Written by: Sun Jie
Posted on: September 12, 2018 | 
| 中文
Cui Wanzhi - Mr. Cheongsam
The offices of Peacock’s Love Garment Co. Ltd are full of traditional Chinese decorations, combined with local style of Anhui Province. Mr. Cui Wanzhi, CEO of the company often stresses, “I love traditional Chinese culture, and the Cheongsam is a perfect combination of Chinese aesthetics and culture in its way of tailoring and sewing, every thread and button of it.”
Born in a farmer’s family of the small village of Feidong County, An Hui Province of China, and growing up with infant paralysis and language barrier, Cui Wangzhi had been confronted with many difficulties in his job hunting, after he graduated from Xinjiang Shihezi University, in 1999. Thus, he decided to start his own business.
He started by setting up a stall at a market, managing a bookshop and internet bar one after another, but all ended in failure. In 2005, before the extensive internet access spread to every corner of the country, Cui joined the e-commerce industry. He was among the first group of pioneers in China. Two years later, he registered his own garment company, with money borrowed from others and carried out differential sales. Before long, the company’s turnover had increased spectacularly and reached 10 million yuan in 2009, while creating a record of selling 4000 dresses in one minute, from which Cui thoroughly apprehended the power of e-commerce.
Cui’s company is located at the Industrial Park of Lujiang District, Hefei City of Anhui, with an area of 1000 odd square meters which he bought in 2012, when he decided to create his own brand of cheongsam. The same year his company was granted as Top Ten Global E-commerce Seller by the Alibaba, with his annual sales volume of 60 million yuan, but behind this outstanding achievement was his debt of 4 million yuan and negative profits.
Cui returned to his hometown to escape from annoyance and found out an old-style cheongsam of his mother by chance, which immediately impressed and inspired him. He came up with the idea of designing new style cheongsam and selling them online. But his idea was rejected by his relatives and friends. However, Cui insisted and felt that this was his chance of rising again from previous failure.
Going back to the starting point again, Cui cleared his warehouse, applied for bank loans, brought new factories and employed a professional team of designers, and senior cheongsam tailors, and indulged himself in the research of cheongsam culture and craftwork.
Cheongsam lovers often prefer private tailored dresses, with which they feel a special attachment. 99% of his products are original designs and hand-made cheongsams with fine materials, dedicated tailors and marvelous embroideries. Making them takes a long time and the cost is high.
“Take the embroidery as an example; ordinary machine embroidery can lead to large quantity of products within a short time and in low cost (the cost is only around several dozen of yuan for cheongsam). On the contrary, it will take a much longer time, and cost more, if I have them hand-embroidered, around 500-800 yuan for one. But the hand-made products have great differences in terms of softness and modeling effect. I would rather be sending my cheongsams to local embroiderers of Suzhou, a famous city with renowned history and arts and crafts of traditional embroidery in China, than saving money and leaving the work to machines. For Cui Wangzhi, what he has insisted upon is the commitment to his customers, and respect towards traditional culture as well.
After one year of arduous work, the “Peacock’s Love” Cheongsam has become one of the top three bestseller cheongsams at Taobao.com, the largest e-commerce website of China, with an average single order of 500-600 yuan, and 120 orders a day.
Unremitting determination is the power that leads Cui to the right path of success, and his credibility and integrity are his key to success. A few years ago, Cui’s e-shop held a big promotion and received too many orders. As a result, one most popular cheongsam was sold out and they were not able to deliver it to one customer until 72 hours later, which was against their promise of 48 hours-delivery. Upon seeing the complaint left by the customer, Cui asked the factory to make the dress that very night and arranged a special delivery to the customer’s house at Tang Shan city of Hebei Province. “I wasn’t making a fuss over a minor issue. As a seller, it is our principle to always keep our commitment and serve the customers from their position, not ours,” Cui said.
Cheongsams are the traditional dress of Chinese women, and the only way to promote it in modern times is to combine the old style with the trends of modern fashion. Cui explained further, “The traditional style is rather tight and fitted to one’s body, so it’s not convenient for modern working women. But if we keep its basic feature, with changes in waist and collar, adding more Chinese elements, it will be acceptable to more girls.”
At present, Cui’s cheongsams are well received, not only at domestic market, but also in the United States, Japan, South Korea, South and East Asia regions, and Europe with an annual sale volume of 50 million yuan in overseas market only.
Speaking of his primary dream, Cui is rather confident, “Making and selling cheongsam is not only about doing a garment business, but also about preserving our culture. Chinese cheongsam are arousing more and more interest in foreign lands.”
Translated by Wu Jinying
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