At a Hanfu production base in Caoxian County, Shandong Province, workers join and sew the cut fabrics.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
China News Service, Caoxian County, Shandong Province, March 8 (Reporter Sha Jianlong) Increase fabric purchases, step up production to fill vacancies, introduce textile equipment, and attract brocade projects... At present, horse-faced skirt manufacturers and government departments in Caoxian County, Shandong Province are working through multiple A way to cope with the explosive increase in orders for horse-faced skirts at home and abroad.
Recently, China News Network reporters went to Caoxian County, Shandong Province for interviews to learn about the "skills" behind this county in southwestern Shandong, where annual sales of Hanfu exceed 7 billion yuan (RMB, the same below).
At a Hanfu production base in Caoxian County, Shandong Province, the person in charge, Yao Chixing (first from the right), explains the cultural elements on the horse-faced skirt to customers.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
Caoxian County is one of the production and sales bases of Hanfu in China and the largest production base of horse-faced skirts in China.
In January this year, sales of "New Year greeting clothes" in Caoxian County reached 920 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68.19%.
Among them, the horse-face skirt accounted for 400 million yuan, becoming a "super item" that attracts attention at home and abroad.
Caoxian County has a complete system for the design, production and sales of horse-faced skirts, but the fabrics must be "sourced from other places" from Zhejiang and other places.
The textile industry has a large investment, high investment in technical talent introduction and environmental protection, and slow cost recovery. Therefore, for a long time, most Caoxian Hanfu companies have preferred "off-site cooperation" for the source of fabrics.
Faced with the sudden increase in market demand around the Spring Festival this year, the insufficient supply of fabrics has inevitably hampered the production of horse-faced skirts in Cao County.
E-commerce practitioners in Cao County are conducting live sales of horse-faced skirts.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
In 2023, 36-year-old Ren Yafeng ranked among the top three in e-commerce live streaming of horse-faced skirts.
Three fabric factories in Xucun Town, Haining, Zhejiang, and Shengzhou City, Shaoxing provide fabric sources.
Facing the strong market demand, he, like many owners of horse-faced skirts in Caoxian County, is struggling to make ends meet due to lack of fabrics.
What makes him happy is that "the cooperative cloth factories are adding new equipment and attracting workers to expand production capacity."
The popularity of horse-faced skirts has doubled the price of fabrics and business costs.
For long-term considerations, Liu Shenfeng, the owner of a horse-faced skirt business in Cao County, has launched a plan to "spend approximately 40 million yuan to purchase 60 weaving machines."
The picture shows Yao Chixing, the person in charge of Luo Ruyan’s original Hanfu company in Caoxian County, rushing to make high-end customized horse-face skirts for customers.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
Similarly, in the southeastern suburbs of Caoxian County, business owner Yao Chixing is looking forward to the early launch of Haier's "Kaos" flexible intelligent production line at his Hanfu base, thereby optimizing the production capacity of horse skirts and quickly filling the vacancy market.
The base integrates design, production, display and sales, focusing on promoting original horse-faced skirts with "full cultural taste" at home and abroad, and starting from skirts with pleats of five or more, and deeply exploring the high-end market.
This is also an example of Caoxian County's promotion of the integration of traditional culture and economic development, and the transformation of the Hanfu industry into a park economy.
"People in different countries have different body types, so we need to make targeted patterns." Currently, Yao Chixing is inspecting overseas markets such as France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Singapore, and Dubai, and will use various associations, Chinese circles, etc. to increase his exposure. Skirt overseas promotion efforts.
She predicts that horse-faced dress revivals will become a new trend.
The picture shows Cao County E-commerce Logistics Public Service Center.
The horse-faced skirts produced and sold locally are shipped to all parts of the country from here.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
The Caoxian E-commerce Logistics Public Service Center, which is across the street from Yao Chixing's Hanfu base, shipped more than 8 million Hanfu packages in the first two months of this year.
Jiang Qiang, the person in charge of the center, said that the center will be opened in 2021, driving employment for surrounding people and improving the level of county-level logistics automation and intelligence.
In the past three years, the average annual growth rate of Caoxian e-commerce express parcel volume has exceeded 40%.
The hot sales of the "super item" horse-faced skirt has promoted changes in the design direction, production model and display ideas of local Hanfu.
According to Liu Xia, deputy director of the Caoxian County E-commerce Service Center, this has also driven the development of e-commerce, logistics, textiles, cosmetics and other industries, and "one boom leads to hundreds of booms."
Workers pleat the cut fabric.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
Zhou Jin, president of the Shandong Provincial Fashion Design Association, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that Caoxian County "started" with e-commerce and has stable sales channels. The industrial transformation from performance clothes, Hanfu to horse-faced skirts has been smooth, but there is a need to improve the production environment and works. There's still a lot of room for originality.
From an investment perspective, "don't blindly follow the trend."
Hanfu carries profound Chinese culture. It looks ordinary but actually "has the universe inside", including rituals, music, civilization, yin and yang, the five elements, the heavenly stems and the earthly branches, etc.
Zhou Jin suggested that horse-faced skirts should be approached from a cultural perspective, and the research and design of the shape should be strengthened. At the same time, designers should improve their understanding of the historical origins of Chinese culture, so that everyone can "understand" the elegance of Chinese aesthetics in clothing, and at the same time, communicate with the world. The combination of sustainable green, low-carbon and environmental protection creates a trend that belongs to Chinese fashion and Chinese people's lifestyle.
The picture shows a professional book about horse-faced skirts. It is currently the only book in China that specifically explains horse-faced skirts.
Photo by Zhou Jin
Li Tiegang, a professor at the School of Economics at Shandong University, believes that the Internet economy is incomparable. Once it generates value that is generally recognized by society, it will become popular on a large scale, thus exposing the shortcomings of related raw materials, industrial chains, supporting facilities, etc., and being unable to keep up with the sudden increase in the number of people. Market demand is also a manifestation of the Internet economy and economic development and upgrading.
"The hot sales of horse-faced skirts prove that the market demand is strong. It is necessary to study the market carefully and upgrade the products and cultural integration at the same time." Li Tiegang suggested that while maximizing competition for market resources, we should calmly analyze that the product is a temporary phenomenon. It is still a long-term demand, and then we can rationally plan the market and build an industrial chain.
A worker is ironing a horse-faced skirt.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
Regarding the "performance" created by the 2,283 Hanfu enterprises in Cao County, Li Tiegang believes that private enterprises can quickly adjust their production models according to market demand and adapt to market changes, which is crucial in economic development.
County economic development must seize its own advantages, use the power of the Internet and other forces to deepen the development of characteristic industries, and drive the sustainable development of natural industries in a wider range.
Currently, Cao County is introducing a brocade weaving project with an investment of 600 million yuan.
In the future, we will cooperate in depth with fashion design, engineering, and performance schools to improve the design, production, and performance capabilities of horse-faced skirts. At the same time, we will further encourage Hanfu companies to lock in overseas markets, make flexible use of foreign trade and e-commerce platforms, and continue to expand overseas market share.
At the Youai Hanfu Yuncang Base in Caoxian County, Shandong Province, customers are choosing Hanfu.
Photo by reporter Liang Ben
At the end of March this year, Caoxian County will hold the second Hanfu Culture Festival and spring new product launch conference, inviting guests from all over the world to showcase "Chinese beauty."
"Give Caoxian some time and you will see a more beautiful side." Yao Chixing said.
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