China News Service, Jiaxing, March 19th (Hu Fengsheng and Huang Yanjun) "New Chinese-style" annual meeting outfits and New Year jerseys are popular, and the Hanfu creative program "Nian Jin" will appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage... In early 2024, the Internet's most popular "top trend" Horse-faced skirts frequently "go out of the circle", leading its "behind-the-scenes heroes" upstream and downstream industry chains into the public eye.
Xucun, a small town located in Haining City, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, is on the cusp of the "horse-faced skirt economy".
"How to take over the wealth and wealth of Xucun? How long can the wind of horse-faced skirts blow? What should I do if it stops blowing?" Ma Minggang, deputy mayor of Xucun Town, said frankly that after the hot "out of the circle", the local people have "cold thinking" ".
Old machines create new fashion industry
Data from industry organizations show that in January 2024, the sales of Hanfu skirts on the Taoxi e-commerce platform exceeded 300 million, accounting for nearly 90% of the entire Hanfu category. Its main product is the horse-faced skirt.
Behind the hot consumer market is a "new blue ocean" of Hanfu economy.
In early March, Zhang Mingqiang, a native of Xu Village, was rushing between the Haining Spring Home Textile Expo and his own factory. "Right now, the supply of horse-faced skirts exceeds the demand. As soon as the samples are put out, merchants will contact them, and the stock has already been sold out." The hot scene at the exhibition He hadn't seen him for a long time, and now he was just worried about not being able to keep up with production capacity and product sales.
In Xucun Town, more than 100 factories are engaged in the production of horse-faced skirts and new Chinese-style clothing fabrics. Hundreds of jacquard machines are roaring at the same time, and they can produce more than 30,000 meters of fabric a day.
In a Hanfu factory in Xucun, workers are busy making horse-faced skirts. Photo by Huang Yanjun
A trip around the place will reveal that transformational opportunities that may seem unexpected are actually within reason.
In the 1980s, this small town in northern Zhejiang became prosperous by producing brocade quilts. Later, it became famous nationwide for its home textile products. Every factory is a factory, everywhere is a bobbin, and there are looms everywhere. It has achieved "one-third of China's curtains" "Xucun" weaving "legend".
In recent years, with the rise of the "national trend", horse-faced skirts have entered the mass market. Its exquisite and gorgeous fabrics can only be made by large-scale jacquard machines, so Xucun's old machines were usednew uses. In the eyes of Xu Cun people, the industrial trend has come full circle.
"We have an industrial foundation of more than 40 years and have mastered the core technology of weaving. The horse-faced skirt is an extension of the original home textile industry." Cao Yaoqiang, president of the Haining Home Textile Association, said that it is not accidental that Xu Cun "came out of the circle" because of the horse-faced skirt. Only with sufficient accumulation of craftsmen, technology, and channels can we seize opportunities quickly.
Innovative R&D targets the high-end market
Home textile factories remade horse-face skirts, which were once ridiculed by local netizens as "wearing curtain fabrics on the body." But is the transformation of fabrics really that simple?
According to Yin Xiaohong, chairman of Haining China Home Textile City, Xucun's horse-faced skirt "out of the circle" is a good opportunity to rejuvenate traditional fabrics. They have been exploring this field for many years.
In 2020, Home Textile City and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University cooperated to establish a fashion fabric innovation center and established a strong design team. Several scientific researchers, PhD and master's teams settled in Xucun to explore the fashion and lifestyle of traditional fabrics.
From "weaving" to "intelligent manufacturing", today in Xucun you can not only see horse-faced skirts, but also various styles of "new Chinese" clothing, the silk-made "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", various Shu brocade scarves, traditional skills continue to Combined with modern fashion elements, it adds cultural thickness to the fabric.
Silk weaving "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". Photo by Huang Yanjun
Design, R&D, and innovation are also the top hot words among Xucun manufacturers today.
"We have developed many new styles, such as this horse-faced skirt made of Song brocade fabric, which is more plain and elegant than the traditional dragon and phoenix style." Zhang Mingqiang believes that only making fabric products has limited added value. Taking advantage of the popularity of horse-faced skirts this time, , creating your own Hanfu brand will be more competitive.
In addition to upgrading the old home textile factory to make horse-faced skirts, many "new Xucun residents" have also sensed business opportunities and settled in the town one after another. Tong Dinghao, a "post-95s generation", took his Hanfu company "Jinghua Baoshang" to settle in Xucun and is committed to To solve the transformation problem between Hanfu design and craftsmanship; "post-00s" Hanfu designer Liu Wenyue originally started her business in her hometown of Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. In 2023, she moved the company to a city close to the origin of the supply chain.Xucun Town.
"This is the result of years of exploration by countless designers and factories. We can't predict where the next trend will be, but as we walk, we will find out where the road is." Yin Xiaohong said with emotion.
Open up a new track that focuses on "people"
After the "national trend" blew, horse-faced skirts became popular in more than one or two factories. In addition to Xucun Town, many textile factories, garment factories, and cloth merchants in Keqiao, Zhejiang, Caoxian, Shandong, Luoyang, Henan, and other places have transformed themselves into "bets" on horse-faced skirts, and a "national trend" industrial chain has begun to take shape.
The hot market will inevitably face doubts: the horse-faced skirt may be just a gust of wind, and it may go as quickly as it comes. Is it safe to invest fully in it?
"The original home textile industry cannot be lost. It is easy to transfer advantageous industries to other areas, but it is difficult to return them." Ma Minggang, deputy mayor of Xucun Town, said that the local area will use horse-faced skirts as a breakthrough to lay out a larger market. "chess".
From the perspective of practitioners, Xucun is adjacent to Hangzhou, connected to Shanghai, and has a garment industry foundation accumulated over many years. Xucun is well-positioned to realize the interaction between the two major sectors of home textiles and clothing fabrics, open up the fabrics, garments, and sales industry chain, and extend the lifeline of national fashion fabrics.
A variety of "national fashion" clothing developed by designers in Haining Home Textile City. Photo by Huang Yanjun
This "famous fabric town in China" is determined to create a new business card of "national fashion high-end fabric manufacturing base" and "national fashion fashion town".
From Korean style, Japanese style to the "most dazzling" Chinese style, what supports horse-faced skirts on the catwalk and on the streets is the growing cultural confidence of the Chinese people. Manufacturers in Xucun have reached a consensus that horse-faced skirts are just a part of the "national trend" clothing. Through continuous innovation and research and development, Chinese style can lead new fashion.
"Contemporary young people pay attention to releasing their individuality, pursue spiritual freedom, and dare to wear national fashion clothes on the streets. This may have been unimaginable before." Cao Yaoqiang believes that compared with the Xucun textile industry that used to focus on "home", The horse-faced skirt has opened up a new track that focuses on "people".
The "national trend" created by horse-faced skirts has spread across the country and is also likely to "go overseas". In Xucun, textile companies have received fabric orders from Southeast Asia and other places. "We will develop new patterns and colors to make "national fashion" fabrics more in line with the aesthetics of overseas merchants and create a national fabric distribution center. "Cao Yaoqiang hopes that when people think of national fashion fabrics in the future, people will think of Xucun, Zhejiang. (End)
