Cutting your cloth to suit your style

Marjorie Yang Mun-tak, chairwoman of Hong Kong-based Esquel Group.

Chen Haiying, chief representative of Esquel Group's Beijing office, said the orders from their clients pour in even to the extent they have difficulty in handling all of them in time.

The sluggish market for textile companies in general is caused by a number of factors, such as rising labor costs, a heavy burden of taxes and fees and the appreciation of the yuan.

"At a time of crisis, branded companies won't give their orders to a company that might close down tomorrow," said Jiang Hui, chairman of China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Textile and Apparel.

This explains why textile giants such as Esquel Group and Luthai Group maintain growth - they are big enough to be relied on.

The secrets behind Esquel Group's vigorous performance have a lot do to with its commitment to productivity gains and environmental protection.

"Esquel's annual investment in energy saving and environmental protection amounts to 30 million yuan," said Cheng Peng, general manager of Esquel Group's knitting factory in Guangdong.

In 2012, the shirt manufacturer made a breakthrough in textile wastewater treatment, reusing reclaimed water in the production process.

Because the practices of sustainable development can be found in all production processes within Esquel Group, over the past five years, in terms of producing each shirt, energy consumption has been cut by almost 40 percent and water consumption has been curtailed by 50 percent, according to Cheng.

One of the latest practices that contributes to sustainable development is Esquel's internal information technology development - that includes the mobile application of a self-service salary-checking system.

According to legal requirements, a piece of paper indicating the details of employees' monthly salaries should be put into their hands. Because Esquel has large operations globally, with a total workforce of 55,000 employees, the cost of manpower and paper was huge. An electronic salary sheet was officially put into practice in March, allowing employees to check the details of their salary anytime they want by logging on to the application using their mobile phones.

"It helps save paper resources and brings about convenience and more privacy for employees in checking their salaries," Cheng said.

So far, the application has been developed in three languages - Chinese, English, Vietnamese and the Uygur dialect.

"Some of our green dedication is not so visible now, but it's estimated it will take effect within three to five years," said Yang.

By way of example, she said lids at the sewage treatment facility in Esquel's factory in Gaoming in Guangdong province help to reduce energy consumption and odor emissions during the cleansing process.

In the long run, this considerate move for nearby residents might attract more people to settle in the city, thus bringing in more labor and improving its reputation in the field of environmental awareness, which are considered to be good for the company's reputation.

Another reason for Esquel's rosy performance over the years is what Yang called "our own set of competitive advantages over rivals".

While most rivals in the textile and apparel sector spare no effort in cutting labor costs or transferring factories to countries where labor is cheaper than in China, Yang said she's optimistic about China's coastal regions' attractiveness for the manufacturing business of Esquel Group.