou and other places in Guangdong Province in addition to its own production line to ensure the diversity of products. This time we received an order from abroad, the time was tight and the requirements were high, so we found a cooperative factory in Dongguan to make it. After the production is completed, I will send the product from Dongguan to Nantong by calling a car for the full shipment, and then wait for the customer to pick up the goods by himself. Boss Zhang said.
Dianhua Textile is a microcosm of the linkage of the apparel and textile industries in Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces. Along the development of the logistics industry, recently, Yunman released the "Dongguan Garment Industry Belt Supply Chain Logistics Insight White Paper", which mentioned that from 2021 to May 2024, the clothing and accessories shipped from Dongguan to Jiangsu every year have been among the top five in the country. The increasingly close industrial chain cooperation relies on Dongguan's good industrial background. As of the end of 2022, Humen Town, Dongguan has nearly 3,000 clothing and apparel production enterprises, employing more than 200,000 people, and the annual total industrial output value of the clothing and apparel industry is about 42 billion yuan.
The hard power of the industry is also boosting more Guangdong shippers to "borrow ships to go to sea", and grasp both domestic and foreign trade.
As a local clothing consignor in Guangdong, Chen Wenjie's hosiery shop has been open for five years. "I have a relative who is in the women's shoe business, and after I graduated, I went to his side to help with warehouse management. Later, I paid attention to the category of socks, and I also had a channel to produce socks, so I decided to start my own business, and I opened this shop in Guangzhou in 2019. In order to meet the needs of different consumers, Chen Wenjie will purchase socks from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jilin and other places to ensure that the socks in the store are varied and dazzling. At present, his clients include well-known local live broadcast studios in Guangzhou, shoe stores around stores, etc.
In addition to stable production and sales channels, logistics and transportation are always the main focus. "Safety in the transport of products such as clothing and textiles is of the utmost importance, and it needs to be kept dry and protected from moisture. The carriages should also be kept clean and tidy, so that the goods cannot be contaminated. Some products are not yet exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time. "Entering the textile and garment industry for many years, it is the "old rivers and lakes" of the logistics industry, and Boss Zhang counted the points of attention in the transportation of textile and garment products. In the continuous contact with foreign trade customers, Chen Wenjie has also accumulated some precautions. "Some foreign trade customers need to return orders, I will explain to the driver in advance, dock with the warehouse, and issue bills when the goods are delivered, so that they can be given to users."
In addition to the guarantee in the freight process, transportation costs are of great concern because they are directly related to the profits of both production and sales. "The peak season of foreign trade orders is concentrated on the eve of Halloween, Christmas and other festivals, and it can be said that October to November is the peak period for orders and transportation, and the demand for transport vehicles is larger, and there are usually about ten orders a month." Boss Zhang by a friend to introduce the full transport of four years, he calculated the account, on June 7 he called a 9.6-meter truck transport toy packaging set on the platform of Yunmanman, from Dongguan, Guangzhou to Nantong, Jiangsu, the freight cost of more than 2,000 yuan, calculated down a car of goods compared to their own people to find a car to save 5% of the cost. This year, he has saved the company about 100,000 yuan in logistics costs.
Most of Chen Wenjie's customers are concentrated in Guangdong Province, and the general taxi is sent from the factory to Guangzhou, or directly from the store to the customer. In the summer off-season, you should call a car once every two or three days, and in the winter peak season, you should call two or three cars a day. "If you need a car to transport goods, I will directly look for a car on the platform of Yunmanman, the speed of the car is fast, and the price is relatively favorable. I pay about 10,000 yuan a year to call a car, and I can save about 10% of the cost if I count the discounts given by the platform. In this way, I can save about 200,000 yuan a year. Chen Wenjie said.
Relying on digital logistics, the production and sales ends have achieved reduced transportation costs and improved efficiency. In addition, with the support of digital logistics, the digitalization of the supply chain of Dongguan's garment industry is constantly improving. The "Dongguan Garment Industry Belt Supply Chain Logistics Insight White Paper" pointed out that at present, Dongguan has formed a set of efficient and flexible production, supply and sales circulation mode from design to trial production, from sample exhibition to consumer demand feedback, from mass production to channel circulation. According to platform data, from 2019 to 2023, the online shipment volume of clothing goods from Dongguan has shown a steady growth trend, with an average growth rate of 49.5% during the period.
It is about to enter the middle of summer, and socks sales are ushering in the off-season. Chen Wenjie introduced that there was too much rain in Guangdong this year, and it rained for more than a month, and the demand for socks decreased. Recently, a customer asked for goods, and he was waiting for good weather to call a car to transport the goods safely through Yunmanman's platform. In Boss Zhang's view, the market for foreign trade this year is relatively good. In late June, there will also be "made in Lingnan" foreign trade order products transported to Nantong, waiting to embark on the road of "going to sea".