An employee organizes the electric hot-water bags for sale on October 13, 2022 in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: VCG

From woolen sweaters, warm leggings to electric heaters, China's winter-product exports have surged as more and more Europeans turn to Chinese sellers to purchase warming winter items to prepare for the coming cold amid a gap in energy supplies as a result of Ukraine crisis.

According to data from AliExpress, a cross-border online retail platform under Alibaba Group, Chinese-made winter warming products such as long johns, flannel pajamas and electric heaters are being snapped up by European consumers.

Data from the platform showed that sales of China-made warm leggings rose 131 percent month-on-month in European market since October. Orders for thermal underwear, hot-water bottles and hand warmers jumped 246 percent, 300 percent and 447 percent respectively. Consumers from the Netherlands, France, Germany and Poland are the most dependent on Chinese products including heaters, foot warmers and electric scarves, AliExpress said.

Increasing exports to Europe in October Graphic: Xia Qing/GT

Exports double 

Multiple industry insiders told the Global Times that the export of winter garments and products so far this year has doubled from that of 2021, as heating costs soar due to an ongoing energy shortage in Europe.

Su Mingyuan, general manager of Zhejiang Kangying Garment Co, told the Global Times on Wednesday that his company's export volume of woolen sweater has surpassed one million units so far in 2022, doubling over last year's annual volume. 

Su noted that woolen sweaters produced by his company are sold in markets of Europe, North America and Australia.

"Our clients add more orders for some popular winter products this year, and most orders are from Europe due to local energy shortage. We offer our customers a wide selection of styles, from turtlenecks to cardigans. The basic style with lower price is more popular," Su said.

Sheng Qiang, general manager of Zhejiang Huigang Fashion Co also said that there has been an increase of 10 to 15 percent year-on-year in woolen sweater orders for autumn and winter, with most of the orders coming from Europe mainly from Spain, Italy and France.

"Due to the energy crisis in Europe, many Europeans are stocking up on warm clothing and sweaters," Sheng told the Global Times.

Sheng said that most orders were placed at the beginning of the second quarter of this year and mass produced from July to September. It takes about one month for the logistics to reach the customers.

Orders queue into 2023 

More orders are coming under the shadow of the ongoing energy crisis, mostly from European countries.

Lu Huazhen, a representative from Zhuji Aishanglin Knitting Co, a legging manufacturer at Zhuji in East China's Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times last week that she had recently received emails from two European customers that asked her to apply thicker cloth in the inside liner of leggings that have not yet been delivered.

Lu said that her company usually receives orders for warm leggings at the beginning of each year, and that the typical delivery period is from April to October.

The sales volume of Lu's company in the first nine months was greater than that of the whole of 2021 at over 30 million yuan ($4.12 million), and orders from Europe accounted for the majority. 

"Orders for my factory are queued to May 2023, and the overall sales volume in 2022 has reached 3.6 million - the volume was around 3 million in 2021," said another industry insider named Lou Xuesong.

Chinese warm garments and heating related enterprises are backed by a strong industry supply chain which allows them to quickly expand production and increase stocking to meet the surging market demand, experts said.

"The thermal underwear and woolen sweaters have a complete industrial base in China. The cost effective and well established Chinese thermal products just make up for the needs of the European residents facing an energy crisis," Cheng Weixiong, an independent analyst in the shoe and clothing industry told the Global Times on Wednesday.

At the same time, the innovation capacity of domestic enterprises, digital trade and cross-border e-commerce advantages are also the reasons helping Chinese enterprises go abroad.

Zhejiang Huigang Fashion Co said it invests around more than 5 million yuan annually in research and development and develops more than 3,000 styles of clothes annually that can be selected by customers.

The company is in preparation for building a laboratory for the testing of wear resistance of yarn, shrinkage rate, button tension and color fastness.

Other companies like Zhejiang Kangying Garment Co are moving part of the business online under the impact of COVID-19.

The company will hold an online "press conference" for new products according to the needs of overseas customers with livestreamers introducing various styles of woolen sweaters online and a small runway in the studio, Su said.

"During the live broadcast, customers can place orders directly online," Su said.

Although the market opportunity brought by sudden spike in demand across Europe may not last long, it provides an excellent opportunity for Chinese warming products to go overseas and is conductive for Chinese brands to enter and grow in international market, Cheng said.