China 2011 Day 4

Thursday, 5/12/11

Yuan said he would arrive at 10:00 AM today and I am pleasantly surprised that he actually does.  Our plans for the day are to meet Jacky, my other contact here in China.  He can have all other clothing made for us other than the jeans.  His factory is very different.  It’s very small and does everything but the actual sewing.  He explains why he does it differently; he says the most important part of manufacturing clothing is creating the actual paper pattern and cutting the pattern pieces.  The second most important part he says is packaging and shipping.  The sewing can be done by other factories very easily he says; so he has very little overhead doing business this way.

Our original plans were to meet Jacky around 11:00 but he calls to postpone the meeting until 2:00 PM.  So Yuan and I head out to the street to do a little shopping.  There are hundreds of clothing stores and a huge mall just around the corner.  I don’t buy anything though, but it was nice to spend a little time just walking around.

Jacky arrived right on time and we have a meeting about the all our problems with our shirts.  I learned so much from him about how to fix them.  It was worthwhile to meet with him.  I couldn’t have done this any other way but face to face.  This type of business cannot be handled over the internet.  Frequent trips to China will be necessary to keep the quality of our clothes at their best.  The experience of these people cannot be matched.  They are truly experts in their field.

Next we head to Guangzhou, about a one-hour drive, to see his small factory where the pattern pieces and samples are made; his pattern maker is there working on our samples.  He and the pattern maker explain the reasons our sleeves are not fitting properly; it’s quite an easy fix after he explains it to me.  Wow, I’m so impressed!

By this time it’s about 7:00 PM and we head back to Xintang.  He invites Yuan and I to dinner so once we arrive in Xintang we’re starving.  The restaurant he chooses is the same one we ate in last night.  I haven’t eaten all day, so I’m very hungry, but Jacky's food choices were not good.  I nibbled on a few things, but just could not get into this meal.  McDonald’s is starting to look good to me.

After dinner, I’m dropped off at the hotel.  I say my goodnights and its back to my room.  It’s now about 10:00 PM so I give the office a call.  The time at home is 10:00 AM.  I have so much to tell Jillian and Cara, I’m so excited.  They have good news for me too; they had two fittings today.  A little four-year old girl came in and they tried on the sample shirt and jeans.  She was adorable.  Another young man came in as well and they tried him in a T shirt.  They took pictures of both of them and sent them to me.   WOW, they looked so good.   The problem we’re having with the underarm is much better, but still needs more correction.  A little adjustment in the length is needed also.  After what I learned this week, I know the next samples will be correct, I’m sure of it.    

So, I work a little while longer and then crawl into bed.  But my sleep is restless so I get up about 3:30 and call home.   I check in with my mother and get an update on her day; the weather has been very nice for a change, so I’m happy to hear that.