(Into the Chinese countryside) "South Yiwu, Bei Xiaobao" Hebei Shenze fabric "sewing" big business

In late autumn, the clicking sound of sewing machines can be heard from factory buildings in Xiaobao Village, Baizhuang Township, Shenze County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. On both sides of the street, fabric art exhibition halls are located next to each other. In a corner of the exhibition hall, the anchor promoted new models through the camera of his mobile phone. This plain village became known as "South Yiwu, Bei Xiaobao" by relying on a piece of cloth.

Baizhuang Township, where Xiaobao Village is located, is the largest fabric production and sales base in northern China. Relying on the industrial cluster with Baizhuang Township as the core, Shenze County has gathered more than 400 fabric production and supporting enterprises. In 2025, the county's fabric industry revenue will be 2.34 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), and similar products have a domestic market share of over 80%.

He Zhan, the person in charge of Shijiazhuang Milai Household Products Co., Ltd., has been doing fabric art for nearly 30 years. She said that this business in the village started from leftover materials. In the 1980s, several families made sofa cushions and pillowcases to supplement their household income during their spare time. "At first, four or five people at home got together and started working in a small workshop. Later, we took the samples we designed and traveled across the country. Distributors slowly spread all over the country and even overseas."

In the showroom, shelves are lined with suede embroidered cushions and chenille pillows. He Zhan said that overseas orders are mostly handled by foreign trade companies and sold to the Middle East, European and American markets. "Table mats are well exported. Overseas customers prefer suede and European styles. Waterproof and oil-proof lace table mats are now more popular in China."

There is an original butterfly-shaped cushion on the shelf, which He Zhan has changed many times. "This model is ergonomically designed, and the butterfly wings fit just right on both sides of the waist, making it suitable for people who sit for long periods of time." She also incorporates Chinese elements into the product, "For example, this red gourd-shaped cushion means good fortune and good luck." To find design inspiration, she and her colleagues often go to industry exhibitions and also travel to Japan and South Korea to learn about fashion trends.

A piece of cloth keeps changing into new patterns in Xiaobao Village. He Hongliang, general manager of Shenze County Simple Fabric Co., Ltd., said that the company started out by making cushions in the early days. "You can't earn a few dollars from a cushion, and there are so many people making it." Around 2020, he found that the overseas demand for pet products was rising. Considering that the factory had raw materials and workers, he decided to transform into pet toys, twisting colorful cloth strips into ropes and braiding them into teething balls, knotted donuts and other products.

"Pet toys look simple, but they are about bite resistance and interaction." He Hongliang said that now, 60% of the company's products are pet toys, and the export value of this alone will exceed 3 million yuan in 2025.

After the number of orders increased, He Hongliang distributed the hand-knitting work to surrounding villagers. "More than 60 households in the surrounding villages accept this job. After we have arranged it, we come to collect it. One person can earn more than 2,000 yuan a month."

As the fabric industry grew bigger and bigger, the village also changed. Lu Yu, secretary of the Party branch of Xiaobao Village, said that there are more than 500 households in the village, and two-thirds of the farmers focus on cloth art. In recent years, e-commerce and live broadcast have opened up new sales channels for traditional fabrics. Xiaobao Village was selected as a "Taobao Village". In 2025, the sales volume of Xiaobao Village's cloth art industry will exceed 700 million yuan in the e-commerce and live broadcast segments alone.

Some young people who had worked outside have come back to open online stores and do live broadcasts, becoming the most active group of people in the village. "The roads in the village have been hardened in recent years, many people have built buildings, and the village is much more popular than in previous years," Lu Yu said. (over)