Foreign trade apparel companies transforming in small batches of personalized customization

by Zhao Xinhua

Faced with the new changes in the market affected by the pandemic， Chinese foreign trade apparel companies have adjusted their market models and product structures， upgrading from traditional manufacturing to flexible manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing to improve profitability.

Flexible manufacturing refers to the real-time disassembly of each module of the users order through digital matching with the factory， from a production line that can produce only one product to a production line that can produce more than a dozen products at the same time， so as to realize the goal of small batch and personalized customization.

In 2021， China will enhance the ability of foreign trade services to build a new development pattern and enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of foreign trade. China will implement three major plans： First， it will optimize the structure of export products， improve the quality of export products， cultivate new models of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce， market procurement， and bonded maintenance， and build national innovation demonstration zones for promoting import trade. Second， the trade and industrial integration plan identified a number of new foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases and developed a number of processing trade industrial parks. Third， the unimpeded trade plan will continue to support the transfer of export products to domestic markets， establish unimpeded trade working mechanisms with more trading partners， especially those related to “Belt and Road” countries， develop virtual exhibitions， expand the scale of overseas warehouses， strengthen the construction of international business system， and continue to increase support to the development of Chinas foreign trade.

It is foreseeable that international market procurement will return to the normal track as the pandemic improves. The European Union， the United States， Japan and other markets turn their eyes to ASEAN， South Asia， as well as countries and regions with geographical advantages， and Chinas market share of products is likely to fall. Export textile enterprises need to focus on the change of purchasing trends and layout in advance.

In the post-pandemic era， cross-border e-commerce platforms for textile and apparel will be further developed. Other experts predict that small orders will become the mainstream， pure trade type foreign trade enterprises living space will be more and more narrow. Chinas foreign trade textile and apparel enterprises， especially B2B foreign trade enterprises， should adjust their product lines and reposition their customer groups.