Paying tribute to brands：Focusing on the Paris Show

by Flora

From September 17th to 20th， the 20th CATF （Paris） and APPAREL SOURCING PARIS （hereinafter referred to the Paris show） will be held at the Bourgets Exhibition Center in Paris. This year is the second year of the implementation of the “Self-owned Brand Export Growth Action Plan” of the Ministry of Commerce. Many outstanding brand companies will shine in Paris once again. We talked with the brands on the Paris exhibition and listened to the stories behind the brands.

AIYIMEI： Making the brand reborn by “going global”

“Comparatively， the European brand market is a very mature market. Brand design， brand marketing and many other aspects are worth learning. In the past ten years， through participating in the overseas exhibition sponsored by CCPIT TEX， especially the Paris Show，which has played a very big role in helping AIYIMEI achieve“Going global”and made more foreign customers know and love AIYIMEI.”

Talking about brand development， Zhou Bin， Manager of the Import and Export Company of AIYIMEI Group， said： “The brand is the soul of company and the cornerstone for company to achieve long-term development. Therefore， on the way of “Creating a Brand”， we have gone through many hardships. By participating in overseas exhibitions，we not only made the company embark on the “fast track” of opening up the international market， but also brought new thinking and vitality to the brand's global strategic development."

“In order to achieve design leadership and let technology research and development continue to invigorate brand development， we invest tens of millions yuan in technology research and development every year. We not only set up a special technology research and development center， but also cultivated a perfect “localized”design talent team. And we coordinated with domestic and foreign fashion designers to set up a new product design and development room in Shanghai， Japan， Paris， France， New York and the United States. The rate of company's new products and new-style production is about 40% each year， which effectively guarantee the brand's serialized， diversified and integrated production pattern.” Zhou Bin said that the company has also established a set of effective quality management systems and a three-level quality management network， and even installed 39 global eye probes in the production workshop in order to ensure product quality， which also ensure that “quality is life”.

According to the marketing policy of “marketing both internally and externally and two-wheel driving”， “AIYIMEI” has established a multilevel and diversified marketing system at home and abroad. It has set up more than 10 marketing branches in China， covering more than 20 large and medium-sized cities. It has established business relationships with international brands CK， ITN， HM， and Spanish department stores. The products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions，including Europe， America， Japan， and Singapore. AIYIMEI cooperated with Japanese customers to sell “AIYIEMI” cashmere coats in Japan， opened “AIYIMEI” stores on 40th street， 5th Avenue， New York， USA， and set up sales branches in Paris， France. It has registered the “AIYIMEI” trademark in more than 20 countries such asd the United States， Japan， and Italy， to achieve diversified development.

“In order to enhance the popularity and reputation of “AIYIMEI” brand， the company has participated in the domestic and international textile and apparel fairs for 20 consecutive years， enjoying quite fruitful harvest.” Zhou Bin introduced that in 2015， AIYIMEI and the British veteran intermediary whom he met at the show negotiated to establish a joint venture company and create a joint venture brand， which laid a solid foundation for AIYIMEIs international brand strategy.

Dishang Group： A model of foreign trade companies standing in the world

From small team to large group， from the weak to the strong， from OEM （incoming sample processing） to ODM （independent design and manufacturing）， Weihai Dishang Kaini Fashion Co.， Ltd. has used more than 20 years to interpret the way of independent brands with practical actions.

At the beginning of the business， Dishang Group has been committed to the distribution and construction of direct sales terminals. It has established trading companies in the United States， Britain， Germany， Italy， Japan and South Korea， and has established operations in Australia， Canada， the Netherlands and Belgium to reduce intermediate links， expand profit margins， strengthen market autonomy， exercise and improve service capabilities， and lay the foundation for building independent brands. Dishang also actively promoted the globalization strategy of production layout and built production bases in many places in China and Southeast Asia. While forming scale advan- tages， the company optimized international capacity allocation and transferred low value-added products to overseas bases to be produced. Domestic production bases focus on the research and development and production of high-end products， creating conditions for high-end products and enhancing independent design capabilities.

Dishang adopts a combination strategy of “external force + refining internal strength”. On the one hand， it introduces foreign advanced design resources， on the other hand， it carries out industry-university-research cooperation and builds a designer platform to help local designers grow. Dishang has established cooperation with designers from cities such as Milan， Paris， London， Tokyo and Seoul， and has set up design companies and designer studios in six countries including France， Spain， Germany and so on to directly absorb the worlds top design talents for enterprises.

Today， Dishang Group has established China Fashion Design Innovation Center and created Dichang Fashion Designers Creative Space. The China Fashion Design Competition of “Dishang Cup” will born out of a number of design talents every year. Dishang has nearly 50 business divisions in China. Each business division has its own design team. It has built a new industrial chain of product market feedback， design， production and sales. It cooperates with more than 400 brands worldwide. More than 100 million pieces （sets） of garments are exported， of which more than 95% are designed independently.

With the gradual maturity of independent channels and the improvement of independent design capabilities， the road of Dishang Groups own brand has become more and more firm. At the beginning， Dishang established its own brand operation team and retail channels by acting as an international brand， accumulating the experience of international brand operation. Now Dishang has better promoted its own brand to the international market through acquisition.

At present， Dishang has five clothing companies and 10 independent brands in the United States， among which the denim brand Indigo Rein has become a well-known Chinese independent brand in the U.S. market. The operating experience of overseas brand companies has further enhanced the Groups brand operation capabilities.

Mengdi Group： “Clothing Manufacturing” turned into “Brand Creation”

A small enterprise with sales of only 30 million yuan in the 1990s， more than 200 employees， and annual profit and tax of 2.9 million yuan， grew to a big group with total assets of 580 million yuan， more than 2，000 employees， sales of 720 million yuan in 2017， and profit and tax of 48 million yuan， Jiaxing Mengdi Group has added a sample for the independent brand of the textile and garment industry with its unique development mode.

Mengdi Group carried out ISO9000 certification in 1996. In 1997， Mengdi Group took the lead in carrying out 5S management. This is also the first enterprise in Jiaxing to start implementing 5S man- agement， which made Mengdi truly become a company that is competitive by scientific management methods， and laid a good foundation for the next step of brand work.

It is not enough to create a strong independent brand by means of only management. At the same time， Mengdi Group has boldly adjusted its product structure. It has invested more than 80 million yuan in technical transformation， introduced advanced production equipment at home and abroad， formed a complete production line for weaving， dyeing and finishing， and successively developed a variety of products such as pure cotton， chemical fiber， blended products and put on the market.

In 2000， the Mengdi brand finally broke out –successfully registered the trademark of Mengdi. After that， Mengdi took the lead in launching VI corporate image planning in the industry. For the first time， Mengdi brand faced the domestic and international markets with a brand-new and unified image. Since 2004， Mengdi Group has invested more than 20 million yuan in brand promotion and greatly enhanced the influence of the Mengdi brand in the market. In March 2001， Mengdi trademark was awarded the famous trademark in Zhejiang Province.

In 2006， with the approval of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce， the original Jiaxing Mengdi Group Co.， Ltd. was officially named“Mengdi Group Co.， Ltd.”， which became a milestone for the company.

Today， Mengdi Group abides by the development vision of “Building a Vibrant Mengdi and Creating a First-Class Brand”， comprehensively deepens the quality standardization management. It has formed a clear competitive advantage through brand innovation， actively deployed overseas markets， realized the overall transformation and upgrading of the enterprise， and achieved good results in international competition.

Ningbo Nikky： every detail is full of ingenuity

In September 2017， at the 18th CATF （Paris） and APPAREL SOURCING PARIS， the live product promotion salon of Ningbo Nikky was impressive. After the presentation， two top European buyers took the initiative to go to the door. After repeated trials， from fabric to workmanship to layout design， the two customers were very satisfied. By hearing that the price is only half of the similar products in Europe， these two buyers are somewhat excited. They plan to take some sample clothes to sell a period of time in their own channels as trial sale.

Nikky was born in 2010 when the founder Zhou Huimings goal was to make the best suit in China.

Today， Nikky focuses on the advanced customization of suits business. The sales ratio of cashmere coats and suits is stable at 6：4， with 90% of the suits share coming from the U.S. market. After years of pioneering and hard work， with excellent quality and cost performance， Nikky has established a firm foothold in the United States， and has achieved a stable market share and successfully entered the high-end market of the seven major department stores in the United States.

In the creative team of the Nikky handmade suits， there are Chinese technicians who know the essence of the red band tailors， senior designers who grew up in the UK and became famous in Canada， and one of the Italian tutors Sr. Francisco who was hired by Zhou Huiming with a lot of money and recognized by the industry as “the worlds top ten tailors”. Nikky abandoned the mechanized production and manufacturing， and took “handmade suits” as the highlight， insisted on adopting the top-level whole-lining lining process， which is in no way inferior to the European high-end menswear brand， and strictly controlled the materials used in the products. From fabrics to accessories， every detail was imported from the top Italian supplier. The Nikky Handmade Suit is full of the soulful and refined attitude of the team.

“After a period of exploration， we feel that the European market is somewhat different from the U.S. market. Europe has more cultural heritage， and more centuries-old brands are precipitated there， in addition， the industrial chain is more complete. At the same time， because the culture and language are scattered， the market is more diverse. If enterprises want to enter the European market， they cannot inflexibly make use of the experience of the United States. To this end， we must continue to participate in the Paris Show， relying on the quality platform of the Textile Trade Promotion Association. On the basis of continuous deep understanding， we can further understand and penetrate European markets and customer needs.” Zhou Huiming said that they also plan to participate in European countries， such as textile and apparel exhibitions in Germany and Italy， to understand the operation of European brands and the direction of European markets. At the same time， they consider establishing cooperation with local importers or wholesalers in Europe， and use existing resources to open channels. If the time is ripe， it is also envisaged to form strategic alliances with local retailers and chain stores， enter the retail chain， and further open up the industrial chain.