The development history of Hong Kong's garment industry

1949 A large number of talents and funds from Shanghai came to Hong Kong to settle down and develop.

1The industrial production in the 1980s was a golden age. The production was supplied to Hong Kong and moved to Europe and America to increase the market.

1990, Hong Kong manufacturers gradually moved northward to South China and set up factories in the Pearl River Delta.

In 2000, there were about 66,000 employees in the textile and garment industry, and the export value of textile and garment reached HK$ 87 billion, accounting for 48% of Hong Kong's total export value. With the efforts of the garment industry in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Textile Association has even won a seat for the garment industry in the Legislative Council functional constituency.

In 2004, the total export value was HK$ 70 billion, accounting for more than 50% of the total export value of Hong Kong products, while the total re-export value exceeded HK$ 270 billion.

On June 5438+1 October1day, 2005, the quota system of textile and garment industry was officially abolished. This means that Hong Kong's textile and clothing products can be freely exported to Europe, America and Canada, including the United States, the European Union and Canada. Hong Kong entrepreneurs have invested and set up factories in South China, especially in the Pearl River Delta, making full use of local manpower, land and preferential policies for processing trade. As a purchasing, designing and marketing enterprise, Hong Kong has been transformed into a manufacturing management, coordination and support center.

Before 2007, the mode of "store factory" has changed, and Hong Kong's textile and garment industry has entered a high-end era. From an economic point of view, Hong Kong's first impression to the world in the past was that it had a high-quality and efficient manufacturing industry. Textile and garment industry is a mainstream of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry, among which Changjiang Garment Group founded by Dr. Chan Sui Kau is the best example.

The name Chan Sui Kau will naturally remind people of Hong Kong's textile and garment industry, and Dr. Chen's legendary achievement is a portrayal of Hong Kong's splendid old economy and modern entrepreneurial spirit.

Regionally, Hong Kong has the largest number of millionaires in the world. Most of them get rich in real estate or stock market; Chan Sui Kau is a few exceptions. His way of getting rich is very traditional: manufacturing first, then selling.

As the old saying goes, "Tall buildings rise from the ground". At first, the Kingdom of Chan Sui Kau was just a family shop; But after years of painstaking efforts, it has become a diversified group with 15000 employees, covering Hongkong, Macau, Taiwan Province Province, China, Europe and America. Even so, he often laughs at himself for "the big fish in the small pond". If this small pond represents the clothing industry, Chan Sui Kau's position is extraordinary!

Textile and garment industry is composed of spinning, weaving, knitting, bleaching and dyeing and garment production. Each production link has its own chamber of commerce. In order to unite different chambers of commerce in textile, bleaching, dyeing and garment industries, hoping to gain a common voice among many representatives, Chan Sui Kau and industry leaders formed a "Wednesday regular meeting". After years of uninterrupted gathering and contact, the Hong Kong Textile Federation was finally established in 1988, and Dr. Chen became the first chairman of the association. As far as the overall commercial interests of textiles and clothing are concerned, the association has repeatedly analyzed the actual situation and provided advice to the Government. Through many efforts, the Hong Kong Textile Federation has won a seat for the textile and garment industry in the Legislative Council functional constituency!

Over the years, Chan Sui Kau has been working selflessly to defend the overall interests of the industry. One of his most well-known victories was the establishment of export quotas in the early 1960s. The colonial government at that time tended to allocate all quotas to British and Indian exporters. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Chan Sui Kau immediately joined hands with the late Mr. Lin Gencheng and representatives of major chambers of commerce to strive for a fair distribution of quotas from the government. Finally, the government agreed that exporters and manufacturers would share quotas equally. This not only laid the foundation stone for Hong Kong's clothing industry, but also brought about the steady growth of Hong Kong's clothing exports for more than 30 years, making the clothing industry a major industry in Hong Kong!

The Development of Hong Kong's Clothing Industry

1950, there were only 465,438+0 garment factories in Hong Kong, employing 65,438+0,944 workers, accounting for about 2.8% of the total number of factories in Hong Kong and 2.4% of the total number of manufacturing employees in Hong Kong. In 1950s, a large number of capital, entrepreneurial talents and cheap labor poured in from China, which enabled the garment industry in Hong Kong to develop rapidly.

The garment industry continued to flourish in the 1960s and 1970s. In the early 1960s, the clothing industry surpassed the textile industry to become the industry with the largest export earnings and the largest number of employees. Because the garment industry involves more labor-intensive processes, the main reason for its vigorous development is that there was a large supply of cheap labor in Hong Kong in those years. But now that wages in Hong Kong are rising, Asian competitors with low wages have also developed the garment industry, and the advantage of cheap labor has gradually disappeared over time. The limited export quantity and high production cost urge the clothing industry to improve product quality, increase the value of export items and develop new products, including high-end fashion made of various blended fibers.

In 1980s, the clothing industry continued to develop to meet the market demand for high-quality and fashionable clothing. The clothes produced now range from high fashion to simple clothing accessories. In the export market, the clothing industry is facing fierce competition, so it is more and more aware of the importance of automated production. Many manufacturers of knitted garments have installed computer-aided design instruments and automatic computer-aided knitting machines. In other garment manufacturing industries, large factories usually have computer-aided pattern grading and marking machines, plotters and automatic cutting machines.

In recent years, the local clothing industry has gradually developed to the high-end market and established a high-quality and fashionable image. Hong Kong has also become a well-known clothing procurement center in the Asia-Pacific region, attracting not only a large number of orders for producing simple products, but also a small number of orders for high-priced clothing. The former kind of orders (except those restricted by quotas) are usually handed over to the production base of the industry in South China, while the latter kind of small quantities of high-priced clothing are produced by local factories. Except for limited overseas processing, products subject to export quotas in Hong Kong must be manufactured in Hong Kong to meet the requirements of Hong Kong origin. From 1950 to 1970, the number of factories increased to 349 1 with an average annual growth rate of 24.9%, and the number of employees increased to 148025 with an average annual growth rate of 24.6%. 1975, there were 8,047 garment factories in Hong Kong (accounting for 25.9% of the total number of manufacturing factories), employing 257,595 workers (accounting for 37.9% of the total number of manufacturing factories), making it the largest and most important industry in the manufacturing industry. From 1975 to the mid-1980s, the value of this industry continued to increase, but its proportion in the overall manufacturing industry began to decline: 1987, the number of garment factories reached its peak, which was 10556, but it only accounted for 20.9% of the total manufacturing factories at that time. Similarly, the number of employees in the clothing industry reached its peak in 1986, accounting for 34.5% of the total number of employees in the manufacturing industry at that time. Since then, the number of factories in 1992 has dropped to 6980 (accounting for 16.6% of the total number of manufacturing factories), while the number of employees in the same period has dropped to 186607 (accounting for 32.7% of the total number of manufacturing factories). However, the clothing industry is still the largest industry in the manufacturing industry, which is more than twice that of the textile industry.

Clothing factories are generally smaller than before. Before 1975, garment factories employed an average of more than 40 workers (up to 58 workers in 1965), but by the 1980s, the average number of employees in garment factories had gradually decreased to an average of 30 workers per factory.

Export performance of Hong Kong's garment industry

The export value of local garment industry increased from 1 in 1960, 0 1 100 million yuan to10.56 billion yuan in 1992, with an average annual growth of 1.4%. Since the 1960s, the clothing industry has been the industry with the largest export income, accounting for more than 30% of the total export of local products. Except for 44.6% in the heyday of 1975, its proportion is generally between 30% and 36%. The figure of 1992 is 33%. In terms of value, Hong Kong was the largest clothing export region in the world from 1973 to 1985 (except that it was surpassed by Italy in 1978 and 1979). 1986, Italy once again occupied the first place, and has always maintained this position. Since then, Hong Kong has been the second largest clothing export region in the world, and it was surpassed by South Korea only in a short time of 1988. 1992, after China and Italy, Hongkong became the third largest clothing export region in the world.

Favorable factors of Hong Kong's clothing industry

Hong Kong's garment industry is famous for its experience and technology, and enjoys the reputation of manufacturing high-quality garments overseas. There are skilled employees in the clothing industry, who can produce all kinds of clothes, not only in large quantities, but also in specific projects. They can provide professional advice and help to the clothing samples designed or designated by customers themselves. In addition, the clothing industry often responds quickly to changes in market demand and fashion trends, tries to use brand-new and more advanced materials as much as possible, and is proficient in management to meet customers' needs.

There are many small and medium-sized garment factories, which is a favorable factor for the garment industry. These factories make all kinds of fashions, and can meet the ever-changing market demand under an efficient subcontracting network. Hong Kong clothing industry is paying more and more attention to quality and can deliver goods on time and quickly, so its reputation is growing and its competitiveness is improving.

Hong Kong's garment industry has also been helped by some auxiliary industries. These industries provide accessories such as threads, zippers, buttons, fasteners and labels, as well as a variety of lace that is extremely important for fashion production. Textile, knitting, processing, bleaching and dyeing factories also provide some needed fabrics for the clothing industry.

Restrictive factors of Hong Kong's clothing industry

Like other industries, the clothing industry has encountered difficulties in hiring and retaining employees, because many workers are attracted by the expanding service industry. The service industry usually gives workers higher wages, a better working environment and a better sense of social status. As wages and production costs rise, Hong Kong is facing fierce competition from other low-wage production areas. The shortage of operators has not improved since the middle of 1986. In addition, Hong Kong is a support center for offshore manufacturing, providing support services such as design, commodity promotion, quality control and raw material collection. There is a serious shortage of skilled employees engaged in such support services in this industry.

The decrease in local textile production has also hit garment manufacturers, because the garment industry relies heavily on high-quality textile yarns and fabrics produced and supplied locally. In fact, providing textile samples quickly is the main factor for the clothing industry to maintain its competitiveness. However, the local textile industry has not provided a complete series of woven and knitted fabrics for the garment industry. Weaving mainly produces thick cotton products, such as denim; The circular knitting industry mainly produces cotton fabrics for local consumption. Therefore, if the clothing industry needs to use man-made woven fiber lightweight cloth or blended fiber cloth, it must rely on imported materials.

In the past, Hong Kong was more competitive than low-cost export areas in terms of high-quality clothing, and was able to complete the manufacturing process more efficiently in a short time. However, with the rapid development of other regions, the distance from Hong Kong's leading position is gradually shortening. In addition, these areas have been able to produce high-quality clothing accepted by the market, and their dominant position with Hong Kong has gradually narrowed.

Retail businesses in the United States and Western Europe are increasingly emphasizing short-term and quick replenishment when deciding to buy goods, while Hong Kong has lost its geographical position because it is far away from these markets.

Just like the textile industry, the development of the garment industry is also hindered by the restrictions on the export volume of Hong Kong's garments in major markets. 1993, 59.9% of the total exports of textiles and clothing products in Hong Kong (there is no separate clothing industry item) were subject to export quantity restrictions. As major markets such as the United States and the European Union have quotas for the export of Hong Kong products, the output growth of the garment industry has been limited.

Prospects of Hong Kong's Garment Industry

Faced with the limitation of quantity, Hong Kong manufacturers are now making higher quality and higher value-added export products.

Because it is difficult to retain workers and recruit new people in the industry, the garment industry needs long-term manpower planning and development, so that there are enough skilled workers in the industry to meet the future demand.

The long-term development of Hong Kong's garment industry depends on its ability to manufacture high value-added products, diversify production and open up new markets. Hong Kong manufacturers are well aware of this. In the eyes of many clothing manufacturers, Japan is a big market with great potential, and manufacturers have launched in-depth publicity activities in Japan. In addition, due to the large population and the increasingly affluent production of residents, China is another huge market that local garment manufacturers have begun to enter. Other activities, such as Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, also have good prospects.

In recent years, due to the shortage of labor force in Hong Kong and the soaring land price and rent, some local manufacturers have transferred their labor-intensive production processes and the manufacturing processes of lower-grade products that are not limited by export quantity to China. However, if the final product is to be exported to a restricted market and can be transferred to places outside Hong Kong for garment making, it must meet the requirements of Hong Kong origin. If products are made in Hong Kong and some are processed in China, the Trade Department of the Hong Kong Government is now responsible for implementing a special overseas processing arrangement to ensure that only products that meet the Hong Kong origin rules are eligible for Hong Kong origin.

The Uruguay Round Agreement on Textiles and Clothing will be implemented in 1995. According to this agreement, in the next ten years, the quantity restrictions of bilateral textile agreements previously bound by multi-fiber agreements will be gradually relaxed. It is expected that the restrictions on products with substantial trade interests will not be relaxed until the latter part of the ten-year agreement. Therefore, in the next few years, this agreement will have little impact on the structure of Hong Kong's garment industry. The production of garment industry will continue to be based in Hong Kong, but in order to maintain competitiveness, products will continue to shift to high-end and focus on producing high-quality clothing. Due to the quantitative restrictions on the textile and garment industry, it will be gradually relaxed in the later stage of the agreement, and it is believed that the garment industry will be reorganized at that time; And move simple production processes to low-wage areas, while maintaining a certain degree of production in Hong Kong, so as to develop products and train management and technical professionals.