Clothing company Metersbonwe plans to continue expanding in China, despite the country's slowing economy.
Over 500 new university graduates were at the company's Shanghai headquarters on Feb 16 for internships. Metersbonwe said it will add more than 5,000 new staff this year (including 2,000-3,000 university graduates) in marketing and sales positions and will open flagship stores in 20 to 50 key marketplaces across the country.
The privately owned company can afford to expand at such a rate because of its huge capital, said Pan He, an apparel and accessories analyst at Haitong Securities.
"We have raised enough money last year and grew healthily. It's a time for us to greatly expand our distribution network, given the favorable prices offered by the economic slump," said Zhou Jianyi, Metersbonwe's founder.
But Metersbonwe faces competition from foreign and domestic casual garment brands, such as H&M, Uniqlo, Jeanswest and Yishion, who gearing up to take more market share, said Haitong's Pan.
"Though growing fast, Metersbonwe's market share is small, about 1 percent, in the casual apparel sector," said the analyst. "Quick expansion is testing its marketing and managerial skills."
The company owns 22 subsidiaries, more than 2,600 retailing stores, 30 percent of which are directly controlled outlets, and has over 9,000 staff nationwide.
Metersbonwe targets the affordable sports clothing market. The company's other brand, Me&City, targets professionals with slightly higher incomes.
According to the company's annual report, its net profit amounted to 58.85 billion yuan in 2008, up 61.69 percent from 2007.
The total assets of Metersbonwe's Shenzhen-listed arm jumped 147.67 percent, to 460.26 billion yuan, from the year before.
Zhou, Metersbonwe's founder, started the company in 1995 and took it public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange last summer, raising 1.38 billion yuan. The listing helped propel Zhou to the top of the Hurun's Apparel Rich List (which ranks those involved in China's garment and textile industries by wealth) with a personal fortune of 17 billion yuan.
He ranked sixth, with 6 billion yuan, the previous year.
