By Zhao Zihan

Shangqiu， located in the transition zone of the eastern coastal region and the central part of China， is one of the four intersected cities of two vertical and two horizontal economic belts that aim to promote the development of the central part of China. （The north-to-south economic belts along Beijing-Guangzhou Railway & Beijing-Kowloon Railway and the east-to-west economic belts along the Yangtze River & Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway.）

Knitted kidswear is a traditional industry in Shangqiu， also a livelihood industry that can promote the local economic development and provide job opportunities. Currently， there are 520 com- panies engaged in the production of childrens wear， with an annual output of nearly 400 million sets， which has formed a complete kidswear industrial chain from spinning， fine knitting， computer embroidery， washing & dyeing， finished processing to warehousing and logistics.

2016 Shangqiu Knitted Childrens Kidswear Exhibition， supported by China National Textile & Apparel Council （CNTAC）， China Knitting Industry Association （CKIA）， Commission of Industry and Information Technology of Henan Province， Henan Garment Industry Association， Henan Textile Industry Association， and the Peoples Government of Shangqiu City， was held in the stadium of the city from April 22nd to 24th.

In recent years， the local government has been making great efforts in transformation and upgrading for the sustainable development of the industry， including building an industry platform， strengthening policy support， upgrading techniques， gathering talents， establishing a benchmark for corporate and

cultivating core brands.

Yang Jichao， Vice President of CNTAC and President of CKIA， expressed warm congratulations on the convening of the exhibition. He said that after years of development， the knitted garment industry in Shangqiu City has been gradually expanded with further improved industrial chain and growing market shares， growing into a characteristic industry that makes contribution to the employment and economic development. “I believe that the exhibition will play a significant role in the development of the knitted kidswear industry in Shangqiu， including brand promotion， quality improvement and influence expansion. China National Textile and Apparel Council and China Knitting Industry Association will continue to attach importance to Shangqiu with such support as industrial platform building and quality improvement.”

At present， Shangqiu has developed into one of the four knitted childrens wear production bases in China.

It is introduced that the knitted kidswear industry gathering is under an accelerated pace in order to seize new opportunities in production transfer. For intensive development in the form of clusters， it is planned to construct “Chinas Kidswear City” in Suiyang Industry Cluster Zone， with a total planning area of 5 square kilometers. The first- and second-phase projects have been put into use， while the third phase is under construction. It is projected that by 2020， the knitted kidswear industry in Shangqiu will have enjoyed comprehensive improvement in both scale and competitiveness， becoming a well-known kidswear production and distribution area in China.

To implement of the two strategies of “business-card promotion， characteristic-industry demonstration”；

To enhance three capabilities of “design and manufacturing， production cooperation， and marketing”；

To build four key projects of “A Knitted Kidswear Pioneering Building， A Standardized Production Concentrated Area， A Warehouse Logistics Center，and A Wholesale Trade Market”；

To improve the overall industrial development relying on Alibaba （Shangqiu） industrial zone （shangqiu.1688.com） to lead transformation and upgrading through e-commerce；

One highlighted activity this year is the catwalk show， during which the energetic and lovely children models give a full play to the knitted kidswear in Shangqiu.