Chinese down jacket brand weaves rags-to-riches story overseas
"I was so excited that I wanted to go up to them and ask them why they liked the clothes, but I don't speak much English," said Qiu.
Since 2017, the brand OROLAY registered by Qiu has ranked high among the top sellers on the platform of e-commerce giant Amazon. In 2019, 20 out of the top 100 best-selling winter-clothing products on Amazon came from the Chinese brand.
Qiu has ridden the wave of the flourishing cross-border e-commerce business, courageously adjusting his designs to meet the demands of the market.
After graduation from college, Qiu embarked on a frustrating career in marketing for a foreign-funded enterprise. In 2012, he quit the job and started his own business in his hometown of Jiaxing, in Zhejiang Province, hoping to provide his newborn son with more quality time and better living conditions.
When Qiu was growing up, garment factories mushroomed over the county-level city of Pinghu, which is administered by his hometown, and which now produces over 80 percent of China's down jackets. Qiu made up his mind to follow suit and joined the fray.
While replenishing his stock, he learned that cost-effective Chinese products sell well on Amazon, so he decided to tap into the overseas market via the internet.
The sales were good, and at first, Qiu quite enjoyed the fast-paced life this brought. In the afternoons he would select the projects, then he would communicate with customers in the evenings, packing goods for delivery till midnight.
However, the overseas market is by no means a "safe haven," and he soon received a large number of refund requests.
The down jackets Qiu sold were designed for the domestic market, which failed to satisfy American people's preferences in terms of size and function.
After carefully collecting feedback from his customers, Qiu started building his own brand to cater to these particular demands.
"We discovered that most down jackets in the United States were designed for outdoor exercise, which means they were made to be thermal and waterproof, but not necessarily fashionable," said Qiu.
Based on these findings, Qiu was inspired to introduce a new product based around the concept of "down jackets in the metropolis."
Since 2016, Qiu has established a design center to develop more than 80 novel styles for the North American market.
The new launches under his own brand soon won growing popularity, with the annual sales volume in the United States soaring by about 300 to 400 percent on average.
Qiu attributes his success to the complete and strong supply chain in China. "Relying on the strong manufacturing sector, I'm able to respond quickly to new market demands with low inventory risks," he said.
The shrewd businessman invested over 10 million yuan (about 1.56 million U.S. dollars) to build his own factory this year in east China's Shandong Province.
"Since 2021, 30 percent of our down jackets have been produced by our own factory in China," said Qiu, adding that he plans to upgrade his designs and make forays into markets including Japan and the Republic of Korea.
In 2020 alone, the number of import and export lists checked and released via China's customs cross-border e-commerce management platform surged by 63.3 percent year on year to a total of 2.45 billion, opening up new opportunities for globe-straddling entrepreneurs like Qiu.
Qiu is also seeking ways to share his experience with others. He has established an agent company, providing systemic and professional guidance and help for Chinese enterprises in need.
"Everyone can blaze a trail by themselves in the industry," he said.
