The World's Factory

Abed’s has been a staple retail and wholesale fabric company in Barbados for more than 20 years, offering the widest selection of fashion, home and commercial fabrics on the island. Most of what Abed’s sells comes from China, as China has fast become the world’s largest manufacturing base. While for 25 years Abed’s relationship with China was indirect, for the past 15-plus years, CEO Eddie Abed has been working directly with China. There are a number of factors to consider when working with China in order to have a successful and long-lasting relationship, he says; these include culture and business etiquette.

He says that in the early days commission agents travelled through the Caribbean selling goods that had been made in China, with the purpose of making a profit.

Abed explains further: “They recognized that the Caribbean would be a good market as the local merchants were unable to sell large quantities of any merchandise but they needed a large, inexpensive variety. Once we were able to achieve critical mass in purchasing the minimum quantities that the Chinese mills required, we started buying the basics directly.

“From there we were introduced to other vendors and through the years we switched our buying to as much as 70% from Asia, and the balance from CARICOM, USA, Canada, South America and Europe,”

“But China is the factory of the world,” says Abed, “China has the reputation of being the world’s manufacturer. I am always amazed by the variety of products that they produce – everything from a toothpick to a rocket – they literally make or produce everything. They are the world’s factory.”

He continues: “Without question Chinese business people never say no to any of your requests. I have never met anyone more facilitating than a Chinese businessman. They are driven, and they want to be sure that you are satisfied with your request. Secondly, the quality and look of the samples that are agreed upon, end up what the final product looks like, which again is not a given when we look at other vendors in the rest of the world. That is remarkable!”

Also, Abed is very impressed at how very good the Chinese are with deadlines.
He points out that this is not his experience with other resources in the world. Additionally, he notes that his company uses China not only as an essential resource, but also as an important trendsetter. “China produces for the masses, so it is always an important resource for me. I visit three times a year to get a sense of what they are producing for the rest of the world because it is a very good indication of what is really selling. China gives you immediate feedback of what is checking out in shops in the rest of the world and what kind of volumes are driving it. China gives us a good head start – three months in advance – of what is coming down the pipeline for the rest of the world,” he explains.

However Abed warns that “there is this lustre about shopping in China to be cheap and cheery, but it is the furthest thing from the truth. They are driven by volume. Equally if we can tag onto large productions of what is coming – the economies of scale work in our favour”.
“China is not the cheapest source any more - not when you have places like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia. In fact, China does not want to be the cheapest source in the world. They want to embolden their population so that they can consume. It is no secret they want to start heavy domestic demand to bolster their economies and not just be export driven,” Abed remarks.

China has what no other country has – and that is infrastructure; Abed calls it “vertical”.
“They spin their own yarn, they weave their own fabric, they dye, they convert, they make garments, they make home furnishings, they are vertical – they are THE one stop shop. The rest of those countries are not so. The rest of those countries must import the yarn, they must import textiles and then sometimes they can’t even convert it.

“They don’t have the infrastructure to do it. China’s infrastructure is unbeatable,” he says.
In addition to the success of China’s industry, is how their technology has caught up with the manufacturing industry. China has used it to their advantage by cracking down on the dirtiest and most polluting parts of the textile trade which is the finishing, like dyeing and converting.

Many print houses and converters must meet the new standards and codes. Additionally, a large proportion of people in China are speaking English in an effort to communicate with the world. This represents a huge investment in the people.

However, Abed also advises that there are some important take-aways when working with the world’s manufacturer: “The number one thing you learn about working with China is that unlike the West where you develop business relationships that deepen and strengthen through the years, China doesn’t seem to have that same compass as the West.

“You come away thinking that the Chinese mantra is that they must always win. We have been working with them for more than 25 years and there are some small areas where we see they are not focused on the long-term, or on strengthening their relationships; they are more concerned about the immediate idea that they must win!”