Chaozhou, China's largest bridal and evening dress manufacturing hub, exported $240 million worth of products last year. CNS
CHAOZHOU, Guangdong: A common thread shared by leading bridal and evening dressmakers in Chaozhou is that they are recruiting new staff - dexterous workers, designers and even cleaners are in demand at a time when many other sectors are freezing recruitment or downsizing.
"We have not yet felt any evident impact of the global economic recession on our business and our production is presently at full load," said Rao Xiyao, boss of Bonny (Chaozhou) Fashion Co Ltd, one of the top exporters of bridal and formal dresses in Chaozhou, a city in eastern Guangdong province that has been a center for making wedding garments for more than 1,000 years.
The firm manufactures its products exclusively for export - including to the European Union and the United States - that totaled $11.7 million in 2008, an increase of about 5 percent over 2007.
"The global financial crisis has affected demand, but the closure of some less competitive enterprises brought overseas orders flooding in to Chaozhou," Rao said.
He added his firm is still seeking skilled workers to meet the demands of continued growth and to prepare for efforts at tapping the domestic market in the near future.
A young female seamstress, who identified herself only by her surname Zhou, said she is still working overtime three or four times a week.
"I can't see any difference in our work from one or two years ago. We all have our hands full and we always get paid on time," she said. Her average monthly salary is about 2,000 yuan.
Not all of Chaozhou's dressmakers are so sanguine, but most of those feeling the impacts are small, less-developed firms.
"Some have not felt the global financial tsunami, but the bridal and evening dress industry in the city has been hit with a fall in overseas orders," said Cai Peiqiang, an official with the municipal economy and trade bureau of Chaozhou. "The combined industry has seen a decrease of overseas orders by at least 20 percent in the past few months," he said.
The official said small dressmaking firms' heavy reliance on exports - and no brands of their own - makes them increasingly vulnerable if the global economy does not rebound soon. Over 80 percent of the bridal and evening dresses made in Chaozhou are shipped overseas, primarily as OEM - or out-sourced - goods.
Yet he said Chaozhou's long embroidering tradition, technical and technological advantages, its strong R&D and design capabilities, a well-developed industrial chain and the reputation of the city as a center for manufacturing bridal and formal dresses all help the sector survive and make it competitive both at home and abroad.
Jiang Hengjie, vice-chairman of the China National Garment Association, notes Chaozhou is in a good position to turn itself into a design center through intensive cooperation with domestic and foreign R&D operations. He also envisions the city becoming a stronger manufacturing center through development of an industrial park that is home to most of the enterprises needed along the industrial chain. He said it can then mature into a fashion center by releasing new designs and organizing international wedding and formal dress design competitions, and holding fashion shows.
The city's five-year plan for the industry sketched out in 2007 says it aims to have an industrial output of 8 billion yuan in 2012 and take in $360 million in foreign exchange.
Chaozhou's 500-odd bridal and evening dress firms produced 2.5 billion yuan worth of goods last year, with exports totaling $240 million, according to official statistics.
Producers are also looking more to the domestic market. Another city famed for its bridal apparel, Suzhou in Zhejiang province, has long been a major producer of the finest silk in the world and is home to the largest wedding dress trade market in China. Located at the foot of Huqiu Montain, the market has hundreds of wedding dress shops lining the road offering garments of various design, range of style, noted quality and reasonable prices. Thousands of newlyweds from nearby Shanghai visit the market on weekends.
