Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

Affected by climate change and energy shortage, the demand for warm clothing in Europe has increased.

In Tongxiang, Zhejiang, the local woolen sweater market ushered in the peak season of production and sales, and the international trade export orders of woolen sweater increased significantly. The author visited and learned that many enterprises have increased labor and full load production to ensure timely delivery of orders.

Export orders in international trade increased significantly

"The order volume of this autumn and winter woolen sweater increased significantly, up 10% to 15% year on year, most of which came from Europe." According to the person in charge of a sweater clothing enterprise in Puyuan Town, Tongxiang, Zhejiang, the customers are mainly from Spain, Italy, France and other countries. With Europe entering winter and the recent energy shortage, many Europeans have increased their demand for warm clothing. Woolen sweaters are light and fashionable, so they are very popular.

In the newly-built factory building of this woolen sweater clothing enterprise located in Puyuan Town, Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, dozens of fully automatic computerized flat knitting machines are working at full power to produce samples. The design, customer service, production and other links are all busy. The above person in charge said that at present, more people are working to ensure the timely delivery of orders. This year, especially the thick woolen sweater clothing, is more popular overseas than in previous years.

Another sweater clothing manufacturer in Tongxiang is also busy with order delivery. The person in charge of production of the enterprise said that clothing production needs a certain period. In fact, orders have been placed in Europe since the second quarter of this year, and shipments have been made to Europe in the third quarter. This year's order volume has more than tripled compared with last year, and international trade export orders have increased significantly.

"Among the overseas orders increased this year, there are relatively many samples ordered, and customers will continue to make up for the products that sell well in Europe." Said the above responsible person. According to his observation, the international trade of woolen sweaters this year also showed a feature, that is, the basic products at par are more popular.

Data shows that in September this year, Zhejiang Tongxiang Puyuan sweater market achieved a turnover of 12.3 billion yuan, an increase of 30% over August. From January to September this year, the trading volume reached 56.89 billion yuan.

Enterprises accelerate transformation and upgrading

As Europe is facing energy shortage, rising natural gas prices and other problems, many customers have come to make up the bill since September this year. The heads of many enterprises in Puyuan Town, Tongxiang, said that the price of materials had risen to varying degrees, but in order to win more orders, most products did not rise in price.

In order to cope with various challenges brought by the current economic situation, more and more enterprises choose to take the initiative, seek development in the transformation, and build a "moat" of enterprises through innovation and upgrading.

It is understood that, in order to better maintain communication with customers, Tongxiang Puyuan enterprises have increased their investment in online marketing, created a new interest ecosystem by building their own online centralized procurement platform, practically solved some "pain points" under the current international trade situation, and formed a closed loop of trade services.

Zhejiang Kangying Garment Co., Ltd. was established in 2013. At present, its product trade has involved the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries. The person in charge of the company told the reporter that, on the one hand, the company kept in touch with customers in the form of online video conference and email; On the other hand, the company will hold an online "press conference" for new products according to the needs of overseas customers. The anchor will introduce all kinds of woolen sweaters online, and the customers can directly place orders for which one they like.

The government took many measures and put forward practical measures

Behind the transformation of enterprises, the local government can not do without a variety of innovative measures with industrial characteristics to help enterprises solve difficulties and pain points.

It is reported that this year, Puyuan Town issued Several Opinions on Further Promoting Stable and Quality Development of the Economy, to effectively help international trade enterprises solve difficult problems in production and operation, help market players to meet the difficulties and provide strong support for stable economic operation. In order to provide more comprehensive help to enterprises, Puyuan Town further implemented a large visit activity to help enterprises, focusing on the production and operation status and problem needs of retail enterprises, providing special services, and strengthening the method guidance on the expansion of sales channels.

It is learned that, in response to the enterprise rescue policy issued in the first half of the year from the central government to the provinces and cities, Puyuan Town organized the person in charge of the business clockwork line to timely transmit the information to the "last kilometer", and arranged the grid length to implement it, thus playing a set of "combination punch" to stabilize growth.

In addition, in order to boost the business confidence of local sweater retailers, Puyuan Town actively launched and implemented 25 merchants to participate in the issuance and use of consumer vouchers, and ensured the effectiveness of enterprise assistance by standardizing the coupon use process.