This zipper makes a Chinese choice: willing to serve local trendy brands such as Li Ning, as a standard YKK for European and American luxury brands and Nike Adidas | China | zipper
A zipper can never create a piece of clothing, but it can easily destroy it. Many people have encountered awkward situations with zippers, such as clogged locks, poor pulling, and misaligned teeth.
But YKK is responsible for quality. It is a selling point and bonus for many clothing bags, a standard accessory for luxury brands in Europe and America, and a long-term supplier to giants such as Nike and Adidas.
However, to the surprise of the reporter, when interviewing the general manager of Weikekai Investment Co., Ltd., Damen and others, he repeatedly mentioned the rising Chinese brands such as Li Ning, Anta, Home of Hailan, and said: "YKK is willing to support these new forces."
The General Manager and personnel of Weikekai Investment Co., Ltd.
Export oriented
YKK was founded in 1934. At that time, there were piles of zippers that were returned due to poor quality and unusable in Japanese stores. A young man named Tadao Yoshida bought these "garbage" and after extensive investigation and research, he became a "zipper doctor" and successfully sold the recycled zippers after repairing them. This is the starting point of YKK's entrepreneurship.
Tadao Yoshida.
YKK has made countless innovations, including becoming the pioneer of replacing copper zippers with aluminum worldwide. But its fame in World War I was related to jeans. In the 1960s, the zippers of jeans were sewn on until before they were sold. Because in production, jeans need to be washed and heat treated to soften the fabric and remove excess colors. But at that time, no zipper could withstand such violent operations. However, the back stitching zipper undoubtedly increases the cost and selling price. After discovering this pain point, YKK company developed the YZIP zipper, which has thicker components than ordinary metal zippers and can withstand industrial washing treatment. So, a large number of jeans brands abandoned American zippers and switched to YKK.
YKK's fame in World War I is related to jeans.
Through unremitting innovation, YKK now holds a dominant position globally, and the length of zippers produced each year can circle the Earth by about 80 times.
This zipper giant's Chinese investment began in 1992. This year, YKK established a production base in Minhang, Shanghai, because they saw that the quality of zippers in the Chinese market was not satisfactory, and counterfeit YKK also occasionally appeared. "Investing in China is to enable Chinese users to truly use authentic and high-quality zipper products." However, Da Men and Ren admitted that at that time, YKK's Chinese factory was export-oriented, producing more than 80% for export overseas. Especially after China's accession to the WTO in 2001, international trade became more convenient, and YKK's Chinese factory exports grew rapidly. They successively established new zipper factories in Dalian and Shenzhen, and also established button factories, equipment factories, and parts factories specifically for zippers in Wuxi, Suzhou, and Shanghai Lingang.
Weikekai Investment Co., Ltd. was established in 2002 at the beginning of YKK's rapid business development in China. In 2003, it was recognized as the regional headquarters of a multinational corporation. After multiple capital increases, its registered capital has now exceeded 400 million US dollars.
Rising domestic demand
But the plot quickly reversed and domestic demand rose.
In 2021, we achieved the best record since entering China, with sales reaching 7 billion yuan. The door and people are not without pride. But he changed his tone and said, "This is achieved while the export ratio is decreasing year by year."
This leader did not avoid the gradual departure of old customers. "In recent years, some European and American customers' manufacturing bases have shifted to Pakistan, Bangladesh and other places to pursue lower labor and land costs. Some of our old orders have been taken over by YKK's local factories. However, YKK still has opportunities in China."
His composure has a reason. The thriving local Chinese brand seamlessly connects with the gaps left by existing European and American customers, and creates incremental growth for YKK's Chinese performance with greater demand.
"Outdoor sports, as a way of life, are rapidly emerging in China. With cultural confidence, quality living, increasing sensitivity to fashion, and a focus on the growth of the next generation, they are all supporting local brands including sports, clothing, and luggage to quickly occupy the market." Damen revealed that YKK is not only willing to provide supporting services for brands such as Li Ning, Anta, and Hailan Home, but has also recently launched strategic cooperation with the Chinese school uniform brand Eaton Jide.
YKK collaborates with the Chinese outdoor original series brand RICO LEE.
Serving Chinese customers has now become YKK's value orientation. YKK is happy to meet the customer's needs for products with wave patterns and curves that require the zipper to perfectly fit them, or for the zipper to have functions such as horizontal pulling and one handed operation. "We even collaborated with the client to design and develop a heavy-duty machinery that can achieve automatic stitching," said Da Men and his team with great enthusiasm.
It is reported that this year, YKK's exports in China have indeed declined due to the backlog of inventory from overseas customers, but the growth rate of domestic demand in China still strongly supports the stable development of the overall business.
The Tour of the Good
YKK is a bit stubborn. The service life of the sewing machine required for zipper production is generally more than two years, but YKK requires the sewing machine to be replaced after one year of use. This is aimed at creating a virtuous cycle - shortening the renewal period, so that sewing machine suppliers can receive new orders more quickly, bring about profit growth, and be more willing to invest in equipment research and development, thereby forming a better industrial ecosystem and helping the industry chain produce better products.
This logic adds a footnote to the corporate spirit of YKK's "Good Tour". This concept can also be put into practice in China.
The so-called "patrol of goodness" is that "without considering the interests of others, the enterprise itself cannot develop and prosper.". Following the concept of "good patrol", YKK favors suppliers in China, including local procurement as much as possible.
Being willing to participate in local social and cultural undertakings is also a "tour of the good". This year, the Lujiazui Financial City Dragon Boat Race is the fourth edition, and YKK has been named since the second edition. In preparation for the speech at the opening ceremony of the dragon boat race, Da Men dared not neglect it. He consulted his Chinese teacher for help and read the speech into two versions: slow and normal. He recorded it and listened repeatedly, taking into account every opportunity. He felt that only by reciting the entire text in Chinese can one show sincerity towards China.
China's dual carbon target, YKK is also doing its part, and its manufacturing base in Minhang has been awarded the Shanghai Municipal "Green Factory" for the year 2022. It is understood that the NATULON produced by the factory is a sustainable product produced by recycling polyester fiber materials such as discarded bottles and cans and old fibers. The factory has gradually replaced the previous waterproof zippers with environmentally friendly waterproof zippers made from recycled PET materials in the fabric tape. The power supply for the factory's street lights comes from the "wind solar complementarity" of wind power and photovoltaics. A distributed photovoltaic power generation system is installed on the roof of the factory, and the factory uses a heat exchanger to circulate and heat tap water.
Da Men and Ren arrived in Shanghai in 2017 and were awarded the Magnolia Memorial Award by the Shanghai Municipal Government in September 2020. Such praise has doubled his motivation.
The General Manager and personnel of Weikekai Investment Co., Ltd.
He said, "The Chinese market inspires us to look at a larger and broader customer base. In the future, developing more new products for China, providing customized services for more Chinese users, and keeping more green in China are areas that we need to focus more on."
