The epidemic has spread to the world, and the world’s major fashion production and market centers have become epidemic areas. The epidemic has triggered a financial earthquake and the global economic downturn has led to a decline in international textile and apparel trade and export orders. Textile production and trading companies have been in trouble.
The industrial chain is blocked, and there is still time to restart: Textile and clothing is a long industrial chain. Downstream industries have different start-up conditions and timing, and they are interfering with each other. It is difficult for companies to start operations, and it is even more difficult to coordinate the supply chain. This makes the garment industry an industry with a low resumption rate and slow normalization.
When you grab a worker, you get money! Guangzhou Garment Area has “difficulty recruiting workers”: there are more bosses than workers!
Originally, many companies would experience labor shortages after the Spring Festival every year. During this epidemic, the “difficulty in recruiting workers” has become even more prominent. 70% of employees in Guangdong come from other places. Now that work and production are resuming, many garment companies in Guangzhou are facing the problem of “difficulty in recruiting workers.”
This time I interviewed several brands and manufacturers. Some of them have resumed work, while others are still on standby. From these replies, we can have a more three-dimensional and comprehensive observation of the impact of the epidemic on the garment industry and the situation of the participants in each link.
1. A clothing brand in Wuhan
1. If things are normal, what is the current work progress of the brand in previous years?
If things go according to normal circumstances, the spring and summer new releases will have been completed in early March, about 7-8 models, and the shooting of outdoor specials will have begun.
2. What is the actual situation now?
Due to the current Wuhan epidemic, we have to cancel the 2020 spring and summer new product sales.
The goods we can currently ship will be shipped by SF Express. We use contactless delivery, so customers can buy with confidence.
3. What trouble did the factory encounter?
Because our factories are all in Wuhan, we cannot start operations due to the epidemic, and there is no accurate time for when we will start operations in the future.
The brand is also in a semi-paralysis state at this stage. I hope that when we release new products again, you can continue to support us and give back to everyone with better customer experience and products.
2. A certain clothing brand in Wuhan
1. Under normal circumstances, the current brand in previous years is What’s the work progress?
Under normal circumstances, 80% of our spring and summer styles can basically be put on sale. If there will be several cross-border joint series in the future, they will probably be finalized during this time, and there will also be an offline event planning.
Now due to the impact of the epidemic, work cannot be resumed, resulting in work being unable to be carried out.
2. What is the actual situation now?
In fact, we have finalized the sample review of the 2020ss spring series and the first half of summer styles years ago, and have arranged for the factory to produce large quantities. The first wave of spring and summer lookbooks were put on the shelves a year ago, and I originally planned to start shooting the second wave of spring and summer lookbooks after the year. Due to the impact of the epidemic, work cannot be resumed.
At the end of the month we will put on sale our second wave of spring new products, and then only some employees will be able to work online for company operations. As for the sales and customer service, some of the people in charge and I coordinate the progress of each section and work hard to coordinate some of the best plans so that we can carry out the work in an orderly manner with maximum efficiency after the resumption of work.
3. What trouble did the factory encounter?
Because our foundry is in Guangdong Province, they will resume work around the end of February. Although it has a big impact, fortunately, it is now able to operate normally.
The delivery date has basically been met through communication to meet the launch of new products. We now hope that Wuhan can quickly pass the application for resumption of work, carry out a small-scale resumption of work plan, and some aspects of the brand can be put into operation quickly.
3. Garment manufacturers in Dongguan and Huizhou, Guangdong (operating factories for 15 years, 10 production lines, 100 workers)
1. Which brands does the factory mainly accept? Most of them are foreign brands, but there are also domestic brands.
2. In normal times in previous years, what should be the work progress now? 100,000-200,000 pieces per month.
3. What is the actual situation now due to the impact of the epidemic? Affected by the epidemic this year, most workers have not returned and cannot fully resume work. And suppliers delayed the start of work, resulting in a lack of material supply.
4. What is the current biggest loss? Order delays and diversion of guest orders.
5. What is the situation with textile raw materials? The textile industry is experiencing difficulties with delivery.
6. Which aspect are you under the greatest pressure? Labor wages, delivery pressure.
7. What methods do you plan to use to reduce losses? Optimize staffing, reduce fixed expenses, and develop new customers.
4. Guangxi clothing manufacturer (operating factory for more than 1 year, two production lines, 16 workers in total)
1. Which brands does the factory mainly accept? We opened factories mainly forIn order to upgrade the quality of its own brand BPCALL. Currently we only make our own brand products.
2. In normal times in previous years, what should be the work progress now? This time last year we had just started buying equipment, hiring a team, and customizing fabrics for the summer, so there is no comparison to the same period.
3. What is the actual situation now due to the impact of the epidemic? The current situation is that there is a shortage of fabrics, because all our fabrics are custom-made and there is no spot purchase.
The workers are basically local and have already resumed work. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the delivery date of fabrics has been delayed, and production is still not possible.
4. What is the current biggest loss? The biggest loss at present is that the brand’s sales have been affected. Our own factories have to cooperate with sales, so they dare not run full-scale production, which naturally results in much less profit.
5. What is the situation with textile raw materials? The fabric factory is delayed in starting operations, and the fabrics we ordered years ago cannot be delivered, so our factory has no fabrics for production. But they are all engaged in production, so it is understandable when encountering the epidemic. Fortunately, the fabrics have been shipped one after another, but all our production will be delayed.
6. Which aspect are you under the greatest pressure? I think our pressure is very low because we are all local employees and we resumed production only 10 days later than the normal holiday.
Those who have resumed production after the local government has issued regulations can continue to work. Because wages are only calculated based on commissions based on the piece, employees are more proactive. Although the profits are much less, the losses are non-existent.
7. What methods do you plan to use to reduce losses? Unlike other factories, we are more like new retail. Sales and production are tied together.
The main impact now is that logistics has not been restored in some areas, including some community blockades, so the product sales conversion rate is relatively low, store sales are not high, and factory production is constrained.
We are currently mainly solving the problem of delayed sales, so we need to attract more traffic! Do your own product marketing, participate in Taobao activities, provide content with more accurate traffic media, etc.
5. Garment factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong (operating the factory for more than 10 years, about 70 workers)
1. What brands of orders does the factory mainly accept? Most of them are from abroad, but in China, just pick up a few familiar brands
2. In normal times in previous years, what should be the work progress now? In previous years, the spring and summer models have already been shipped, and they should have been packed, because it is the time to rush for shipment. Most of the brands are from Japan, and the volume is about 40-80w.
3. What is the actual situation now due to the impact of the epidemic? To be honest, production has just started this year. In addition, the Chinese New Year started early this year, but I took a break for almost 2 months. Now we are all rushing to get orders… We are constantly rushing to get orders, and the wages have gone up. The production lines are fully booked, but there are still some core employees who have not returned yet.
4. What is the current biggest loss? The biggest loss now is time and money.
We only officially resumed work in early March. For example, our factory mainly receives a lot of overseas orders and has to meet the shipping schedule. After the shipping schedule, it cannot be delivered to the customer on time. So we are all racing against time and we must arrange our time reasonably.
5. What is the situation with textile raw materials? In terms of textile raw materials, it’s pretty normal, and the main fabrics we cooperate with are all open.
6. Which aspect are you under the greatest pressure? The pressure is mainly due to the brand’s push for shipments, personnel deployment, and shipping schedules.
7. What methods do you plan to use to reduce losses? In fact, there is no way to reduce losses. We can only race against time and keep rushing. There is also recruitment, I really can’t think of a way.
6. Garment factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang (operating the factory for half a year, 5-6 workers)
1. What brands of orders does the factory mainly accept? Foreign trade order.
2. In normal times in previous years, what should be the work progress now? Summer models are in production.
3. What is the actual situation now due to the impact of the epidemic? Customers place few orders, and workers are unstable when they don’t respond.
4. What is the current biggest loss? The biggest loss is that the order volume of old customers has dropped, and our workload has also dropped.
5. What is the situation with textile raw materials? The clothing fabric manufacturers we cooperate with are basically stable, and the fabric market has not yet been fully opened.
6. Which aspect is under the greatest pressure? The biggest pressure is that the production volume cannot keep up. Nowadays, many factories are not short of processing orders, but they are short of manpower.
The front-line garment factories and processing plants are important production departments in the garment industry. The designer’s wild ideas also need to be adjusted based on the actual production situation. Without the participation and contribution of the factory, no matter how good the idea is, it will be forced to become a castle in the air and will not be able to achieve an order.
We don’t need to be overly pessimistic about the future textile market. After all, clothing is a rigid necessity and only It will be delayed but not disappear.
Especially now, although the overseas epidemic has caused widespread cancellation of orders, and it is still difficult for a large number of spot markets, led by the Zhongda Textile Market, to officially fully produce, there is good news. There are quite a few. At present, as low-risk areas such as Jingzhou, Hubei Province are gradually unblocked, people are beginning to return to textile markets in Guangzhou and other places to prepare for the resumption of work and production. All in all, the domestic market is developing in a positive trend, and these orders will still be placed, but the process may be very slow, and textile workers still need to be fully mentally prepared.
�Large-scale cancellations still exist, and it is still difficult for a large number of spot markets, led by Zhongda Textile Market, to formally fully produce. However, there is a lot of good news. At present, as low-risk areas such as Jingzhou, Hubei Province are gradually unblocked, the flow of goods is returning. People began to appear in textile markets in Guangzhou and other places to prepare for the resumption of work and production. All in all, the domestic market is developing in a positive trend, and these orders will still be placed, but the process may be very slow, and textile workers still need to be fully mentally prepared. </p
