Yaxing builds international brand for professional wear tooling

Business Card of the Character:
Hu Xiongwei, General Manager of Yaxing Trading Co., Ltd. Location: Keqiao District, Shaoxing

Character Sketch:
Growing up among many siblings, Hu Xiongwei was already packing fabrics at the age of eight or nine. After university, he took over the family business and became a fabric merchant. Born in Wenzhou's Yueqing Merchants House, he has his own thoughts on family businesses. He believes that parents should not force their children but guide them, letting them make their own choices. It’s not just about wealth, but also about building a large-scale management system and a healthy corporate culture. This is what he wants to pass on to his son.

Bay View Chat Room:
Q: As the second generation entering Shaoxing, you were exposed to the industry from a young age. What can you share with us?
A: Once, I went to Russia and bought some black tea. The tour guide, a Chinese student, told me something that really stuck with me. She said Russian businessmen don’t fake products, because quality checks are very strict. If caught, fines would be too high to afford. Another time, a Japanese customer asked if our products might have defects. I took him to the factory and showed him the entire process — from raw materials to weaving, dyeing, and final inspection. Every step is monitored, ensuring top-quality fabric. That’s how we build trust and conscience-driven products.

Q: Your products are positioned in the mid-to-high end, which means losing the price advantage. How do you ensure competitiveness in Shaoxing, where the market is so fierce?
A: We focus on market segmentation. Our products are mainly for business wear and tooling, which helps us avoid direct competition. We have extremely high quality standards, especially for functional fabrics like fire-retardant materials for firefighters, acid and alkali-resistant fabrics for steelworkers, and anti-static fabrics for coal miners. We’ve invested heavily in R&D and quality control, and every penny has been well spent. While our fabric may not be the cheapest, it’s definitely the most cost-effective in the market.

Q: “Play brothers and brothers, play father and son soldiers.” Wenzhou has always had a tradition of family businesses. How do you view the inheritance of family business?
A: We believe in an employment-based corporate culture. Building a strong management system and integrating different departments require a lot of talent. We hire people who are virtuous and capable, and give them positions based on their abilities. In every department, there are so-called "outsiders," meaning non-family members, who bring fresh perspectives and expertise.

Main Ideas:
Branding is the core of enterprise development.

Yaxing faced two paths: positioning as mid-to-high-end and building a brand, which meant losing price advantage, or selling as a king and fighting a price war. Just like being the first large-scale spot trade in China’s textile city market, Yaxing chose to “eat crabs” — becoming the first garment fabric brand in China Textile City. In its founding year, as Hu Xiongwei’s mother put it, it was “eating with tears,” very tough. But after years of persistence, Yaxing managed to thrive even in a cold economy. In 2005, Yaxing officially registered as a brand. In 2011, the parallel brand "Mikestar" was launched, focusing on overseas markets while Yaxing focused on domestic sales. This made the company more balanced and stable.

Today, "Yaxing" has customers all over mainland China except Taiwan and Tibet. "Mikestar" has expanded to three continents: South America, Asia, and Europe. "To find high-quality tooling fabrics, look for Yaxing." This phrase has become a word-of-mouth recommendation among clients, and it’s something Hu Xiongwei takes pride in. His confidence in branding grew after winning the "China Textile City Famous Trademarks" award in 2011.

"A company’s development is like a tree’s growth. When the roots are deep, flowering and fruiting are natural." The brand is the flower and fruit of the tree. Hu Xiongwei attributes this success to quality, reputation, and service. "The guarantee of quality, the construction of a talent team, and continuous improvement of the management system are the first half of Yaxing’s brand journey. In the next one or two years, we will promote and build the brand." His dream is to turn "Yaxing" into an international hard brand in professional wear and tooling, like Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Pentax in the SLR camera field.

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