Ａ Ｇｌｉｍｐｓｅ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｔｒｏｕｓｅｒｓ Ｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｙ

Important as trousers， you can easily spot atleast couples of them in everyone's wardrobeall the year round; however， their positions arerich in irony， for they have long been perceived as aside-line to go with other garment.

But the prospect of this industry is not bleak anylonger， because the huge untapped market beganto demonstrate its energy， whereas that is not theonly thing looming ahead: poor brand constructionand disorderly competition are in urgent need to beimproved.

Status Quo

Supporting role but its play expected tobe staged with successful box office

Compared to coat， trousers are low value-added with cycle of updating so short that it's reallyhard for enterprises to feel the market pulse， andcorrespondingly， make investorsremain somber about pitching inmoney in this area， so trousersindustry has always been putinto side-line category. By now，there is still no accurate statisticsto depict how big this market is.But with evolution of fashion andcustomers' demand， trousers finallysqueeze in mainstream market andprogressively broaden the scope.Comprehensive improvement infunction， trend and production scalerenders a healthy and professionalmarket， so no one doubts trousersindustry will have a thrivingprospect.

Brand construction isgratifying but brandcompetitiveness isrelatively weak

In the past， we mainlyprocessed trousers for thoseworld famous brands andrarely made any researcheson actual market and demand，however， after a long time ofproducing trousers for those famous brands， manycompanies have accomplished original fund andexperiences accumulation， which gave rise to growingconsciousness of establishing their own brands，nonetheless， for the time being， Chinese trousersbrands are booming but only confined to region， whichmeans the trousers market is scattered and relativelyweak. Meanwhile， the integratedindustry chain is not taking shapeyet and brand operation andmarketing system still can't passmuster. So trousers industry shouldaccelerate its pace of integration andreshuffling.

Polarization betweenfamous brands andbudding ones arewidening

At present， disparity betweenfamous brands and puny ones stemsa fierce competition. As those majortrousers companies went to publicand diversify its products， they will further slim their weakrivals' chances to survive.

Clusters' layout and specific traits

Quanzhou (Fujian Province)， Guangzhou(Guangdong Province) and Zhengzhou (Henan Province) arethe backbones of Chinese trousers industry and these threeclusters combined account for almost 80% of Chinese marketshare， but each of them has its specific traits. The followinghorizontal comparisons will offer you a scenario of layout andcharacteristic of Chinese major trousers clusters:

Comparison 1: production

Quanzhou: Quanzhou trousers industry features casualcotton trousers with over 70% of Chinese men leisure trousersproduced there， however， its chemical fiber trousers industry isrelatively weak. But two famous brands-Joeone and Fordoorepresent the best of Fujian's and China's trousers industry.

Guangzhou: Has a proven ability of RD and its leadingforce has never been shaken. Anotherprominent characteristic of Guangzhoutrousers industry is its balanceddevelopment in almost all area oftrousers， like chemical fiber industry，cotton and denim.

Zhengzhou: with its focus onproduction of chemical-fiber trousers，Zhengzhou trousers industry paysmore attention to brand marketing. Inaddition， its women trousers businesssees an upsurge now.

Comparison 2: Cost

Quanzhou: on average， wage for a skilled worker is 1，500--2，000 Yuan per month.

Guangzhou: wage is slightly lower than that of Quanzhou，1，300 Yuan per month is normal， which reflects that level ofeconomic growth and workers wages are out of step with eachother in Zhujiang Delta.

Zhengzhou: located in inner land and with huge laborforce， so wage in Zhengzhou is relatively low， 1，000Yuan permonth is normal.

Comparison 3: Stage of development

Quanzhou: there are many enterprises' with huge output，but their equipment， techniques and management level areexperiencing reshuffle and integration.

Guangzhou: Enterprises widely adopt assembly-line， so workefficiency is guaranteed but costs are relatively high. The overallstrength of Guangzhou's trousers industry is strong， but theimportance of brand-establishing and brand-marketing is alwaysflouted， which may stalk further development in long run.

Zhengzhou: this trousers industry cluster is still in thebourgeoning stages of development， establishment of industrychain， capacity of design and develop even proficiencyin using modern machines and management level are allgrowingly thirsty for improvement.

import

As we know， in 2007， China dedicates to reduce tradesurplus by means of encouraging import， combined withcontinued appreciation of RMB， reduction of export tax rebaterate and increasingly vigorous purchase power， the wholeChinese garment import shows an upward trend and by courtesyof which Chinese trousers import also enjoys its brisk market:

Tendency of trousers industry import:

a) Import volume of trousers declined apart knittingwomen trousers but the import value are on steady incrementwith tatting women trousers as an exception;

b) Import value of tatting trousers surpassed knittingtrousers as a whole.

Export

Influenced by central government's macro adjustmentand control， especially the reduction of export tax rebate rate，continued appreciation of RMB and rising labor cost， Chinesetrousers export is facing challenges， however， export stillmaintain a mild growth now.

Three major destination countries.

EU， USA and Japanese are the major countries wherewe export trousers. According to USA and European customstatistics， by 10th February， 2007， the clearance rate ofChinese trousers exported to America and EU were as high as96.6% and 92.8% respectively.

With regard to America market， cottontrousers， chemical-fiber trousers， plant-fibertrousers and wool trousers dominate our exportto America.

With respect to EU market， volume oftatting trousers tops our garment exported toEurope.

General characteristics of trousersexport

a) Decline in terms of volume but increasein value;

b) General trade constitutes over 80% oftotal， which shows a clear sign that Chinagradually get rid of exporting throughprocessing for famous brand or with importedmaterials;

c) Private enterprises and three kinds ofenterprise performed actively and halve theshare of market.

Reasons behind

Reduction of trade surplus explains theleaner export volume， whereas continuedappreciation of RMB and rising labor cost areresponsible for the increase in terms of prices;

The spurt of general trade is a testimonythat China's movement of brand constructionand technology-first pan out.

Expectation:

a) Accelerate its pace to establishingand improving brand image and boost RDcapacity and make greater efforts to fostersome word influential brand;

b) Polish and diversify marketing methodand broaden marketing channel;

c) Adopt advanced mode of production，like JIT and enhance technology proportion inthe product.