Straw bags, straw hats, straw storage boxes... Recently, hundreds of straw products have been displayed at the counters in the Weifang service area of ​​the expressway, attracting many tourists who stop here to watch and buy.

　　"With the opportunity of Xinhe straw-woven handicrafts being successfully selected into the list of 'Shandong Handmade · Best 100', we quickly opened up the domestic offline market for straw-woven products, and successfully settled in Jinan Ginza and Weifang Expressway Service Areas." Qingdao Yufengxiang Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd. General Manager Wang Jianming said that the daily sales of straw-woven product counters in the service area can reach more than 5,000 yuan.

　　Domestic offline and international online, Xinhe straw weaving industry is integrated into the domestic and international dual cycle. The century-old intangible cultural heritage handicrafts are sold well in more than 50 countries and regions at home and abroad, driving more than 20,000 people around the employment, with an annual output value of 3 billion yuan.

　　"Taking advantage of the child's vacation to travel, I fell in love with this straw bag that combines aquatic weeds and hand-embroidered lilies at the Weifang service area. It is not heavy to hold, so it is suitable for carrying around this season." From Zibo The bag that Ms. Wang Yiming liked is the latest model of the Xinhe Straw "Elephant Between Fingers" brand in 2022.

　　The domestic offline market is hot, and the international online orders are continuous.

In the workshop of Qingdao Ruilong Crafts Factory in Xinhe Town, dozens of workers are rushing to make orders from countries such as France, the United States and South Africa.

　　"The export of goods and business negotiation are very convenient now, and the products can go directly to Qingdao Port. Just last month, a South African customer flew directly to Jiaodong Airport to come to our company to discuss business and order 7,000 pieces of straw products on the spot. It is expected to reach a long-term cooperation later. " said Li Qiuju, head of Qingdao Ruilong Crafts Factory.

　　Xinhe straw weaving is a Shandong provincial intangible cultural heritage with a history of more than 400 years. It mainly uses natural fibers such as wheat straw and corn husk as raw materials, and uses weaving skills to make straw crafts.

At present, there are more than 90 straw-woven handicraft manufacturers in Xinhe Town, Pingdu City, with more than 120 series and more than 5,000 styles of products.

　　"Accessories products should keep up with the trend and market demand. We cooperate with the School of Design of Qingdao Agricultural University to learn about the latest fashion design and the color of straw-woven crafts through various channels such as market feedback, research on well-known brand clothing conferences, and viewing fashion magazines. , decoration, styles, etc. have been adjusted to expand the domestic and foreign sales market, and more than 100 new styles have been released in the past six months." Li Qiuju said.

　　Incorporating cultural concepts and meeting market demand, small straw weaving explosions are frequent.

Unlike foreign markets, which prefer straw-woven handicrafts with a single material and a simple design, domestic consumers prefer novel styles that combine leather and straw, which are not only exquisite in style, beautiful and elegant, but also practical.

Therefore, among the main styles in the domestic market, Xinhe straw weaving not only incorporates symbolic elements such as peony and lotus, but also incorporates the cultural concept of "round sky and place" and traditional cultures such as "Chinese red" and "Chinese knot". welcomed by the market.

　　"Our paper rope weaving process, brown, pink, green superimposed woven shoulder bag is very popular in the market, the round handle and square shape of the natural vine weave, contains the Chinese 'the sky is round and the place is round' ' cultural concept, coupled with leather stitching, it is more fashionable." Li Qiuju introduced that the domestic market sales of this product alone will reach more than 300,000 yuan after the year, and the domestic sales of the company in the first half of the year exceeded 5 million yuan.

　　Relying on fashionable and high-quality products, Xinhe straw-woven handicrafts have opened the door to domestic and foreign markets.

However, unlike the current hot-selling scene, there is no independent brand, which once became a pain point for the development of Xinhe straw weaving.

　　Since there is no independent brand and the added value of products is low, the sudden outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 has put the development of Xinhe straw weaving enterprises in trouble, and the overseas market has shrunk by more than 20%. Expanding new markets has become the only choice for many companies to break through the predicament.

　　"As one of the important industries in the town, we have been exploring ways to crack the weak brand effect, are at the low end of the industrial chain, and are easily affected by market changes. To this end, in 2018, the Xinhe Town Government registered the 'Elephant Between Fingers' trademark , to create a public brand of Xinhe straw weaving area, use platform thinking, use market power and capital power to carry out brand operation, meet the needs of the domestic mid-to-high-end market, and build an industrial cluster." Wang Jianping, Secretary of the Party Committee of Xinhe Town, Pingdu City, said, in the town government Under the guidance of the integration of the company, Xinhe straw weaving enterprises began to "clench their fingers into fists" to open up the domestic market, and achieved a huge breakthrough in the domestic market output value of the "Elephant Between Fingers" straw weaving brand of 600 million yuan.

　　Small straw weaving has made a big industry. Standing at the tuyere of industrial development in the new era, Xinhe straw weaving has embarked on a new path of industrial development that gathers development and strengthens the chain.

　　"Although the economic attributes and industrial vitality of Xinhe straw weaving have been excavated and developed to a certain extent, in order to achieve sustainable and healthy development, it is still necessary to stimulate its scale effect." Zhong Jie, the mayor of Xinhe Town, said that at present, by Pingdu The Xinhe Arts and Crafts Whole Chain Rural Revitalization Industrial Park, built by the Development Group and Pingdu Holding Group with an investment of 6 billion yuan, has officially started construction. It will build six major sectors including an e-commerce incubation center, a brand cultivation center, and a logistics and warehousing center to attract upstream and downstream supporting enterprises. Settled in, together to build the country's largest straw industry processing export and domestic sales base.

　　At the same time, in order to better display and inherit the precious intangible cultural heritage of Xinhe straw weaving, Xinhe Town has also created a "fingers elephant" straw weaving hand that integrates project experience, new product display, research and tourism and other diverse contents. The pavilion, through photos, texts, objects, figures, etc., provides a panoramic view of the more than 400-year history of Xinhe straw weaving skills and the development path of industrial innovation in the new era, which is very popular among tourists.

Liu Cheng