It is planned to go abroad 21 times and fly to 13 countries. This is Jiang Nan, general manager of Jiangsu Roman Rolland Group Outdoor New Materials Co., Ltd., who has set a plan for overseas travel for himself and his team. The company's foreign trade team air tickets have been booked until the end of the year. The reporter called this "airline frequent visitor" today (June 9) and learned that for more than 200 days a year, he and his team participated in exhibitions, met customers, and negotiated business abroad, which resulted in an average of 6 million to 8 million meters of high-end textile fabrics "selling around the world" and achieved annual sales of 230 million yuan, and promoted the gold sign of "Shengze Weaving" to the whole world.
Roman Rolland Outdoor New Material Fabrics and the ready-to-wear they use. Photo provided by Shengze Town
Roman Rolland Outdoor New Materials is a local enterprise engaged in the development, production and sales of outdoor functional fabrics in Shengze, Wujiang. 90% of the company's business is foreign trade business. Just last Friday, Jiangnan took his team to and from Vietnam that day to have an afternoon tea with customers and talk about business. "Only face to face can we communicate better with customers," said Jiang Nan.
In terms of sales, the annual sales of RMB 230 million is not impressive in Shengze, which has many textile companies, but in terms of the unit price of fabrics, it is much higher than the price of fabrics on the market. The product has a high unit price, why is it still popular among overseas customers? "When your things are irreplaceable, the initiative will be in your hands," said Jiang Nan.
In 2022, Roman Rolland Outdoor New Materials began to develop a national trend series of fabrics that combine culture with modern craftsmanship - "China Geography", and later released "Chinese History". In addition to the national trend series of fabrics, there are many other fabrics that make Jiangnan proud. "This fabric is sold to the 'Stone Island' brand. It looks like a print, but it is actually dyeing. Only we have this product." When introducing the product, Jiangnan specifically emphasized that since the company was established, it has been making products that customers want and have never seen before. Only by doing this can we achieve long-term cooperation with customers.
Jiangnan was at a fabric exhibition overseas. Photo provided by Shengze Town
In Shengze, there are many companies engaged in the production and sales of functional fabrics, and there are also many companies that do fabric exports. If you want to surpass your competitors, you have to take a different path and make irreplaceable products. In Romain Rolland Outdoor New Materials, R&D personnel account for 11%, and annual R&D expenses account for 4% of sales. Focusing on green and environmental protection, low-carbon sustainability, functionality and other aspects, the company releases nearly 100 new products every year, which is called the "best innovative concept provider" by Russian customers.
The product is updated due to its uniqueness. Jiangnan said that if you want to be unique and others cannot copy in the short term, you need to develop and innovate research and development from grey fabric to weaving, pattern and appearance, and also have a complete supply chain. In his opinion, Shengze's profound cultural heritage and complete supply chain provide a continuous impetus for their company's innovation.
The innovation of products depends on the cohesion of the team. Jiangnan said that having a stable team is important for a company. At Romain Rolland Outdoor New Materials, all employees with more than three years of service experience are shareholders, and most of the product innovation and creation come from front-line employees.
Since this year, the external environment has changed a lot, but the impact on Roman Rolland outdoor new materials has been very small. From January to May this year, Romain Rolland's outdoor new material sales increased by 20% year-on-year, and the company's overall performance is expected to achieve a growth of more than 20%. Jiangnan revealed that this year, the company is preparing to acquire a grey fabric weaving company in Italy and explore the African market.
(Subao Media Reporter Wang Ying, Zhou Yuelei, Correspondent Shen Lifen/Text)
Editor: Jin Ran
