From sleepy backwater to a lingerie powerhouse
Print Edition
Americans like their lingerie to be risque. Europeans prefer it more classy, and Chinese remain a bit shy but are opening up.
So goes the street-corner discussion in Guanyun, a sleepy coastal county that for generations followed the rhythms of wheat-and-rice cultivation in east China’s Jiangsu Province, but today concerns itself with global preferences on sensual wear.
The flat farming region is China’s “Lingerie Capital,” where sewing machines hum in village-level micro-factories to meet up to 70 percent of the fast-growing domestic demand.
Millions more items are exported annually in a textbook example of the ability of Internet-enabled Chinese entrepreneurs to profit from even the most off-the-wall idea.
The man widely credited with lighting the spark is Lei Congrui, a 30-year-old with a ponytail and cap who would look at home on a skateboard. It all happened almost by accident.
As a teenager, Lei began making extra cash by hawking various consumer goods on China’s rapidly growing e-commerce sites 15 years ago.
“Customers kept asking if we have any lingerie. I had never heard of it before, but I just said ‘yes’ and then looked up what it was,” he said.
Lei now employs more than 100 workers who push lacy black, red panties and bustiers through stitching machines. His brands such as “Midnight Charm” pull in more than US$1.5 million in annual revenue, he said.
The success of early movers like Lei inspired an industrial revolution.
The Guanyun government says there are now more than 500 factories employing tens of thousands and churning out more than US$300 million worth of lingerie annually.
Market consultancy iiMedia said Chinese online sales of sex-related products grew 50 percent in 2019 to US$7 billion. It predicted 35 percent growth in 2020 despite pandemic disruptions.
“Youth attitudes are catching up and bringing sensuality into the home. (Lingerie) is becoming popular,” said Li Yue, a local lingerie factory worker.
When Lei started, most buyers were over 30 and many had lived abroad. But by 2013, volumes soared as younger consumers began discovering their sensuality. Most buyers are now between 22 and 25.
Initially, loose-fitting, not-too-revealing designs were favored in China. Today, semi-transparent, “body-hugging” numbers dominate. Guanyun’s industrial reinvention didn’t happen overnight. Pioneers found it hard to hire staff.
“But after the industry got bigger, people could make money and shake off poverty. Now everyone loves it.”
Lei exports 90 percent of his output, mostly to the US and Europe. Lingerie has transformed Guanyun, with factories sprouting up next to wheat fields, and new-found wealth obvious on the streets.
Previously, many of the county’s roughly 1 million inhabitants left for the hard life of a migrant worker in far-off factories.
And Guanyun is feeding its golden goose: It has broken ground on a US$500 million, 690-hectare lingerie-themed industrial zone.
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