Men's clothing brand Luo Meng: self-transformation turned fast fashion

There is no scientific and technological content in selling drinks and opening supermarkets. However, there is no Chinese company that can compete with giants such as Coca-Cola or Wal-Mart. In other words, 30 years of reform and opening up, China has introduced capital and technology. So, did Chinese companies really learn the essence of Western business society? Perhaps as you might guess, under the influence of global business culture, Chinese companies seem to have realized that the innovative business model and the improvement of operational efficiency are the secrets. It should be said that in recent years, the "quick fashion" popular in the Chinese clothing market is to manage efficiency, and then to achieve model innovation.

Sheng Jingsheng, who is the chairman of the Luomeng Group, was once a young and sentimentalist and opened the innovation path of Luo Meng as a reformer. In 1998, 28-year-old Sheng Jingsheng took Romon’s scepter from his parents. Combining the traditional craftsmanship and modern technology of Red Gang, he introduced a non-adhesive lining suit to achieve a revolution in the history of suit production; changing the traditional sales model, building a “trinity” market system for specialty stores, shop-in-shops, and agency systems. Delay the invitation of famous domestic designers to join Romon; introduce intelligent production lines for production of suits.

In just three and a half years, Sheng Jingsheng jumped Romon’s output value and sales from No. 80 in China’s top 100 apparel companies to No. 10, with the market share ranking second in the industry. Luo Meng under the leadership of Sheng Jingsheng, entered the fast lane of development, the brand value increased rapidly.

History has left many legacy for Romon, but there are also many burdens. In 2010, in the face of the flexible business model of the world's apparel retail giants and the dual challenges of cutting-edge manufacturers' accurate grasp of brand operations, on the one hand, there is an increasingly compelling profit margin. On the one hand, the slow industry growth, Sheng Jingsheng is again Self-transformation—Turn to “fast fashion” and crack the “fast fashion” success code, hoping to open up a new world for Luo Meng.

Open supply chain

"All companies are under pressure from rising labor costs, rising raw material prices, and oversupply in the market. If companies want to survive, they must have core competitiveness or a certain quality. The core of the 'fast fashion' that Romon understands is that Enterprises need to operate quickly and use efficiency to win," said Xu Zhiwen, vice president of Zinc Race International Fashion Management Consulting.

“Romon is a traditional clothing company. The supply chain system is relatively closed. It must first change from an ideological point of view. Second, it must adjust the organizational structure. There is a lot of hard work to do.” Xu Zhiwen said, “There is a word called 'Inclusive', the innovations that companies exhibit in the market are often front-end supply chain innovations. Therefore, extensive contact with the upstream supply chain is very helpful for Romon to enrich its product line."

"For example, upstream fabric manufacturers have developed a new type of fabric. Apparel companies use this type of fabric in product design. Apparel companies introduce the most advanced textile machines on the market. To a certain extent, these are local innovations." Xu Zhiwen, for example, stated that “there is a wide range of contact with external supply chains, and the trend of the upstream and downstream is grasped at any time. This requires companies to have quick and agile reaction speeds and coordinated handling capabilities.”

According to Xu Zhiwen's analysis, the first thing Romon needs to improve is the design team.

“Perhaps in the creative stage, designers are artists, but in the clothing industry, designers are not only artists, but also artisans and supply chain experts.” Xu Zhiwen believes that “designers need to turn ideas into works. Work on the details of the work, for example, accurately find the resources, fabrics, buttons, zippers and other resources needed in the supply chain.In fact, the designer is the 'engine', which is constantly in the three roles of artists, craftsmen, supply chain experts Convert each other."

However, "think what you think", it is difficult to know how easy it is to do. In reality, it is difficult to find a designer who can freely play three roles. What should Romon do? Xu Zhiwen’s proposal is to divide the design team into artists, craftsmen, and supply chain experts in three dimensions. Then each section is divided according to category, “so that the designers can use their respective strengths”.

Sheng Jingsheng knows well that the success of the international brand "fast fashion" has benefited from outstanding product development models and a fast-responding supply chain system. The adjustment of the designer team at this time will undoubtedly enhance the innovation ability of Romon's product R&D. However, in the fast-responding supply chain system, Sheng Jingsheng sought to compress the time from the dealer’s order to the delivery of the goods to the store. "In general, this process will take 60 days to complete. The goal of Lomond is to shorten it to 30 days," Sheng Jingsheng said.

“There is also a concept of 'material homogeneous'. If raw materials are not homogeneous, the production time will inevitably prolong.” Xu Zhiwen said.

In this regard, Sheng Jingsheng said: "In the garment production process, the longest cycle is the development and production of fabrics, Romon will vigorously integrate resources, and the international design studio, external special category design team and brand designers work together. The construction of Romon’s “fast fashion” high-speed operation core. As for logistics and distribution, it is supported by Romon’s marketing system and realizes the “fast” of the last link.”