Bringing Zhejiang to the world with silk scarves

2021-01-26 17:34:07 source: Qianjiang Evening News


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At 3 p.m. on Dec 29, the hall on the first floor of Deng Tao's office was ablaze with light and noisy voices. Deng Tao walked to the counter to get customers the silk scarves they wanted to try on.


Deng Tao, the founder of a Chinese silk scarf brand "Aurora", has his own set of observations about tourism products. In his opinion, a high-quality tourism product is a driving force for the development of local culture and tourism, and the traditional regional culture is the internal driving force for the innovation of tourism products.


He then took Hangzhou as an example. He said that if the cultural elements of Hangzhou could be refined and designed into patterns that are combined with silk scarves, porcelain, and any tourism products, there are big market opportunities for us to develop more intellectual properties that belong exclusively to Hangzhou, and will be able to combine small cultural and creative enterprises scattered all over Hangzhou into a cluster or a chain, thus driving the development of Hangzhou's cultural and creative industry.  


In terms of the brand "Aurora", there are quite a few silk scarves with Zhejiang elements. The silk scarf named "Liang Zhu" has elements such as Wansong Academy, Liang Zhu, and the Broken Bridge on it; the small square scarf named "Qiantang River Tide" has a blue background and golden waves, which gives a unique beauty to the tide of Qiantang River; the silk scarf “Hangzhou Map” designed in 2020 incorporates all the elements of Hangzhou's landscape. There are other elements such as Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, West Lake Cultural Square, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, the Leifeng Pagoda, etc. 


"I want to make the silk scarf into a cultural business card, so as to bring Zhejiang to the world", he said. 


However, it's not an easy task to start from the scratch. At first, Deng he had no idea about the quality of silk scarf. Then he visited all kinds of silk scarf markets and counters, and bought a total of more than 30,000 yuan of silk fabrics, referring to the elderly in his family to teach him the knowledge. 


During the first three months, Deng Tao started to get familiar with the silk scarves, moreover, he had a better knowledge of the market positioning. "The most sought-after silk scarf brand is Hermes, pricing is generally around 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. Domestic silk scarves are mainly low-end. And high-end silk scarf pricing is usually less than 1,000 yuan, and the color is not trendy and beautiful enough", he said. 


After visiting various silk scarf factories in Italy, Deng Tao decided to first produce European style silk scarves with foreign cultural elements, in order to make the enterprise "survive" first. 


During the interview, he frankly said that the high-end scarves are an industry with a threshold, where the original investment is huge and the return is relatively slow." He thought about designing pure Chinese scarves and supporting domestic scarves brands, but the reality proved that there was a long way to go. "At the time, the market trend was very clear, high-end scarves buyers tended to prefer European styles", he said. 


Deng Tao’s prediction for the market was right. In 2013, "Aurora" original silk scarves were officially sold out to the market and received unanimous praise from the market. "Our market positioning is suitable for high-end business people who prefer cultural and creative gift brands. "Follow-up purchasing data confirmed that men made up 60 percent of Aurora's buyers."


Word of mouth slowly built up, and a year later, Aurora received a custom order that reflected the local culture. Deng Tao breathed a sigh of relief. "This is called overtaking in a corner. First, we can ensure the survival of the enterprise, and then, combine with the market to make the cultural and creative products popular with customers", he said. 


"Cultural and creative products are a kind of tourism products. Local traditional crafts should be innovated and recognized by the market. They should not be blind and impersonal, and the products should be designed with good quality, high aesthetic feelings and loved by customers", said Deng Tao.  


He has combined Zhejiang elements with European style, such as redrawing Zhejiang elements with internationally popular painting techniques or painting styles favored by young people, and drawing closer to European style in layout. As for the color of the scarves, in addition to constantly improving the production process, Deng Tao also bold color contrast. "Only when two colors with high contrasting shades collide can scarves look young, bright and not monotonous", he said. 


(Edited by Ye Ke, Translated by Ye Ke and Bian Bingying)

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1.jpeg

Profile Photo (via zjol.com.cn)


At 3 p.m. on Dec 29, the hall on the first floor of Deng Tao's office was ablaze with light and noisy voices. Deng Tao walked to the counter to get customers the silk scarves they wanted to try on.


Deng Tao, the founder of a Chinese silk scarf brand "Aurora", has his own set of observations about tourism products. In his opinion, a high-quality tourism product is a driving force for the development of local culture and tourism, and the traditional regional culture is the internal driving force for the innovation of tourism products.


He then took Hangzhou as an example. He said that if the cultural elements of Hangzhou could be refined and designed into patterns that are combined with silk scarves, porcelain, and any tourism products, there are big market opportunities for us to develop more intellectual properties that belong exclusively to Hangzhou, and will be able to combine small cultural and creative enterprises scattered all over Hangzhou into a cluster or a chain, thus driving the development of Hangzhou's cultural and creative industry.  


In terms of the brand "Aurora", there are quite a few silk scarves with Zhejiang elements. The silk scarf named "Liang Zhu" has elements such as Wansong Academy, Liang Zhu, and the Broken Bridge on it; the small square scarf named "Qiantang River Tide" has a blue background and golden waves, which gives a unique beauty to the tide of Qiantang River; the silk scarf “Hangzhou Map” designed in 2020 incorporates all the elements of Hangzhou's landscape. There are other elements such as Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, West Lake Cultural Square, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, the Leifeng Pagoda, etc. 


"I want to make the silk scarf into a cultural business card, so as to bring Zhejiang to the world", he said. 


However, it's not an easy task to start from the scratch. At first, Deng he had no idea about the quality of silk scarf. Then he visited all kinds of silk scarf markets and counters, and bought a total of more than 30,000 yuan of silk fabrics, referring to the elderly in his family to teach him the knowledge. 


During the first three months, Deng Tao started to get familiar with the silk scarves, moreover, he had a better knowledge of the market positioning. "The most sought-after silk scarf brand is Hermes, pricing is generally around 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. Domestic silk scarves are mainly low-end. And high-end silk scarf pricing is usually less than 1,000 yuan, and the color is not trendy and beautiful enough", he said. 


After visiting various silk scarf factories in Italy, Deng Tao decided to first produce European style silk scarves with foreign cultural elements, in order to make the enterprise "survive" first. 


During the interview, he frankly said that the high-end scarves are an industry with a threshold, where the original investment is huge and the return is relatively slow." He thought about designing pure Chinese scarves and supporting domestic scarves brands, but the reality proved that there was a long way to go. "At the time, the market trend was very clear, high-end scarves buyers tended to prefer European styles", he said. 


Deng Tao’s prediction for the market was right. In 2013, "Aurora" original silk scarves were officially sold out to the market and received unanimous praise from the market. "Our market positioning is suitable for high-end business people who prefer cultural and creative gift brands. "Follow-up purchasing data confirmed that men made up 60 percent of Aurora's buyers."


Word of mouth slowly built up, and a year later, Aurora received a custom order that reflected the local culture. Deng Tao breathed a sigh of relief. "This is called overtaking in a corner. First, we can ensure the survival of the enterprise, and then, combine with the market to make the cultural and creative products popular with customers", he said. 


"Cultural and creative products are a kind of tourism products. Local traditional crafts should be innovated and recognized by the market. They should not be blind and impersonal, and the products should be designed with good quality, high aesthetic feelings and loved by customers", said Deng Tao.  


He has combined Zhejiang elements with European style, such as redrawing Zhejiang elements with internationally popular painting techniques or painting styles favored by young people, and drawing closer to European style in layout. As for the color of the scarves, in addition to constantly improving the production process, Deng Tao also bold color contrast. "Only when two colors with high contrasting shades collide can scarves look young, bright and not monotonous", he said. 


(Edited by Ye Ke, Translated by Ye Ke and Bian Bingying)

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