After being "out of the circle" due to the boom of the Hanfu industry three years ago, at the beginning of the New Year in 2024, the popularity of horse-faced skirts once again put Caoxian, a county in southwest Shandong, on the "hot search" in the public opinion field.

　　Data from the Cao County E-commerce Service Center shows that so far, sales of the county’s Year of the Dragon New Year greeting clothes, mainly horse-faced skirts, have exceeded 300 million yuan.

Behind the considerable sales is huge industrial support.

According to statistics, there are about 1,500 horse-faced skirt companies in the county, employing 60,000 people. Compared with the total number of 2,282 Hanfu companies and nearly 100,000 Hanfu employees in the county, it is obvious that the horse-faced skirt industry accounts for Over 60%.

　　What is interesting is that compared with the curiosity, surprise, and concern from the outside world, in Caoxian County, many horse-faced skirt business owners, employees, and government staff interviewed by reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily expressed their opinions as "unexpected." "中" describes the popularity brought by this horse-faced skirt.

　　Their confidence comes from the rapidly rising and accumulated industrial foundation, as well as from the rising national enthusiasm and cultural confidence.

　　Facing such a new development track, is this county, which has been deeply involved in the e-commerce industry for many years, fully prepared?

How will it start next?

About 40% of merchants in Cao County did not have a holiday during the New Year

　　From the average daily sales of 700 horse-faced skirts in the live broadcast room, the number suddenly surged to more than 1,200 pieces. Ren Yafeng began to appreciate and experience the heat wave of horse-faced skirts on New Year’s Day this year. To this day, the heat wave shows no signs of abating.

　　In the past year, this 36-year-old entrepreneurial youth who returned to his hometown started from scratch and made the horse-faced skirt live broadcast one of the top three on the Internet.

Previously, he had been working in the e-commerce industry in his hometown for 12 years. He started by selling performance clothes through traditional e-commerce, and then transformed into live broadcast e-commerce. He has witnessed almost every key node of Caoxian County entering the fast lane of development in these years.

　　Ren Yafeng, who has mastered the traffic password, is accustomed to conducting big data analysis based on the customer's region, crowd characteristics and purchase time period, and adjusts the live broadcast time of the four live broadcast rooms accordingly.

He described this wave of craze as "general growth across the country": "In the past, there were very few customers from western regions such as Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. This year, the purchase volume in these areas has increased rapidly, and the age structure of customers has also exceeded the previous 25-35 years old. , customers aged 40-50 increased by 3%-6%."

　　"Actually, this wave of craze came earlier." Since July 2023, Hu Chunqing, president of the Cao County Hanfu Association and Shandong Provincial "Rural Good Youth", has keenly discovered that the number of local horse-face skirt companies and the number of employees have begun to rise. , at the same time, the number of related companies and live broadcast teams registered in Caoxian County from other places is also increasing.

According to his rough statistics, entering November 2023, the sales of horse-faced skirts by related companies in the county have increased three to four times year-on-year, with each company selling more than 600 pieces per day on average.

　　The volume of horse-faced skirts sent to all parts of the country is astonishing, and companies are busy... Han Meng, the mayor of Daji Town, vaguely felt this heat wave from the intensive research a few years ago. "At that time, we predicted that it would be popular," because This is the first town in Shandong Province to achieve full coverage of Taobao villages.

　　In the impression of this mayor who was born in the 1990s, at the beginning of 2022, there were few horse-face skirt companies in the town and their output was low.

Today, of the more than 900 original Hanfu companies here, 600 produce horse-face skirts; there are more than 700 college students in the town who have returned to their hometowns to start businesses, and about 50% are engaged in the Hanfu industry.

Since January this year, sales of horse-faced skirts in Daji Town have reached 150 million yuan.

A company in this town that specializes in horse-faced skirt products will have live broadcast sales of more than 200 million yuan in 2023.

　　Never give up any business opportunity, go all out, and make changes when appropriate - Caoxian people have developed this character after years of ups and downs in the economic tide. Obviously, this time is no exception.

　　In order to cope with the increasing number of orders, Ren Yafeng had to temporarily adjust the habit of getting off work at 6pm. More than 20 female sewing workers worked overtime for 3 hours every night, and the overtime pay increased from the previous 10 yuan per hour to 15 yuan.

During the Spring Festival, Ren Yafeng gave his employees nine days off. According to his understanding, about 40% of merchants did not even take a holiday during the New Year, and sales quadrupled compared to usual times.

　　On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Hu Chunqing's own company has resumed work ahead of schedule.

Horse-faced skirts account for half of the company's products, and there are more than 60 original styles for adults and children.

In view of the popularity of orders, Hu Chunqing specially increased the number of live broadcast rooms from 2 to 5.

　　In sync with the booming online sales, coupled with the effect of the Spring Festival holiday, offline horse-faced skirt experience stores also ushered in peak customer flow.

Liu Shenfeng runs the largest horse-faced skirt experience store in Daji Town. He said that during the Spring Festival, the customer flow here is three times that of usual.

　　Zhang Longfei, director of the Cao County E-commerce Service Center, clearly remembers that at 3 p.m. on the first day of the first lunar month, all 181 Ma Mian skirt offline experience stores in the county opened their doors to welcome customers.

"This is completely a spontaneous act of the enterprise, which fully demonstrates that the horse-faced skirt enterprises in Caoxian County keep up with the market trend, respond to consumers' holiday needs, and strive to go further and further on the road of 'culture + clothing'." Zhang Longfei said.

The production capacity dilemma behind “wait, wait, wait”

　　It is undeniable that the hot-selling horse-face skirt is regarded by more and more people as a cultural symbol, and behind it is the rise of a new wave of national fashion.

　　"Cao County's horse-faced skirts have unique designs, smooth lines, graceful shapes, and various styles, suitable for people of different occasions and age groups. Horse-faced skirts can be very grand or everyday. Because they are versatile, they also display a strong sense of style. The strong traditional cultural charm is welcomed by consumers. Many people choose to wear horse-faced skirts to express their love for traditional culture confidently and calmly during festivals," said Han Meng.

　　In addition to the versatile style and closer to daily life scenes, another secret to the popularity of Caoxian horse-faced skirts is the price.

"Compared to before the COVID-19 epidemic, the price of a horse-faced skirt has dropped by more than half, but the quality remains the same, and the higher cost performance is easily accepted by more people." Ren Yafeng said that the most popular item in his live broadcast room The "Happy Eyebrows" style horse-faced skirt is priced at only 180 yuan.

　　This is not an isolated case.

In this county, the price of horse-faced skirts generally ranges from 200 to 500 yuan. Most are adult women's horse-faced skirts, with a small number of children's and men's styles.

Zhang Longfei saved the shopping list of a foreign tourist who came to a horse-faced skirt offline experience store in Caoxian County on January 30. The family purchased multiple horse-faced skirts, cloaks, and Hanfu tops, spending a total of 4,809 yuan on 12 pieces.

　　The other side of the coin is that, for the first time, the county is stuck with capacity that falls far short of market demand.

　　For a long time, horse-faced skirt companies in Cao County have placed the production of jacquard fabrics, an important raw material, in Zhejiang and other places. After the fabrics are shipped back, local companies are responsible for cutting, sewing, ironing and packaging.

The reason why it is placed in other places is that there are almost no weaving machines and equipment locally, which means that an industrial closed loop cannot be formed.

Daily sales can still be satisfied, but once demand surges, it will inevitably be restricted by others.

　　Taking Ren Yafeng's company as an example, the fabrics come from three factories in Xucun Town, Haining, Zhejiang, and Shengzhou City, Shaoxing.

In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily on February 19, Ren Yafeng admitted that how to get more fabrics is his biggest headache these days.

　　Compared with the hot sales in the live broadcast room, the actual production capacity of Ma Mian Skirt offline has lagged far behind.

"We are fully capable of selling 1,500 horse-faced skirts, but when we sell 1,000, we must ask the anchor to automatically download the broadcast." Ren Yafeng said that for this reason, the live broadcast room had to adopt a pre-sale system. As of February 19, it was still More than 2,600 horse-faced skirts are owed to customers but have not yet been shipped.

He is also patiently waiting for cooperation with the Zhejiang cloth factory to officially start work after the Lantern Festival.

　　Like many business owners in Caoxian County, Liu Shenfeng also fell into a state of "waiting, waiting, waiting" this Spring Festival.

Compared to the past, orders for horse-faced skirts have doubled, followed by an increase in fabric prices and corporate costs.

　　"In the past, 1 meter of cloth sold for 23 yuan, but now it has risen to 33-35.6 yuan, and the competition for goods is extremely fierce." Liu Shenfeng's company previously bought shares in a cloth factory in Zhejiang, thus forming a company integrating fabric production, professional assembly lines and sales. An integrated industrial closed loop is rare in Caoxian County.

　　In the long run, Liu Shenfeng is still considering the introduction of weaving machines.

A plan to purchase 60 weaving machines at an estimated cost of 40 million yuan has been launched. The problem he encountered is still waiting in line. "The weaving machines have also been queued up to July this year."

In this regard, Liu Shenfeng said frankly that the current solution can only be to find more fabric factories, which is obviously a drop in the bucket.

　　For Ren Yafeng, the good news is that the fabric factory he cooperates with will soon add new equipment, increase the number of workers, and expand production capacity. "This will take a process, but I believe it will get better and better."

“The government follows the market”

　　For the local government of Caoxian County, how to adapt to and lead the new track of horse-faced skirts is a new issue that needs to be tackled urgently.

　　Zhang Longfei regards the rise of horse-faced skirts in 2024 as an important "sign" of the transformation of the Hanfu industry: "After sorting out the development of the Hanfu industry in Cao County, sporadic production began in 2018, and has gradually grown due to the emergence of a large number of costume dramas in 2019, and has made great strides in 2020. In the forward stage, there will be a blowout in 2023 as the cultural tourism industry heats up, until the horse-faced skirt explodes in popularity in 2024, marking the true transformation of Hanfu from a niche field to a clothing recognized by the public."

　　What is not known is that behind the popularity of horse-faced skirts, there is also the driving force of the local government.

　　At the end of 2022, there were only two horse face skirt offline experience stores in Cao County, and there were even fewer related companies.

"We proactively seize the opportunity of the heating up of ancient cities and scenic spots across the country, comply with market demand, and rely on the 'front store and back factory' model of many e-commerce companies in Cao County to gradually guide companies to gather in the horse-face skirt industry." Zhang Longfei introduced.

　　An example that is talked about by local merchants is that in 2023, a company in Cao County that specialized in high-end headphones completely transformed into making horse-faced skirts overnight.

In addition, there are countless local traditional Hanfu companies and other e-commerce companies that have joined the industry.

　　A month-long Hanfu show, active promotion by the county magistrate on important occasions... At the end of 2023, a series of activities led by the local government continued to pave the way, which can be called the "prelude" to the explosion.

　　Based on the prediction of the market, in early December 2023, the relevant government departments of Cao County took the initiative to connect with some brocade factories in Haining, Zhejiang to strengthen in-depth cooperation.

During this period, when talking about the production of horse-faced skirts for the Year of the Dragon, I hope that the other party can reserve production and technology investment space for local enterprises in Cao County in advance.

　　At present, insufficient production capacity has become a key factor constraining the horse skirt industry. In addition, how to plan the future development of this industry?

The answer given by Zhang Longfei is "the government follows the market." He also emphasized that this is "our consistent philosophy."

　　In Ancailou Town, the town government has taken the initiative to connect several Zhejiang brocade factories to set up local branches, and guided leading companies to introduce weaving equipment to cope with the lack of production capacity; in Daji Town, the investment introduction policy and design team for horse-faced skirts Introduction, brand cultivation and appearance patent application have all been included in this year's town development plan.

　　Looking at the whole county, focusing on the horse-faced skirt industry, Zhang Longfei said that this year, the production process will be further improved and the fabrics will be improved. The second Caoxian Hanfu Culture Festival and Spring New Product Launch Conference will be held to invite customers from all over the world.

　　What is particularly noteworthy is that Caoxian proposed that the technological transformation of e-commerce enterprises will be included in the scope of technological innovation awards like that of industrial enterprises, which means that relevant enterprises' process improvements and equipment introduction and updates will receive government encouragement and substantial subsidies.

　　Industry-related talents are also included in the government's consideration.

In January this year, Shandong Province launched a comprehensive pilot program for talent-led high-quality county development, and Cao County became one of the 16 counties (cities, districts) selected.

According to reports, relying on this opportunity, Caoxian County will take the lead in the field of talent and cooperate in depth with colleges and universities in fashion design, clothing engineering, and costume performance to improve the design, production, and performance capabilities of horse-faced skirts.

　　A local horse-faced skirt performance team of 100 people is also being formed.

To this end, Cao County plans to allocate 10 business quotas from the County Local Opera Protection Center to form a performance team. In addition, 90 people will be drawn from the county's education and sports system, medical and health system, and three vocational colleges. This professional performance team of 100 people will Display horse-faced skirts with Caoxian logo at important domestic and foreign exhibitions.

　　"Everything has just begun. The market capacity of this industry is very large." Hu Chunqing is looking forward to the day when horse-faced skirts will enter every household in China. He is full of confidence in this.

　　China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Xing Ting Source: China Youth Daily