Increase Production Value, Improve Appearance Value, And Seek "Popular Style" For Small Cotton Padded Jacket In Spring

Cotton padded jacket is a hot word in Houying Town, Dongchangfu District, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. In this small town with more than 130 cotton padded jacket processing plants, we are busy with design and production in spring, centralized sales in summer and replenishment orders in autumn and winter.

"Now that it is warm, others take off their cotton padded jacket, and we are busy making sample clothes, and put on the cotton padded jacket again." Ren Fengyun, the head of a cotton padded jacket processing plant in Houying Town, said with a smile.

The quilting machine operates automatically according to the pattern. Dozens of workers skillfully lock the edges and sew... When they enter the workshop, the machine sounds busy. Ren Fengyun said that what is currently being produced is a conventional cotton padded jacket, and everyone is still working hard to study new styles, fabrics, patterns and colors to try to launch this year's "best model" as soon as possible.

Houying Town is a well-known "cotton padded jacket town". Over the past ten years, the industry has grown from small to large, from family workshops to rows of standardized workshops. In 2024, the town will produce more than 35 million cotton padded jackets, accounting for about 70% of the national output, and drive more than 6000 people to find jobs nearby.

"Sewing a jacket, taking a baby, earning money, looking after the home" has become the life portrayal of the marquis. Garment making requires nearly 10 processes, such as cotton filling, quilting and pocket digging. Young people can sew, old people can cut threads and pack. The processing factory will also send relatively simple jobs to individuals. Pregnant mothers and disabled people can process at home. Ren Liping, a 35 year old villager in Yangguang New Village, said, "If you pay by the piece, you can earn four or five thousand yuan a month."

In a processing factory in Houying Town, workers are sewing cotton padded jackets. Photographed by Zhang Liyuan, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

The thriving industry was once heavily involved. Zhang Zhongshan, a 58 year old cotton padded jacket seller, remembers that in the past, every family sold the same model - red flower cotton padded jacket. "It can only reduce the labor cost, constantly let the profit down, and even sell one for more than ten yuan."

Since 2016, the local government has guided practitioners to establish the awareness of "playing independent brand" and "doing original design" to reduce the adverse effects of disorderly competition. The relevant departments have specially planned three "cotton padded jacket streets" in the clothing wholesale market to encourage the processing plants to produce and sell their own products. They have also made special signboards and billboards at the main intersections of the market to facilitate the purchase of foreign merchants.

With its own brand, the officer has more power to start a business. Sun Wengang, the head of a cotton padded jacket processing factory in Houying Town, said that the company has accumulated more than 20 classic pieces, and will produce more than 10 new ones every year, The sales volume of this processing plant with 60 employees exceeded 20 million yuan.

The complete industrial chain of design, production and sales makes "Houying Manufacturing" more competitive. Today, the cotton padded jacket produced in Houying Town has hundreds of designs and colors, and the windproof and ultra light cotton padded jacket can be up to 6XL in size. In 2024, the output value of the local cotton padded jacket industry will exceed 1 billion yuan, and the products will be sold to more than 10 provinces, including Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, as well as Greece, Poland, Japan and South Korea.

In the Rural E-Commerce Industrial Park of Dongchangfu District, the anchor is carrying goods live. Photographed by Zhang Liyuan, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

"Family members, this is a new national style cotton padded clothes, and now you can take it home for tens of dollars..." In the rural e-commerce industrial park of Dongchangfu District, the anchor is carrying goods live. Zhu Ruina, the person in charge of the e-commerce operation department of the industrial park, said that many consumers regard cotton padded jacket as home clothes and performance clothes. Recently, the average daily sales of cotton padded jacket on the e-commerce platform has reached 100000 yuan. The hot business has driven many rural women to learn how to be anchors, and their spirit is more and more sufficient.

The reporter learned that in 2024, Houying Town also held a cotton padded jacket model contest, and more than 50 models, including the employees of the processing plant, walked around in cotton padded jackets. A short video shot by villagers on the scene was posted on the Internet, lamenting that "cotton padded jacket is also on the catwalk! Foreigned! Energetic!" Jia Zhongjian, mayor of Houying Town, said that this year there will also be a cotton padded jacket AI design contest, which will gather high-quality resources from upstream and downstream of the industrial chain through events such as competitions, shows, exhibitions and conferences to promote the further transformation and upgrading of the industry.

The small cotton padded jacket has production value, beauty, and more value. When people get rich, the countryside is "alive". Ma Xiaoli, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Houying Town, introduced that the local government has jointly built a rural revitalization practice base with Shandong Women's College and other units. In the future, it will further enrich product design, extend new formats such as children's clothing and pet clothing, and explore new paths for rural revitalization.

(Source: Xinhuanet)