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Chinese textile and clothing industry © Walter Babiak / pixelio.de
02.02.2016

CHINA'S TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY IS ORIENTATING TOWARDS NEW

  • Creating local branding
  • Gradual relocation towards abroad

Beijing (gtai) - Away from cheap mass production or relocation are the alternatives for the Chinese textile and clothing industry. A domestic "Go-West" does probably not pay off in the long term, the migration however to Southeast Asia has already started. At the same time German quality suppliers expect new sales opportunities if the companies strengthen their competitive position through more quality. This became clear at the last "Intertextile" October 2015 in Shanghai.

  • Creating local branding
  • Gradual relocation towards abroad

Beijing (gtai) - Away from cheap mass production or relocation are the alternatives for the Chinese textile and clothing industry. A domestic "Go-West" does probably not pay off in the long term, the migration however to Southeast Asia has already started. At the same time German quality suppliers expect new sales opportunities if the companies strengthen their competitive position through more quality. This became clear at the last "Intertextile" October 2015 in Shanghai.

The Chinese textile and clothing industry is under massive pressure of costs. Away from cheap mass production or relocation is the need of the hour. Until now the industry is primarily located at the Pearl River and the attached Yangtze River Delta, where wages on average are the highest nationwide. According to the China National Garment Association (CNGA) about 70% of the production volume account for the five provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong.

Supported by the policy is the move to the more favorable central and western provinces. This happens not least to the preservation of local jobs and the development of the far less booming regions of the country. In this sense not only the CNGA endorses the relocation of clothing manufacturers to Xinjiang. In the western province 30% of the cotton of the country is grown, which with 6.2 million tons in 2014 is the largest cotton producing area in the world. After association investments the authorities are planning investments amounting to USD 3.2 billion, amongst other things for the establishment of "Textile Industry Parks".

Another attempt to shift the Chinese textile industry from the coast to the west, represents the Ningxia Ecological Rextile Industrial Demonstration Park, which was opened in December 2014. According to China.org.cn by 2020 here about 50,000 people work should be working there in the textile industry.

"Go West" is not attractive for private textile and clothing companies

To which extent these efforts will be successful remains to be seen. However, said by a Chinese businesswoman, "Go West" at best will be a medium-term solution, because also there sooner or later the wages would rise (not to mention the already there noticeable higher logistics and other costs). If to move, then only to permanently cheaper overseas locations. A migration to Vietnam, Bangladesh or Cambodia is already going on. But the fact is that so far a large displacement wave - at home or abroad - has not yet happened.

That Vietnam and Bangladesh have climbed in a few years to the third and fourth place of the main source countries for the PRC in terms of clothing (Vietnam: USD 587.5 million, Bangladesh: USD 364,7 each in the first ten months of 2015 for HS-Pos. 61 and 62), results very predominantly on already shifted production capacities of Chinese manufacturers. They bring their products from there back to China to sell them here.

Vietnam as a manufacturing site should also gain in the course of the in October 2015 successfully completed negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement between the US and Vietnam in importance for Chinese enterprises. After coming into effect exports from Vietnam to the United States will be duty-free. In November 2015 for example was to read in China Daily, the Huafeng Co. of Shandong would be planning to build a textile mill in the Southeast Asian neighboring country with an investment of 700 million Renminbi (RMB - approximately 110 million USD, 1 USD= 0,157 RMB, the average rate as of November 2015).

Cambodia does not play in the foremost league yet, but pushes with power forward: During the named period, imports of knitted and crocheted clothing rose by 38.1% to USD 124.8 million (HS-Pos. 61) and other clothes (HS-Pos. 62) by 18.4% to USD 32.3 million.

However, for the relocation certain limits are set as the target countries often reach their capacity limits. Considered has to be the in China existing extremely advantageous integration of the various stages from cotton growing over the wide textile processing up to the final cutting and sewing of clothing.

Superiority in quality rather than relocation

Instead on a further relocation innovative companies and designers rely on an upgrading of their products. The aim is to serve more demanding customers in the Chinese market - and to position themselves abroad. To these belongs the fashion designer Ma Ke, who designs clothes for China's First Lady Peng Liyuan, or Guo Pei, who caused stir with her creation for the singer Rihanna at the Met Gala 2015 in New York.

Apart from individual stars of the scene also increasingly large companies such as the down jacket specialist Bosideng or the men’s wear designer Mark Fairwhale and Ningbo PeaceBird move away from pure volume production towards brand building and quality. Bosideng has even opened its own flagship store in London. The awareness of important Chinese brands such Heilan Home or Metersbonwe is still limited to local customers, for the majority of European buyers they are not a concept. But according to sector insiders this is likely to change, step by step.

Market share of the 10 most important suppliers for men’s wear in China 2014
Brand Country of origin Market share (in %)
Heilan Home PR China 2.9
Jack & Jones (Bestseller) Denmark (Tianjin) 2.4
Nike USA 1.0
Youngor PR China 1.0
Uniqlo Japan 1.0
Romon PR China 1.0
GXG PR China 0.9
Adidas Germany 0.8
Metersbowe PR China 0.8
Mark Fairwhale PR China 0.7

Source: China Daily based on Euromonitor

For German suppliers in terms of top materials (usually the most expensive materials), accessories (such as interlinings, buttons, thread, packaging) or also in cutting and sewing, China remains interesting. This was demonstrated once again at the last "Intertextile" in October 2015 Shanghai.

Two opposing trends are apparent: On the one hand exhibitors reported about a shift in demand to other countries in the wake of rising wages and ancillary wage costs. On the other hand suppliers of more expensive products can now look and hope beyond of inexpensive mass markets to the emergence of new niches, so a producer of woven-real hair fur materials. A provider of real horn buttons thinks similar.

The next "Intertextile" with a German pavilion takes place from October 11th to 13th 2016 in Shanghai ("Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics Autumn Edition"; information under www.auma.de or www.intertextile.com.cn).

Generally exhibitors recommend for risk diversification to build a second pillar next to the site in China. "The caravan moves on," is said. Currently the lowest wages for garment workers are being paid in Bangladesh, the country also benefits from duty-free agreements for imports into the EU. The latter also applies for Cambodia. Also very competitive the seamstresses are working in Vietnam and India. Moreover, Africa (specifically for example Ethiopia) will play an important future role, also a production facility in Korea (Dem.) is not outrageous for Chinese textile companies.

In general free trade agreements should get considerably more weight in future, as this is the case today.