Business
As the world's largest sock manufacturing base, Datang in the city of Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang Province, produces 25 billion pairs of socks per year, one third of the world's output, thanks to hi-tech sock making machines.
Data shows that in 2022, the output value of 2.8 yuan (around 39 U.S. cents) per pair of socks produced in Zhuji was 2.5 times that of a sock pair in 2014.
Challenged by rising orders, the town began to explore advanced manufacturing technologies in June last year. The newly purchased intelligent machines not only greatly shortened working hours, but also reduced labor by about 45 percent.
"We are now operating at full capacity. This year's sales are about 30 percent higher than those in previous years. The output value should be more than 100 million yuan (around 14 million U.S. dollars). Orders have been scheduled for April and May," said Xie Changbao, general manager of a socks company in Zhuji.
In addition to raising production capacity, sock enterprises there are also paying greater attention to sock designs by hiring more designers and illustrators, catering to preferences of different consumers.
"We have new designs coming out every day, and we basically launch at least about 5,000 new designs per year," said Hu Leilei, assistant to the general manager of a technology company in Zhuji.