Enhanced brand advantages

Looking back to these five years, the theme of China’s garment industry could be summarized as “innovation” and “development”. The industry has made great achievements based on active exploration of new ways through continuous coping with unprecedented difficulties and pressures, laying a solid foundation for further development.

The achievements include not only the growing increase of the industry but also the improved industry quality and enhanced brand advantages. Specifically, there are six main characteristics: the adjustment of industrial structure was accelerated with increasingly obvious synergistic effect; product creativity and market structure were improved; high and new technologies were widely used, effectively improving production efficiency; the advantages of brand groups emerged with a substantial increase in the contribution rate of the brands; continuous innovation of business models help speed up the construction of market service system; multinational operations achieved new breakthroughs.

More scientific industrial chain system

The competition among garment brands is actually to compete in the industrial chain. For example, Uniqlo is supported by a rapid-reaction supply chain system including various outstanding enterprises engaged in fibers, fabrics, design and R & D, manufacturing, and logistics. To be powerful from large in scale, China’s garment industry must rely on a sound modern integrated innovation system in the industrial chain. However, for so long a period, some companies have been blindly practicing the so-called “channel first” philosophy, constantly setting up shops. Such rapid expansion was not based on rational analysis of the market and consumption, without attaching enough importance to the upstream fiber, fabric, and manufacturing companies.

Although we are talking about the importance of the product, we have not really viewed the product as the core. Faced with this situation, during the 12^th Five-Year Program period, we have made active adjustments, trying to improve the industrial integrated innovation system, which has effectively promoted the coordinated development of downstream industries and has made great progress in the industrial collaborative innovation.

Of course, we still have to notice that currently China’s most outstanding fabric businesses and the best garment manufacturing enterprises are still providing services to international brands, which has not caused enough attention from domestic apparel brands. For Chinese clothing brands, there is still a long way to go in the construction of industrial chain. We must, in the first place, clearly recognize our position in the industrial chain, aiming to be professional, proficient, and practical, so that innovation will truly become a driving force for enterprise development. On this basis, it is required to give full play to the Internet technology and make great efforts to build digital and networked system of coordination and cooperation, striving to create an international industrial chain full of science, quality and efficiency.

Faster IT applications

We have now entered the age of the Internet, and this is a new era. Information technology is changing the exchanging ways and production methods, but can not change the nature of the industry. It is a tool, a means and a platform to help us to create a broader space for development. Internet, on the one hand, can reduce the asymmetry of information between us and consumers to strengthen communication and contact, in order that we can better understand and interpret the changes in consumer demand; on the other hand, IT application in the whole industrial chain contributes a lot to build a better market rapid-response system, which is the consumer-driven business model change in the new economic era.

The core purpose is to provide consumers with the best products and services. We must learn the lesson from past conceptualization, and firmly grasp the nature and future of industry.

In this context, we must realize that the garment industry is ushering in a new round of technological revolution and industrial revolution, which is a major support and significant opportunity for industrial transformation and upgrading. We need to accelerate the pace of scientific and technological progress, to reconstruct the relationships between brands, consumers and markets to change the production paradigm and value creation mode based on the depth integration of information technology and the industry.

Big data

l         The main business income of the above-designated enterprises increased from 1113.369 billion yuan in January to November 2010 to 2076.983 billion yuan in 2014, a cumulative growth of 86.55% with an average annual increase of 16.87%.

l         The exports value increased from 129.478 billion USD in 2010 to 187.816 billion USD in 2014, a cumulative growth of 45.06%. The proportion of export value in the global total rose from 36.84% in 2010 to 40.81% in 2013, while the export price grew from 3.58 USD / piece in 2010 to 4.64 USD / piece, a 29.61% increase.

l         The apparel retail of domestic above-norm commercial enterprises increased from 416.6 billion yuan in 2010 to 893.6 billion yuan in 2014, an increase of 1.14 times.

l         Total profits of the above-designated enterprises grew 35.81% (Jan. – Nov., 2010), 33.18%, 10.16%, 9.83%, and 10.55% respectively.

Economic performance quality (1 – 9, 2015):

l         Sales margin increased by 0.08% over the same period last year

l         Cost profit margin rose by 0.08% compared with the same period last year

l         Turnover rate of finished products grew by 0.31% year on year

l         Turnover rate of receivable accounts increased by 0.07% year on year

l         Mobile asset turnover increased by 0.01% year on year