Like most women, Luo Miaolan, who runs the socks business in the Yiwu International Trade City, loves to read fashion magazines and watch some fashion shows when free. However, unlike others who focus on beautiful clothes and delicate makeup, Luo Miaolan concentrates on what those models wear on their feet. Although not so many models wear socks on the show, she still gets inspiration from them. “Don’t belittle the socks business. Once you get it matched well, it can be the sparking point of the fashion.” In this way following the nature of women's love for beauty, Luo Miaolan started her business dealing with socks.
Aim at business opportunities of women’s love for beauty and fill the blank of air socking in the winter market.
Before entering the socks industry, Luo Miaolan was engaged in packaging design. Although the cost of investment in the service industry is low, it is very tiring, with no technical content. And you can be replaced almost at any time. With such a sense of crisis, she thought of starting her own business. As her husband's relatives have been doing business on cotton stocking for many years in Yiwu, when she knew recent-year-air-socking market got well repercussions , she decided to start with it.
From a designer to a factory runner, though the span is large, Luo had confidence to handle it. “Since I often got in touch with factories before, I believe I have some experience in production management.” Thus, she rented a workshop, buy some machines, hire worker… Gradually, “Duoyan Socks” came into scale.
In today's daily life, socks have become one of the important accessories in women's clothing and the birth of air socking is the best embodiment of this demand. But for many years, when talking about air socking, people will think it is a kind of socks that can only be worn in summer, with no advantage in other seasons. At that time, clothes such as broad legged pants began to pop up, and Luo immediately noticed with her sharp tactile that the winter broad leg pants needed a pair of shoes to match, which usually give a leak to ankles. Thinking of this, Luo firmly believed that a pair of socks with both warmth and invisibility will surely popular in the market.
After repeated trials, under her guidance, the “Duoyan Socks” has launched a variety of winter air socking, filling the market gap of air socking. Since then, Luo continuously optimize products, adding heating fiber at the bottom of the sock, using a variety of material to splice, such as lace and cotton cloth, and strengthening its warming function while increasing the sense of design. Finally, the winter air socking was first recognized in the northern market. Luo said that more than 1 million 500 thousand pairs of winter air socking were sold last winter.
Look for design inspiration from fashion magazines. New products are bought by Italy customers as “special edition”.
The popularity of winter air socking brought confidence to Luo and her company. In order to further improve the design and development of the company, she and designers in the company often go out to study, even go abroad to inspect the market and to keep in touch with the latest trends in clothing and fashion industry.
By the end of last year, when reading fashion magazines, Luo found that many 2018 spring style of various brands were boldly using blue and green. Such spring colors are too bright and rarely used in clothing or accessories, but these colors attract her deeply. “Although these spring colors are too bright, if they are well matched, it is really refreshing.” Therefore, Luo intended to apply these colors in the development of new products. At the beginning, this idea was questioned by her husband. In his view, these colors were hardly seen in the socks market, and probably not accepted by it. But under her insistence, he decided to support her idea. “At worst, it will become a slow-moving product. Anyway, not every new product can be burst.”
What they never expected was that this bold attempt was unexpectedly successful. After the product was put on shelves in December last year, it was quickly snapped up by customers and orders were increasing. So the factory of “Duoyan Socks” almost had to work overtime every day. Until this Spring Festival, workers would have to go home to celebrate the New Year, so the factory had to stop production. But due to the order of about 200 thousand pairs of socks, Luo was under stress for the whole spring holiday. And after workers returned to their position, she immediately called on production. The order of “spring colored” socks has been arranged until this month. “Since the new year's return, the workers almost did not have a break because of the rush. It’s not until May Day did they finish all the ordered. Then workers got one day off,” said Luo.
Luo's unique foresight and capabilities of product development have attracted many foreign merchants with special design requirements. At the beginning of this year, an Italy clothing company, which had been collaborating with them for four years, sent new demand for new products, and sent several pairs of air socking that sells well at present in Italy. After communicating with customers, Luo together with the designers of the company carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the products according to the samples sent by the customers. They take good while quit the bad. With the recent warmer weather, Luo suddenly realized that the tenth pants have come into vogue, and the empty ankles might be more charming if they were able to embellish.
After nearly a month of efforts, she designed a kind of lace and cotton spliced medium socking, which not only improved the traditional air socking, but also creatively decorate the ankles, making the beauty of the traditional air socking stretch from the shoes to the ankle, well received by Italy customers. Once the sample arrived, the customer sent them the street photo with models in such socks, and then signed an order worth about 600 thousand yuan. This customer also signed a sealed protocol with Luo, buying out the exclusive copyright of the seven products of the series.
Make the product itself become the best advertisement of the company. Never cut down the quality for the low price.
Luo said that since she started her business in the industry, the increasing orders made her realize that “good products will speak” and the praise from customers is the best embodiment of the strength of the enterprise more than any advertising word.
In recent years, with rapid development of e-commerce, Luo also wants to make the product go further through-commerce. But in the market research, she found that some e-commerce companies constantly keep cutting in the fabric and making process so as to lower down product prices and enhance the ranking. “Whether socking is comfortable or not, cotton content is a very important index. The socks we produce will contain no less than 95% cotton. But many of the low price pop socks on e-commerce platform are simply not containing any cotton. We will never make such socks.” In Luo’s view, today's consumption concept is constantly improving, and price is not the main factor of procurement. If the product quality is below grade, then this kind of business can only be disposable.
From last September till now, a professional clothing company in Singapore has finally decided to cooperate with Duoyan Socks through selecting from a number of companies. The company has a profound study of the physical characteristics of the human foot. Detailed paper work about the cutting of the fabric of air socking, the glue at the bottom and even the bending of the arch at the foot has been given to her. Luo knows that only by collaborating with such enterprises can they really improve themselves. Thus, she repeatedly adjusts the proofing hundreds of times, hoping to achieve a higher standard, and customers also respect her for her dedication.
Luo said, at present, everything in the company is heading in a good direction. The only thing that worried her is long period on developing a new product. “After the Spring Festival, I designed two new items. But after selecting materials, purchasing fabric, dyeing, fixing, printing and so on, I finally got the sample last month. But it’s over season to put on sales. So this new product can only be put aside and wait until next spring.” Therefore, the concept of production, from the original multiple pop socking, was adjusted to “less but quick “, that is, less production of stock in stock while speed up reproduction of pop ones, in order to maximize the market response ability of company.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.linkyiwu.com/blog/business-on-socks-is-small-but-complicated-operators-in-yiwu-market-just-run-the-business-well/