On March 24, a statement by H&M Group about “tampering with Xinjiang cotton” caused public outrage. The Communist Youth League and CCTV successively spoke out, and artists Huang Xuan and Song Qian announced the cancellation of cooperation. After subsequent research by netizens, it was discovered that well-known brands such as Adidas and Nike had issued similar statements. The initiator was an organization called the Swiss Better Cotton Development Association (Better Cotton Initiative, BCI), and this time the boycott of FMCG brands began to change. To challenge the hegemony of foreign standards.
As the saying goes, third-rate companies make products, second-rate companies make technology, and first-rate companies make standards. In the market, who Whoever has the say in standard setting will have an absolute advantage in the competition.
The BCI mentioned above is an organization that occupies an international voice in the cotton spinning industry. The organization has more than 400 member organizations around the world, mainly including cotton planting units, Cotton textile companies and retail brands include Haynes Morris Clothing, Adidas, Gap, IKEA, Levi’s, Fast Retailing, New Balance, Walmart, Costco and Anta (which have announced their withdrawal from BCI), etc.
Some overseas consumers recognize this standard. If textile companies want to export to corresponding brands, they must obtain corresponding However, according to what the editor learned from some companies, it is difficult for the association to truly verify the corresponding qualifications. In the end, it often ends up spending money to apply for a certificate, which increases the cost for the company.
The voice of standards determines profit distribution
Such standards are very detrimental to latecomers. For example, Xinjiang long-staple cotton is It is one of the best quality cotton in the world, but BCI is afraid that the large output and high quality of Xinjiang cotton will affect the formulation of their standards. They say that your cotton is picked with “forced labor” and the brand cannot be used. These brands will release those outrageous statements.
Such standards guide consumers’ judgments and determine the distribution of profits in the industry chain. In layman’s terms, a piece of clothing, from silk to cloth to fabric to ready-made clothing, is It is produced in China, but the export price may be only 10 US dollars, but the big brands that have the upper hand can let consumers buy it for 50 US dollars or even 100 US dollars. Chinese workers work the hardest, but the profits they earn are only a fraction of those of brand owners.
Not just textiles, from daily necessities to home appliances to mobile phones and computers, almost all follow this pattern . Unfortunately, due to historical issues, the current standard hegemony is still in the hands of developed countries in Europe and the United States.
Of course, this is not to say that standards are bad. Standards can indeed enable companies to understand customer needs and reduce communication costs during the production process to a large extent, but as a kind of hegemony And when it exists, the standard setters will set up many difficulties and even unreasonable difficulties for the pursuers.
Some existing standards are outdated
With the continuous development of China’s economy, it has gained the strength to catch up from behind in many industries. However, in many industries, China clearly has the strongest strength in the world, but due to the hegemony of foreign standards, it can only occupy the profit distribution in the end. A small part of this is obviously unreasonable.
People’s living standards are constantly improving and they have higher pursuits of future life. This requires a more reasonable distribution of profits in the industrial chain, which requires a more reasonable distribution of profits in the traditional Western way. The country’s standard hegemony is challenged. This time, after H&M’s “suicide” caused public outrage, it inadvertently caused a similar chain reaction.
The era of “800 million shirts for one plane” is gone forever
The textile industry has a special role in the history of New China Meaning, as a traditional labor-intensive industry, at the beginning of reform and opening up, the textile industry was the industry that generated the most foreign exchange in my country. At that time, it was said that 800 million shirts could be exchanged for one airplane. It is through the hard work of generations of textile workers that the country has sufficient foreign exchange to introduce advanced technology and equipment, which promotes the country’s vigorous development.
With the development of the times, the proportion of textiles in exports continues to decrease, and industry insiders also joke that The textile industry is a “sunset industry”, but after years of development, China has established the world’s largest and most complete textile industry chain, and has the confidence to challenge the hegemony of Western standards.
This time, textile people once again shouldered a new historical mission. Perhaps in a short period of time, this series of events will cause a certain reduction in orders, but this is something that the industry must go through if it wants to capture more profits and have a greater say. It is also necessary for the rise of China. challenges faced.
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