Shuang Yan, a man from Northeast China, entered the handbag industry very early, from dressing to office decoration style and artistic style. He had an unforgettable general experience and then began to learn design. During this period, he also set up a design training school. In Mr Yan's own words, design is still his main business. Because he always wanted to create a style of his own, he persisted.
I have been exposed to the production of handbags when I am a general worker, and then I can understand the quality and use of the products. As a designer, it is more important to consider the appearance and function of handbags. Handwork is very important for a product to gain a foothold in the market. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the convenience of production when designing products, and the designed things are both beautiful and harmonious. I have first-line production experience, so I will pay more attention to every detail. Combining the needs of consumers and the creation and inspiration of designers, this laid the foundation for his later creation of a well-known cloth brand. From ordinary workers to designers, from manufacturing to independent creation, the excellent quality concept has long been rooted in the heart of this dream entrepreneur.
Dream: to be the first brand of China ethnic cloth.
Every handbag designer's initial dream is to set up his own brand one day, set sail from the design field and embark on the road of brand success. Shuang Yan also has this dream. His dream started with helping a friend design and make it.
As early as when he started a design training school, a friend who set up a stall took a fancy to his products, so he began to ask Shuang Yan to help him design and make them. After making the model, he took it to the market to accept orders. Slowly, the market accepted, and it went on like this. Helping others to design and produce is always limited, and no designer can accept this situation for a long time. Why not create your own brand? Do it when you think about it! Soon, Shuang Yan registered his own brand: Shuang Yan Creative. I chose the field of cloth bags. First, because the product designed and produced for my friend at that time was a cloth bag, the good response from the market gave him great confidence. Secondly, compared with the leather bag, the cloth bag is soft and environmentally friendly, and its style is free and easy, which just conforms to his personal aesthetics.
In fact, at first, Shuang Yan was not sure whether his registered brand could really gain a foothold in the market, but he knew that starting a business was not a simple matter. In addition to preparing for the worst, he has to move on! He firmly believed that he could create a real national fabric brand in China, and it proved that he did.
The starting capital is 200,000 yuan, which comes from Shuang Yan to help friends do processing and run their own schools. The challenges faced by this newly established small company are enormous. In stock trading, inventory is a big problem, and capital turnover is difficult. However, relying on years of investigation and research on market demand and accumulated design experience, the newly made products were sold through a friend's booth in Guihuagang, Guangzhou, and the market response was very good, which was quickly recognized by consumers.
Product: It has been imitated and never surpassed.
It is difficult to start a business. When emerging brands just started to emerge, the biggest crisis was piracy from market merchants. The sales of several kinds of cloth bags made by hard work are good, but Shuang Yan soon found that other stalls also had the same bags designed by him, and the price of the fake bags was much cheaper than his own. What should we do? Only speed up the update! Only more newer products can be designed, which greatly increases the R&D expenditure, not to mention the new products put into the market, but also meets the market demand. China's market is always in short supply, so Shuang Yan decided to continue to innovate, leaving counterfeiters far behind.
The requirements for design are more stringent. To design products that consumers like, every designer of the design team should constantly break through the bottleneck, adjust their mentality, and even cross industry boundaries to find fresh inspiration. As a brand, the style of the product is very important. Only after the style is determined can we integrate into the fresh blood, recruit more designers to join in and expand the development team. Nowadays, more post-80s designers have joined the team created by Shuang Yan, and the quarterly new products designed are deeply loved by consumers all over the country.
Talking about the source of design inspiration, Shuang Yan shared a short story with us. Once he went out for a barbecue with friends on holiday, and the delicious chicken legs suddenly inspired him. When he got back, he made a cloth bag temporarily with the same arm as a chicken leg. This bag was later patented by the state, and now many brands on the market are imitating it.
Listening to music is also a good way to find inspiration. Shuang Yan likes listening to the rock music of the older generation in China and some European and American pop music. I especially like four singers, Cui Jian, Xu Wei, Zheng Jun and Wang Feng. When I have time, I will go to their live concert. Because their music is very infectious and has its own style, rough, casual and informal, these elements are used in Shuang Yan's own clothing design, and often become explosions that consumers like.
Experience: if you dare to think and do, it is easier for handbag designers to succeed in starting a business.
Talking about the entrepreneurial experience in recent years, especially when we invited him to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of handbag designers to establish their own brands, Shuang Yan's words revealed the helplessness and hardship of handbag designers in this industry, as well as the dilemma of design demand from the perspective of enterprises. Designers do brand, the advantage is still in the appearance and characteristics of products, they can play all their imaginations. Generally, designers who work in enterprises will have limited space, but this is a cautious choice that must be made in the process of enterprise growth. It costs a lot of money to design every accessory and develop a new mold sample. If the product is not recognized by the market, it will lose money. Therefore, business owners are generally reluctant to invest too much in research and development, but it is different for designers to start their own businesses. They can instill their own ideas to a greater extent according to their own market experience. Although there are risks, they will still do it and have a greater chance of success.
Not every handbag designer is suitable for starting a business. If you have enough design experience or reserves of funds, contacts and customers, you can certainly succeed in starting a business. For a long time, the best condition for designers is to work in an enterprise that can maximize their creativity. When he is experienced, he can choose to start a business, but he should not be too blind.
Entrepreneurship needs persistence and will succeed in the end. I also advise all domestic designers: everyone has their own style, and we must adhere to this concept.
Brand: bold research and development, adhere to the national line of individuality.
Now there are many brands, big and small, in the domestic handbag industry. Inadvertently, we can always find that many companies like to register English names that conform to ocean currents, and at the same time, they will intentionally or unintentionally graft many western stories onto these foreign brands. Yan Shuangchuang, a native of China, chose to return to her ancestral home, even though it was neither fashionable nor international. When it comes to his original registered brand name, Shuang Yan has his own different views. This is a national brand named after the founder's real name. Shuang Yan mentioned that his uncle once told him that enterprises in China have always been mainly engaged in production and processing. Because China people need some independent brands and independently developed and created things, he has a name in his mind "Created by Shuang Yan". Many people say it doesn't look like the name of a handbag brand, but on the contrary, after hearing "Created by Shuang Yan" and knowing that it is a handbag brand, they were deeply impressed. Therefore, it is not necessarily wise for China brands to adopt foreign names.
Shuang Yan Cloth has always insisted on being a national brand cloth and taking a personalized route. They firmly believe that brand is not only the guarantee of quality and technology, but also the best interpretation of life taste. "Shuang Yan's Creation" mainly faces a group of people who advocate freedom and love nature, and chooses healthy and harmless natural materials in the choice of fabrics. The texture is primitive, natural and close to life, which makes people feel more intimate, and the works expressed are more in line with the concept of natural environmental protection.
"Shuang Yan Creation" currently has more than 80 specialty stores in China. They don't intend to expand blindly, but prepare to improve all the subsidiary products before next year, and then conduct comprehensive investment promotion. Shuang Yan said that they have attached great importance to market demand recently, and now men's purchasing power is also very strong, and leisure men's bags have great potential. "Shuang Yan Creation" has developed many men's models on the premise of keeping the original style unchanged. It is very important to be a brand that both men and women can buy. Increasing product styles, making some products aimed at male friends, and more practical and practical products are the main lines of their recent development, including wallets, accessories, shoes and so on. , can guarantee the single store turnover. It is risky for specialty stores to rely solely on the sales of bags, so they need to integrate more varieties of products, which is also the market's response to the Shuang Yan headquarters. It is true that as a brand, it needs all-round development, rich products and bold research and development. In fact, "Shuang Yan Creation" has now stepped out of the first step of China's national brand, and there are still many challenges waiting for them on the way forward. It takes a lot of work to keep the turnover index of each specialty store rising and know more about what consumers want. Products can't fully satisfy consumers by designers' own ideas. We should thoroughly understand what benefits each product can bring to consumers. Northeast men repeatedly stressed: this is very important.
At the end of the interview, Shuang Yan talked about his views on the current domestic handbag industry environment and some suggestions on the self-development of handbag designers. He believes that the demand for handbag products is gradually saturated, and the cottage style of the industry will directly affect the development of the brand. The more imitations there are, the more difficult it is for high-quality brands to appear. Therefore, in such a big environment, handbag designers still have a long way to go to create a brand, but as long as they are fully prepared, develop steadily, take every step well, do not blindly expand, and persist in the afternoon, they can still succeed.
Enterprises rely on a stable capital chain to survive, so defaulting on payment is the most fatal point for enterprises, which is what he particularly emphasized. Years of entrepreneurial experience told him that customers should not default on payment for goods, and look for powerful dealers to cooperate, not lack. I would rather walk slowly than rush to the cliff by myself.