People’s Daily reporter Zhou Huan
In October 1934, more than 86,000 people including the main force of the Central Red Army crossed the Duhe River at night and embarked on a thousands-mile expedition.
In the History Museum of the Central Red Army's Long March Departure in Yudu, a mottled and faded hand-operated sewing machine is quietly displayed. Ge Jiediao, a Red Army soldier in Yudu, carried it with the army on the expedition, witnessing the sincerity of the people in the Soviet area to support the Red Army stitch by stitch.
A thread connects history and the present.
From simple workwear to national-style cheongsam, from manual sewing to smart workshops, from OEM to brand overseas... In recent years, Yudu has focused on developing the textile and apparel industry, gathering more than 3,850 related companies, creating employment for about 300,000 people, and the industry's revenue has exceeded 100 billion yuan. It has been rated as a famous brand clothing manufacturing city in China, a national fashion and clothing characteristic industry cluster, and one of the top ten characteristic industry clusters in the national textile and clothing industry.
Product changes: from basic ready-to-wear to diversified clothing
Walking into the sample room of Ganzhou Huaxin Knitting Co., Ltd., on one side, you can see the ordinary knitted sweaters and basic base clothing produced when the company was first established, with single styles and monotonous colors; on the other side, the fashionable jacquard sweaters, high-elastic skin-friendly base sweaters, and autumn and winter thickened wool blend sweaters that are now facing the market are available in various styles and novel designs.
In the 14 years since it was established in Dudu, the company's annual production of clothing styles has increased from more than 10 to more than 500 types, and its annual revenue has increased five times, reflecting the growth trajectory of Dudu's textile and apparel industry that continues to iterate and diversify.
Since the end of the last century, a large number of Yudu people have gone out to work. In the past 20 years, an army of about 300,000 "Yudu tailors" has formed in Guangdong, Fujian and other places, where they have honed their craftsmanship and accumulated capital. Around 2010, coastal industries gradually shifted, and Yudu seized the opportunity to attract "Yudu tailors" from abroad to return to their hometowns to start businesses and develop the local textile and clothing industry.
"Many people have come back, and there are some orders. However, the supporting facilities cannot keep up. The supply of local clothing fabrics and accessories is weak. Zippers and buttons have to be purchased from other places. Most factories dare not accept orders for complex models and new models. The entire industry can produce only a few clothing styles and a single category." Duan Xianyou, director of the Yudu County Textile and Garment Industry Development Center, recalled.
In the early years, Peng Minhua had been working in Guangdong, and in 2012 he founded Huaxin Knitting in his hometown of Yudu. "Initially, the factory had more than 100 workers, relying entirely on Party A to provide patterns, transport raw materials from other places, and make some of the simplest and most basic garments. The profits were slim." Peng Minhua said.
"In the final analysis, the industry is still small in size and has a weak foundation. The industrial chain and ecology are not formed. Product categories and market expansion are limited, and the industry is hindered from expanding." Duan Xianyou said.
Changes began in 2017 - Yu Du positioned the textile and clothing industry as the first industry. On the basis of undertaking industrial transfers, he anchored the goal of "100 billion clusters", laid out the entire industrial chain, and focused on replenishing, extending and strengthening the chain, and developing towards clustering.
Focusing on production, research and development, packaging and other aspects, Yudu has successively introduced leading upstream and downstream enterprises such as Jiangxi Wei Mian, Fei Li Wende, and Winner Fashion. At the same time, it has established ten major industrial service platforms such as a surface accessories market, a quality inspection center, a washing industrial park, and a clothing college, and strives to make up for the supporting shortcomings in knitting yarn, elastic fabrics, special accessories, washing and styling.
"Now, most of the accessories are supplied locally, and testing and washing services are available. We have the conditions and ability to make new models and high-quality products." Peng Minhua said that the company now produces more than 2 million pieces of various types of knitted apparel every year, and its products are exported to many countries and regions.
Research and development enables category expansion, and differentiated clothing opens up market segments. In the production workshop of Jiangxi Zaiqiku Clothing Co., Ltd., needles and threads are flying in and out, and the cut pieces are flowing in sequence. In the shipping area, a batch of thickened jeans are neatly stacked and will be shipped to Ganzhou International Dry Port to be sent to Russia on the China-Europe train.
"These are not ordinary jeans. They can withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius." Xiao Rihui, the company's chairman, picked up a pair of jeans and opened the trouser legs. "The secret lies in this layer of heated fabric. It is specially customized for the high-cold market. It is independently developed and is windproof and temperature-locking. 800,000 pairs are sold in the Russian market alone every year."
Like Huaxin Knitting, Zaiyiku also started as a low-end OEM. After contacting Russian procurement channels in 2020, the company quickly established a R&D team, developed heated denim fabrics, and received orders for cold-proof clothing. Since then, Zaiyiku has successively developed new products such as warm denim series and children's functional denim vests, and has more than 30 authorized patents. Today, Zaiyiku's products are exported to many countries and regions, and foreign trade orders are growing steadily.
In recent years, Yudu has built a series of R&D and design platforms such as Jiangxi Garment Industry Technology Research Institute (Yudu), Yudu Industrial Design Innovation Research Institute, and Denim Industry Research Institute. About 40% of textile and garment enterprises above designated size have established independent R&D and design teams.
Changes in production: from manual sewing to smart manufacturing
Walking into the intelligent production workshop of Yudu County Hongxun Clothing Co., Ltd., the overhead rails are arranged vertically and horizontally, and hangers with built-in chips drag semi-finished trousers and move quickly in mid-air. On one side of the workshop, an automatic cutting machine presses a digital template to complete fabric cutting in one go... In front of the electronic screen, Ge Jiuchang, Ge Jiudiao's grandson and the company's production team leader, keeps an eye on various operating data.
“In the past, it was all about people, who needed to be quick with their hands and feet, but now machines will arrange the work for themselves.” Ge Jiuchang, 50, has witnessed the iterative changes in the garment industry from manual to industrialized to intelligent.
In Ge Jiuchang's memory, his grandfather relied on an old-fashioned sewing machine to make clothes by hand and foot. It took two or three days to make a piece of clothing. In 1993, he came to work in a garment factory in Guangdong and used an industrial lockstitch sewing machine. The needle moved up and down at high speed with the motor, and garments were rolled off the assembly line in batches. "The efficiency is dozens of times that of old-fashioned sewing machines!" Ge Jiuchang exclaimed at that time.
Years later, in the garment workshop in his hometown, the industry's leap-forward upgrade continues to exceed his imagination. In 2021, Hongxun Clothing launched a digital transformation, introducing intelligent hanging systems, automatic cutting beds, etc., increasing production capacity by 40%. “When I was working outside, I used to wonder if the machine could be faster, but I didn’t expect it to come true,” Ge Jiuchang said.
Such changes not only occur in garment workshops, but also in all supporting links upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. 60 spinning machines are lined up neatly, with thousands of spindles rotating up to 25,000 times per minute. The fine white yarn is continuously stretched upwards, and the silk threads are wound into a tube... Stepping into the spinning workshop of Zhispang Cloud Chain (Jiangxi) Textile Co., Ltd., the roar of the machine is wrapped with the faint smell of cotton, and hits your face.
"Each spindle is equipped with a sensor to capture the yarn status in real time. Once an abnormality such as a disconnection occurs, the central control room will immediately receive fault information." The company's general manager Chen Geng said that in 2025, the company will build a "5G+AI visual digital twin" smart spinning platform. The virtual model and the real scene of the workshop are synchronously linked, covering the entire process from raw materials to yarn. The production efficiency is increased by more than 80% and the production cost is reduced by 30%.
At Jiangxi Xinyilong Textile and Apparel Co., Ltd., industrial vision equipment accurately identifies fabric printing defects; at Jiangxi Shunlong Garment Washing Co., Ltd., an intelligent system controls the washing of denim fabrics in real time; at China Textile Standard (Jiangxi) Testing Co., Ltd., instruments quickly complete fabric strength and other indicators... In the capital, supporting industrial links other than garments, such as spinning and weaving, fabric printing, and quality inspection, are equipped with "digital brains."
The visible production lines are changing, and the invisible management links in the backend are also being reshaped by digital technology. "In the past, production scheduling relied on experience and on-site visits, but now it relies on systems." In the "5G+" smart factory of Jiangxi Feili Wende Fashion Co., Ltd., the production information management system drives the efficient operation of the workshop. Li Jian, the company's executive vice president, said, "All workshop equipment is connected to the Internet with one click, and production progress, work station efficiency, order completion rate, and equipment failures are all visualized."
"Before the intelligent transformation, a large number of workers were invested in rushing to make orders, and the production capacity often could not keep up. After the transformation, the workshop capacity was expanded, the production capacity was increased, the production cycle was shortened by 30%, and the product rework rate was reduced from 15% to less than 5%." Li Jian said.
Changes in value: from manufacturing in the middle to creating benefits at both ends
For a long time in the past, Yudu's clothing companies focused on contract processing, with considerable production capacity but meager profits. They have been at the middle and low end of the value chain for a long time. what to do? Continue to exert efforts at both ends of the "smile curve" to promote industry quality improvement and breakthrough - Yudu focuses on creative design and brand cultivation to increase the added value of products and polish the "Yudu Clothing" regional industrial brand.
Design is the “core” of product advancement. "Foreign buyers have taken a fancy to 28 women's clothing designed independently by the company, established connections with more than 10 design institutions, and absorbed cutting-edge design concepts!" In May this year, the 2026 China Good Creativity National Women's Wear Design Competition and CFDT (Yudu) Women's Wear Design Fair was held in Yudu. Xiao Zhiyong, general manager of Jiangxi Pulse Intelligent Manufacturing Fashion Industry Development Co., Ltd., led 4 teams and 8 designers from the company to participate and gained a lot.
The physical display group of the competition received 679 sets of works from 137 colleges and universities online. The on-site creative group brought together 377 teachers and students from 50 colleges and universities across the country to compete on-site. 125 exhibitors participated in the exhibition, which resulted in more than 300 design copyright cooperation and the settlement of 20 independent designer brands.
Use competition to promote innovation and gather business. In recent years, Yudu has continued to hold fashion design competitions, industrial exhibitions, expositions and other activities, and has launched a "pre-match, then factory, front-exhibition, then factory" model - the front-end competition venues and exhibitions display original designs, conduct business docking, and the back-end links local factories to undertake implementation, so that the ideas on the drawings can be quickly transformed into orders and products.
In addition, Yudu has built public platforms such as the fashion industry complex to create designer spaces, and introduced resources from universities such as Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and Wuhan Textile University to allow designers and factories to connect face-to-face and continue to open up the channel for the transformation of design results into ready-made garments. Yudu has also introduced supportive policies to provide financial incentives and subsidies for companies to build their own design centers, participate in fashion weeks, and clothing design competitions, and promote more companies to shift from OEM processing to independent design and production.
Brand, the weight of product value-added. In the garment workshop of Ganzhou Hexin Garment Co., Ltd., the embroidery machine clattered, and as the needle rose and fell, colorful threads wandered and entangled on the fabric, and a piece of cheongsam with exquisite buttons gradually took shape.
"Now that we make our own cheongsam, the profit margin is larger than that of OEM in the past." Xie Pingxiang, the company's chairman, said, "The secret is to choose the right track and build a brand." In 2019, Xie Pingxiang looked at the incremental market brought by the rise of the national trend, dug into the national style aesthetics, improved the traditional cheongsam style, and founded the "Laisu" brand. "The brand's elegant and simple meaning, fitted waist, moderate slits, and skin-friendly fabrics have made cheongsam favored by the market."
In April this year, at the 6th Consumer Expo, Jiangxi Feili Wende Fashion Co., Ltd. held a clothing catwalk release show to showcase the latest design products of its fashionable women's clothing brand; Zaiyiku Clothing launched various denim clothing that does not fade, has high elasticity and is anti-wrinkle... In Yudu, a group of local enterprises began to "walk on two legs" - while accepting orders from well-known brands and honing their craftsmanship, while cultivating independent brands and actively exploring the market.
At present, Yudu textile and garment enterprises have 135 self-owned trademarks and 21 Jiangxi famous brand products. The rate of self-created brands of garment enterprises above the designated size reaches 42.2%. "We will promote the two-way development of the 'Yudu Clothing' regional brand and corporate brand, continue to promote the transformation of OEM companies into brand-based enterprises, cultivate a number of distinctive local brands, and enhance the added value of the industry." Duan Xianyou said.
