Yu Hongwei:Making Shengze textile benefit the world

by Shi Xiangyi by Zhao Zihan

During the Qing Dynasty， there was a businessman named Shu Zungang， who was good at levying taxes and weighing gains and losses. In his spare time in business， he enjoyed reading The Four Books and The Five Classics， and applied the righteousness in the book to business. In his view， creating wealth must be in line with the way of doing business， and making profits must be in line with the morality of being a man； otherwise， seeking benefits in violation of justice will not only lose righteousness， but cannot make profits.

In the new era， reform and opening up requires entrepreneurs to have long-term rationality and wisdom. Wujiang Shangyu Textile Co.， Ltd. is right one who adheres to making profits with morality and justice. And it is just because there are many entrepreneurs like Yu Hongwei who is the founder of Shangyu Textile， Shengze， the “Ancient Silk Town， Textile City， Fabric Capital” is attracting the worlds attention with a brand new attitude.

Merchandise trade flows in the blood of Shengze people

The reason why Yu Hongwei entered the textile industry is actually related to the town where he grew up — Shengze， a small town of Suzhou. The silk textile town with a long history became a prosperous place of silk weaving and trade in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. All industries that the locals engaged in were related to the textile industry. Mr. Fei Xiaotong gave the inscription — “Weaving 10，000 bolts of cloth per day， benefiting the world.”

According to Yu Hongwei， his parents are engaged in textile industry and he has been influenced by the family environment since childhood. He has been in contact with looms and yarns for weaving since the age of six. For more than a decade， he has been fascinated by everything from yarn to fabrics. After graduating from junior high school， he was glad to attend a branch school affiliated to a textile professional college. His major was also related to the textile industry， and he was determined to devote himself to the textile industry in the future. But after more than a decade， the textile industry has also undergone transformation and upgrading， which has led him to re-examine the future of Shengze textile products.

Either a fateful arrangement or a coincidence， one day， an old friend of his father came home for a visit and talked about his textile business in Beijing. At that time， Yu Hongwei suddenly developed an idea to go to Beijing， a place full of humanities， fashion， and technology， to see how the textile industry in the outside world works. After discussing with his family， his father agreed to let him go to Beijing and follow the old friend to learn how to do textile business there.“I took a 21-hour green train — a traditional nickname for old-style trains， to the capital Beijing， and became a Beijing drifter. I was 21 years old then.” Yu Hongwei said that his idea was novel and bold， and inadvertently rewrote his life.

In more than a year of studying in Beijing， everything was completely different from what he had imagined. He even thought about giving up and thinking about fleeing. But in the end， he stuck with it. In those two years， he found that few people in the field of fabric trade in Beijing sold Shengze textile products. It is so cold in the north， and it is definitely necessary to wear thick clothes when going out in the winter， and the textile products of his hometown are just the best choice for making these thick clothes. Suddenly， a good idea occurred to him that why not take Shengze textile products to Beijing for sale！

“When I went home for the Spring Festival in the second year， I discussed this bold idea with my family， and unexpectedly， they were very supportive. I believe that without the support of my parents at the time， there might not be a good reputation today.” Once returning to Beijing after the holiday of Chinese New Year， Yu Hongwei started a business.

Wujiang Shangyu Textile Co.， Ltd.， established in May 2011， has grown into a trading company integrating R&D;， design and production from an old textile fabric company — Wujiang Weitong Silk Co.， Ltd. Under the leadership of Yu Hongwei， the company adopted a new development trend， focusing on the development of outdoor functional fabrics. After several years of unremitting efforts， the products gradually gained recognition from customers and began to lead the textile ecosystem in Shengze.

Development transformation bids farewell to “tradition” and calls for innovation

After years of development and exploration， Shangyu Textile has achieved remarkable results. The company is equipped with complete production facilities， and has also invested in a complex finishing plant. There are two sets of advanced hot melt adhesive compound equipment from South Korea. There are branches established in Beijing and Qingdao at home and Los Angeles at abroad which enable design and development of the latest outdoor functional fabrics together with the outdoor garment design studio in the United States. At present， Shangyu Textile has entered into a long-term cooperation agreement with PCH International of San Francisco to jointly develop and produce the latest products of Swiss PMI， and also become the designated fabric supplier of PMI.

Before the establishment of Shangyu Textile， Yu Hongwei organized a small team of six people. At the beginning， they would accept any orders without choices， often encountering some problems. Plus， the production team was incomplete， they suffered many complaints and claim. Yu Hongwei repeatedly thought about how to change the status quo， believing that only by “trying to change”， can it survive in the increasingly fierce competition in the industry. In May 2011， Wujiang Shangyu Textile Co.， Ltd. was established， witnessing employees increase from 6 to 16 and beginning to seek transformation.