Vanessa’s Sourcing Adventure in China Pt. 6 - The Extras

So this is just a post about the fun stuff. Where we got to stay, what I ate (and sometimes vomited back up), and what I saw.

      We were oh so fortunate to be riding around in luxury cars while in China. If I’m gonna get car sick I want it to be in a BMW with seats that recline down all the way down and have a footrest…

 

Our ballin suite at the Westin Hotel in Guangzhou. Complete with a huge living room that doubled as my bedroom, a foot massager, a huge shower with rain showerhead, and a bathtub with private television that overlooked the city. Thank you Ray and your magical platinum status.

 

My very own ballin suite at the Yihe Hotel in Guangzhou courtesy of the AMAZINGLY SWEET family friends of Ray. This is the view I got to wake up to every morning. Someone pinch me.

 

The fanciest dinner of my life courtesy of (again) the AMAZINGLY SWEET family friends of Ray. We got to eat this decadent dinner inside of the Pagoda restaurant. Someone pinch me.

 

Because I like my friends deep fried..YUM

 

A really fun shopping district in Guangzhou. The locals come to hang out, shop, and eat. A people after my own heart.

 

Winky’s sister got the cutest, tiniest puppy while we were there. Everyone meet Mocha Bear. A two week old toy poodle that is just the most adorable little puppy in the whole wide world. Ugh, I die. So stinkin cute.

I would personally like to thank everyone who made this trip so incredible from all of our factory reps, Winky’s family, Ray’s family friends, Sue and Tiffany. And most of all to Winky and Ray for giving me the first in what I hope will be many trips of a lifetime. Thank you for the incredible learning experience and ballin* status!

*I realize I've said "ballin" more times than is legally allowed but don't hate tha playa, hate tha game! Hahah...sorry.

Vanessa’s Sourcing Adventure in China Pt. 5

So I imagine a lot of you reading this love to shop. Maybe you even own a shirt that proudly states “SHOPPING IS MY CARDIO”. I hear ya sista. I too love to shop. I love the smell of newly unwrapped leather handbags, the touch of silky printed scarves, and the sight of rows and rows of yet unseen merchandise new from the factory underneath gleaming bright fluorescent lighting. THIS was my first day of the Canton Fair (China Import and Export Fair) and I was in awe. Just the sheer size and scope of what was being sold here was mind boggling. The expo halls themselves were gigantic. I mean you could have golf carts shuttle you from one place to another, that’s how big this place was!

This was just ONE hall. There were more than 10!

 



Anything and everything China makes was for sale here. Toilet paper? Check. Handbags? Check. Shower curtains? Check. Sexy unicorn statue? Check. Yeah you read that right. Even though the lovely display of sexy unicorn statues was calling my name, I was focused. We were on a mission to source for our upcoming collections and there was nothing that was going to get in our way!

Ok, the rows and rows of ridiculous sunglasses might have distracted us for a minute or 10…lookin good guys.

I am proud to say we found some excellent factories we are interested in working with and ordered several samples to see the quality firsthand. Overall we sourced for 4 collections and within the few short days we attended, we found options for all of them! Yaaaay!

Like a kid in a candy store, we sifted through piles and piles of swatches for our upcoming handbag collection.

Here are some of my tips for navigating the Canton Fair and interacting with the sales reps:

1. It’s a given but WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES AND DRINK SOME COFFEE/GET A GOOD NIGHT’S REST. This place is big, REALLY BIG so be prepared. You’re also going to have a lot of people to talk to so it’s best to be alert and coherent, my friend.

2. If you don’t know Mandarin or Cantonese, bring a translator. I saw a lot of non-Chinese people walking around with a Chinese person and I don’t like to speculate, but my guess is they were translators. Not everyone here can speak English very well and if you want the best deals and negotiations then it’s best to bring someone who speaks the language. Unless you like to point a lot and make nonsensical hand gestures. Whatever floats your boat.

3. Don’t necessarily look to work with the factory with the lowest price. Many of these factories sell similar items or can make the items you want to specification. They also have similar pricing and MOQ (minimum order quantity). So what sets them apart? Their willingness to work with you. It’s important to have a factory that is going to be willing to bend backwards for you and really wants your business. The economy is sluggish right now and they know that there are many of them and only one of you. So if they seem to not take you seriously or not be eager, then walk away. Find a factory that wants the order. It won’t take you long I promise. Side note: Make sure they also seem trustworthy because you’re not going to want to see your custom designs on their showroom floor next year. Trust your gut.

I hear that Hamld dude was a pretty conflicted guy…this was printed on a handbag. FOR SALE. Almost as good as the sexy unicorn, almost.

 

A mobile phone that can cook?! Was this really the main intention for the iPhone Steve Jobs?! Genious!

Vanessa’s Sourcing Adventure in China Pt. 4

One of the things we strive for at Winky Designs is TQM-total quality management. We want excellence from the top of the supply chain all the way to the end customer. This is a major reason why we made it a priority to visit our main factories while in China. It’s important for us to get a clear understanding of the processes used to make our products and to also discuss some of the QC (quality control) issues we’ve had in the past.

Our Packaging Factory

This is really fascinating actually! Yes, really (It’s like a real life episode of
How It’s Made from The Discovery Channel! Sorry total geek-out moment…ok, I’m better now). We got to see exactly how our prints are made for our tin packaging and how the tin cans themselves are made. It’s an extensive process that involves a whole lotta people and machines. The factory can shell out a whopping 8,000 tin packages in one 8 hour shift! (I suddenly feel so underproductive…) I shall not bore you with the details but DELIGHT you with some pictures!!!

There are upwards of 20 machines that are used in the production of ONE tin can

 

Each set of bends or cut of the tin is done by ONE machine

 Each mass printing machine is cleaned by HAND after every individual color is used. Very labor intensive…whew!

Our Strap Factory

Another visit we did was to our strap factory which sources the leather, chain, and stones we need and assembles them. Our gracious sales rep, Alec, showed us around and discussed future collections with us. Alec also took us to a local wholesale shopping area in Dongguan to source for more leather straps, semi-precious stones, and other watch components. I tell ya, looking in a store that JUST specializes in leather, stones, or metal chains really is super fun! You’d be amazed at the vast amount of stuff there is out there. Mind boggling…

A worker hard at work creating a mold which will be used in creating charms and other pieces requiring intricate details in mass quantity

Discussing future collections. Don’t mind my “stank-face”, haha

 

Mounds and mounds of leather cord from a specialty store. Like rainbow spaghetti!

Vanessa’s Sourcing Adventure in China Pt. 3

Admittedly, I didn’t have the best preconceived notions of factories in China. I thought the conditions would be dismal and there would be people chained to their working station. I happily report, I didn’t see any of that. Every one of our factories graciously invited us to tour their facilities and sit down to talk business. I must say there is nothing that can replace factory visits when designing a collection. Yes, a designer can send quality control agents to make sure the specifications you give are being met, but there is no way you can hire someone to say if the products look “good”. Pictures of the products being manufactured are not always reliable as well. Lighting and other factors can give a greatly distorted picture of the product.

First up on our tour was our main watch factory. This factory manufactures and assembles our watch faces as well as acts as our shipping agent. All of our factories ship the components for the watches to this one factory and they ship the final product to us. There are about 3 different factories that go into making one watch collection, the watch face, the strap, and the packaging. There needs to be a great deal of cooperation and coordinating between the factories to make sure QC is up to standard and deadlines are met. We took a tour of the facilities and then met with our sales rep and the “shifu” or boss. We sat down and discussed what collections we are in the process of designing and what they can do to make it a reality. We also talked about the quality issues of our existing collections and what they can do to ensure better QC. There were a few main key points I took away from this meeting, and other factory meetings:

1.       Building a long term relationship is incredibly important for both the designer and factory. It is beneficial for the designer because it ensures the factory will bend over backwards for whatever request the designer makes. That’s important for a small start-up that might have to “bootstrap” their operations. It is not efficient for a small company to have high defect rates or spend a lot of money on manufacturing. The factory wants the repeat business as well. They will work with you on lower minimums or other special requests to ensure you as the designer will continue to work with them. The hope is that your PO’s will continue to increase as your business grows.
Fun fact: Contracts are hard to enforce in China. The legal system is not as “legal” there as say, in the US or EU. A lot of businesses rely on a practice termed “guanxi”. Since contracts are not commonly used as the absolute rule of law, guanxi is helpful in building trust and business networks. According to Scott Lane, CEO of the Red Flag Group, guanxi is described, in part, a personal connection between two people in which one is either able to prevail upon another to perform a favour or service, or be prevailed upon in mutual relation and understanding and for mutual interest and benefit (https://www.redflaggroup.com/resource/Compliance-Insider-02-SEP-NOV-2012.pdf).

2.       Constant open communications are a must. Winky stays up in the wee hours of the night communicating with our factories (due to the opposite time schedule) to ensure deadlines are being met and issues are being addressed. When we arrived to the factory and sat down to talk, our sales rep, Winky, and the shifu could jump right in and discuss the important issues because there was already an understanding of what we needed.

3.       Chinese people are incredibly hospitable. While this might not seems as relevant as the other two points are, it is important to note how business is conducted. As soon as we sat down, the shifu had tea ready for us and poured us new cups as soon as we finished the one in front of us. It is important to not only discuss the business at hand, but to also inquire about families and other personal lighthearted matters. This also contributes to having a trusting relationship.

4.       The factories really are not in dismal conditions, really. The city we were in is a manufacturing city so it can seem a bit rough around the edges, but people here are hardworking and get compensated fairly for the work they do. They have standard 8:30-5pm working days and usually live in apartments provided by the workplace. Some factories were more structured than others but people at this particular factory were walking around and joking with each other. Our sales rep seemed to be very comfortable in addressing the shifu and even challenging him on pricing on our behalf!

 From L to R: the shifu, Winky, me, and Windy discussing business

There were a few more factory visits which will be discussed in the next chapter…stay tuned!