Chinese maker of U.S. Olympic uniforms baffled by controversy

  • By David Pierson Los Angeles Times
  • Thursday, July 26, 2012 5:21pm
  • Business

DALIAN, China — If author Horatio Alger had spoken Mandarin, he would have loved the rags-to-riches tale of garment maker Li Guilian.

A farmer’s daughter who got her start stitching aprons in the countryside, she has built a $300 million company that’s listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Now 66, Li employs 10,000 workers sewing fine clothing for some of the world’s most famous brands and powerful people.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and fellow Politburo members are loyal customers of her firm, Dayang Trands. So are U.S. billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Former President George H.W. Bush donned one of the company’s suits.

Dayang is also the manufacturer behind those snappy blue blazers, white slacks and skirts designed by Ralph Lauren for this year’s U.S. Olympic team. And that’s where the story turns ugly for the hard-charging entrepreneur known by many here as “Chief Li.”

In the past few weeks, she’s watched the American backlash over those uniforms’ made-in-China labels with a mixture of astonishment and dismay.

“I have a simple question,” said the bespectacled, raspy-voiced Li in an interview at company headquarters in this industrial seaside city in northeastern China. “Can America really make the suits we make? We have cheaper costs here so you can have cheaper prices in America.”

U.S. officials, she said with a wry smile, really ought to get a grip. “Pay attention to the performances of the U.S. athletes and not their clothes,” she said.

The dust-up comes at a time when American unemployment remains stubbornly high, fueling tension over China’s massive trade imbalance with the U.S.

While Ralph Lauren and the U.S. Olympic Committee try to stem the public relations crisis, many Chinese, like Li, are baffled by the controversy. Most garment manufacturing left U.S. shores long ago. Low-cost Chinese goods, they reason, have helped American families stretch their dollars.

Nearly half the clothing in the U.S. today is made in China, while nearly all the rest is manufactured in other countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, said Daniel Ikenson, an economist at the Cato Institute in Washington.

China’s apparel exports in 2010 were worth $121 billion. Despite rising wages and competition from other developing nations, China’s manufacturing infrastructure remains unrivaled, experts say.

“Whether the U.S. could ever do again what China is doing now, it seems highly unlikely in the next decade or two,” said Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics in Swampscott, Mass. “There are virtually no firms that would be willing to invest in new plants, spinning and weaving infrastructure in the U.S.”

It would be hard to compete against companies such as Dayang, whose founder Li is the embodiment of China’s economic miracle.

Descended from a long line of farmers, the country girl spotted opportunity 33 years ago as Communist China was beginning to test free-market reforms. She opened an apron and tablecloth factory in her home village of Yangshufang, gradually shifting to more complex garments.

Today the company makes 5 million suits a year – a good portion of them for American brands including Macy’s, DKNY and Banana Republic. Li has grown in stature as well. She is now one of 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress, an elite group of party delegates.

Speaking inside a private, wood-paneled tearoom inside her headquarters this week, Li, looking elegant in pearls and a diamond encrusted watch, defended her company’s success.

“Don’t you think we deserve credit?” she asked a reporter. “We’ve made so many customers happy over the years.”

Li said her skilled workers earn $6,300 to $9,500 a year — good by local standards, but a fraction of American labor costs. Elevator music piped into the factory floor to soothe the workforce is all but drowned out by the relentless hum of sewing machines. Rows of silent employees, many wearing flip-flops, process 100 suits an hour, up to six days a week. On a recent afternoon, the factory floor was sweltering, despite an abundance of whirring fans.

She said her workers could handle the demands because they were eager to work and earn money.

“They can eat bitterness,” Li said, using a popular phrase to describe the ability of the Chinese people to endure hardship.

From Li’s perspective, Dayang is a vital link in the global supply chain, manufacturing high-quality products quickly for leading international brands. That allows customers like Ralph Lauren to focus on their strengths: designing, branding and retailing.

“Do you really think it’s possible to reverse roles today? Designing in China and manufacturing in the U.S. is impossible right now,” Li said.

Not content simply to manufacture for others, Li in 1995 launched her own Trands label of luxury suits after apprenticing with experts in Japan, Italy and the U.S. She said she also sought help from an Armani designer. Today Trands cashmere suits fetch from $950 to $2,800 in stores. Li has ambitions of taking it global.

Some of her top buyers are the most powerful men in China, including Hu, who is said to wear the suits when traveling abroad. Government officials can get a fitting at a private Trands boutique guarded by soldiers at the five-star Jingxi Hotel on the west side of Beijing.

But Li’s biggest coup may have been Buffett. Tipped off by a friend several years ago that the famous American investor would be visiting Dalian, she sent tailors to take his measurements and make him a custom suit. Buffett was so impressed with the fit and quality that he recommended the brand to Microsoft Corp. Chairman Gates. Dayang stock soared in 2009 when Buffet appeared in a promotional video praising Li and her clothes. She’s now a regular at the annual meetings of Buffett’s investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, in Omaha, Neb.

“Warren Buffett made people think about ‘Made in China’ differently,” Li said.

Li said she hasn’t heard from Ralph Lauren, a company she’s manufactured for since 2005. She said Dayang typically works through third-party sourcing companies that contract with famous labels.

Ralph Lauren did not respond to a request for comment.

Li said that a few days after the made-in-China controversy erupted, the American sourcing company that brought Ralph Lauren and Dayang together for the Olympic uniforms asked Li to hand over the thousands of paper templates used to construct the athletes’ garments.

“We refused,” Li said. “We felt that was our intellectual property.”

Meanwhile, China selected a homegrown Shanghai clothing maker to outfit its Olympic athletes in red and yellow. No one seemed to care that the wool came from Australia.

Asked if Chinese people would feel equal outrage if their nation’s uniforms were labeled “Made in the U.S.A.,” Li barely hesitated.

“So long as they’re designed in China, I think people here would accept it,” she said. “Then it would still represent the Chinese spirit. When people see the uniforms at the Olympics, they’re only going to see the country’s logo.”

Dayang factory worker Yang Xinhua said he’ll be watching with excitement when the U.S. team struts its stuff Friday in the opening ceremonies.

“For sure, I’m going to feel proud. We made those things,” said Yang, a veteran line inspector who supervised 150 workers over six months tailoring 2,200 uniforms. “It was stressful. The athletes were very different sizes.”

—-

(Tommy Yang in the Los Angeles Times’ Beijing bureau contributed to this report.)

—-

&Copy;2012 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

George Montemor poses for a photo in front of his office in Lynnwood, Washington on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.  (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Despite high mortgage rates, Snohomish County home market still competitive

Snohomish County homes priced from $550K to $850K are pulling in multiple offers and selling quickly.

Henry M. Jackson High School’s robotic team, Jack in the Bot, shake hands at the 2024 Indiana Robotics Invitational.(Henry M. Jackson High School)
Mill Creek robotics team — Jack in the Bot — wins big

Henry M. Jackson High School students took first place at the Indiana Robotic Invitational for the second year in a row.

The computer science and robotics and artificial intelligence department faculty includes (left to right) faculty department head Allison Obourn; Dean Carey Schroyer; Ishaani Priyadarshini; ROBAI department head Sirine Maalej and Charlene Lugli. PHOTO: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College.
Edmonds College to offer 2 new four-year degree programs

The college is accepting applications for bachelor programs in computer science as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

Andy Bronson/ The Herald 

Everett mayor Ray Stephenson looks over the city on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015 in Everett, Wa. Stephanson sees  Utah’s “housing first” model – dealing with homelessness first before tackling related issues – is one Everett and Snohomish County should adopt.

Local:issuesStephanson

Shot on: 1/5/16
Economic Alliance taps former Everett mayor as CEO

Ray Stephanson will serve as the interim leader of the Snohomish County group.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville, Washington will close on Jan. 28. (Photo courtesy of Molbak's)
After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville

The beloved garden store closed in January. And a fundraising initiative to revitalize the space fell short.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center executive director Larry Cluphf, Boeing Director of manufacturing and safety Cameron Myers, Edmonds College President Amit Singh, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 2 celebrating the opening of a new fuselage training lab at Paine Field. Credit: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College
‘Magic happens’: Paine Field aerospace center dedicates new hands-on lab

Last month, Edmonds College officials cut the ribbon on a new training lab — a section of a 12-ton Boeing 767 tanker.

Gov. Jay Inslee presents CEO Fredrik Hellstrom with the Swedish flag during a grand opening ceremony for Sweden-based Echandia on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Swedish battery maker opens first U.S. facility in Marysville

Echandia’s marine battery systems power everything from tug boats to passenger and car ferries.

Helion Energy CEO and co-founder David Kirtley talks to Governor Jay Inslee about Trenta, Helion’s 6th fusion prototype, during a tour of their facility on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
State grants Everett-based Helion a fusion energy license

The permit allows Helion to use radioactive materials to operate the company’s fusion generator.

People walk past the new J.sweets storefront in Alderwood Mall on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Japanese-style sweets shop to open in Lynnwood

J. Sweets, offering traditional Japanese and western style treats opens, could open by early August at the Alderwood mall.

Diane Symms, right, has been the owner and CEO of Lombardi's Italian Restaurants for more than three decades. Now in her 70s, she's slowly turning the reins over to her daughter, Kerri Lonergan-Dreke.Shot on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 in Everett, Wash. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant in Mill Creek to close

Lombardi’s Restaurant Group sold the Mill Creek property currently occupied by the restaurant. The Everett and Bellingham locations remain open.

The Safeway store at 4128 Rucker Ave., on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Mike Henneke / The Herald)
Kroger and Albertsons plan to sell these 19 Snohomish County grocers

On Tuesday, the grocery chains released a list of stores included in a deal to avoid anti-competition concerns amid a planned merger.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.