Chongqing - “Thanks to the ‘Compass,’ we successfully connected with major platforms like Shein and are poised to secure more overseas orders in the future,” said Duan Yu, General Manager of Chongqing Duanshi Garment Industrial Co., Ltd.

As one of Chongqing's leading apparel manufacturers with over 800 employees and an annual output of 2 million garments, Duanshi Garment has traditionally focused on custom-made business attire, uniforms, and protective clothing. However, due to recent economic challenges, the company is striving to reverse a downturn by expanding into new markets. A recent partnership with Shein, a global e-commerce giant, has provided a much-needed boost, enabling the company to explore overseas opportunities.

Launch event of the "Compass" platform. (Photo provided by the interviewed company)

Connecting overseas platform

At the core of Duanshi’s success lies the "Compass," a digital platform developed by the Chongqing Textile and Garment Federation in collaboration with One Compass (Chongqing) Digital Technology Co., Ltd. This initiative, supported by Chongqing's efforts to drive digital transformation, addresses the unique challenges of the local apparel industry.

Chongqing's garment sector boasts over 3,000 manufacturers and 150,000 workers, with small-batch, fast-response production strengths. However, 90% of these businesses employ fewer than 50 people, making achieving economies of scale and stable order flows difficult. Many companies lack access to digital tools, limiting their ability to respond quickly to fluctuating demand. 

Jiang Senbin, founder of One Compass, saw an opportunity to modernize the industry. “The apparel industry is still highly labor-intensive and has significant room for digitalization,” he explained. Drawing on his experience at Alibaba, Jiang launched One Compass in 2023 and unveiled the first version of the platform in March 2024. The platform was upgraded to version 2.0 by October.

Bridging local factories with global markets  

The Compass platform leverages big data and operational tools to connect Chongqing’s manufacturers with global clients. One of its early successes was forming a partnership with Shein, a global fast-fashion leader with annual sales exceeding 200 billion yuan. Duanshi Garment and other local manufacturers gained access to Shein’s vast overseas markets through this collaboration. 

Jiang cited the success of a factory in Hubei, which achieved over 50 million yuan in production capacity within six months of partnering with Shein. Inspired by this, Jiang is also working with JD.com’s corporate procurement platform to explore opportunities in workwear and is in discussions with platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu to secure bulk orders.

Digital tools for greater efficiency  

Fast-fashion giants like Shein demand rapid production and delivery, pushing factories to optimize their workflows. Jiang tested these processes in his own factory, mapping out a 20-step operational framework to meet Shein’s stringent requirements. By streamlining design, sample production, and mass manufacturing, he found that internal production could yield a gross profit margin exceeding 25%. 

The Compass platform has partnered with six key factories across Chongqing, including Duanshi Garment, to pilot collaborative production models. These factories utilize lightweight digital tools developed by Compass to integrate procurement, design, production, and quality control. For example, the platform's AI design tool reduces the time needed to create a design sketch from up to an hour to just 50 seconds.

To date, Compass has connected with around 400 garment manufacturers in Chongqing. The platform aims to modernize the local apparel industry and enhance its global competitiveness by enabling data sharing, resource coordination, and rapid order fulfillment. 

“Through digital empowerment, we are helping Chongqing’s apparel sector embrace a new era of growth and transformation,” Jiang said.

(She Zhenfang, a reporter from Chongqing Daily, contributed the Chinese version of this report.)