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Humen garment district hopes to grow by thinking small

By Lin Jing in Humen, Guangdong | China Daily | Updated: 2013-12-06 09:39

After 30 years of development, the town has become the largest apparel industry cluster in the country.

By the end of 2012, there were more than 2,300 apparel production and processing enterprises, with a production area of 2.74 million square meters, employing more than 200,000 people.

The annual industrial output value is about 300 billion yuan. There are also more than 1,000 companies in apparel-related industries, such as printing and dyeing.

Meanwhile, the original women's wear sector is experiencing an upgrade from Original Equipment Manufacturer manufacturing to cultivating its own brands.

Li said the main challenge for Humen is a lack of famous brands and innovative products.

The government has been planning to help build two to three national brands and 10 to 15 provincial brands, making Humen a brand center in the Pearl River Delta.

Many local brands also are working harder to expand channels.

Yizhou Garment Co, a designer brand in Humen, has just hired a new operations manager with an annual salary of 1 million yuan.

Chen Zhuo, founder and now general manager of the company, said that in the next three years, it will focus on putting distribution channels in every province in China.

Leutus, a local company that specializes in lingerie design and production, recently moved into a 3,000 square-meter R&D center.

Zheng Liyuan, general manager with Leutus, said the company will focus more on brand-building and new products research.

Established in 2006, the company targets the middle class, with affordable garments having an average price of about 250 yuan.

As one of the fastest-growing companies in Humen, Leutus has tallied an annual growth rate of 30 percent in the past three years.

Currently, it has more than 1,000 stores in China, which rang up 300 million yuan in sales in 2012.

E-commerce potential

As more companies are involved in e-commerce, the Humen government also is sparing no efforts in the rising industry.

To better compete with companies from Zhejiang province, the Humen E-commerce Association was launched in January.

Soon after, the association signed an agreement with QQ, Tencent's popular online messenger service.

According to the agreement, Humen can sell its garments via QQ's platform.

Data from the local government showed that more than 5,000 companies have become involved in e-commerce since 2003.

Annual online sales for Humen in 2012 came to about 15 billion yuan.

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