Children model clothing at a recent international fashion week in Beijing. Data show that global sales of children's apparel total about $25 billion. China's sales are more than 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion). They have been rising by 10 percent a year. [Photo / China Daily]

Humen, a well-known fashion center for women's wear, is beefing up its garment industry with children's wear and e-commerce.

In August, the Humen township introduced policies to support the manufacture of youngsters' clothes.

Li Dingru, deputy town chief of Humen, believes the town will become the most prominent children's wear production and exhibition center in China.

At the end of last year, about 600 companies were making children's apparel in the town. Annual sales of about 9.7 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) accounted for 25 percent of Humen's total apparel sales of 38.6 billion yuan.

The town aims to increase its percentage of children's apparel to 30 percent and 40 percent in terms of sales and production value of its garment industry by 2020.

A center for children's wear, covering 50,000 square meters with 1,500 rooms, is under construction and will open for business next year.

Following the financial crisis, the apparel industry suffered a slowdown, but the children's wear sector has developed very quickly.

Data show that global sales of children's apparel total about $25 billion. China's sales are more than 50 billion yuan and have been rising by 10 percent a year.

An industry report from Forward, a local consultancy, suggests that China has 222 million children under the age of 14. The cost of their clothes could reach sales of as much as 150 billion yuan a year.

There are now more than 10 domestic brands in Humen, which account for 25 percent to 30 percent of local market share.

Humen town has an area of 178.5 square kilometers and a population of about 600,000. It is southwest of Dongguan City, east of the Pearl River estuary.

In 2012, its GDP came to 34.8 billion yuan, equaling a year-on-year rise of 6.2 percent.

After 30 years of development, the town has become the largest apparel industry cluster in the country.

By the end of 2012, there were more than 2,300 apparel production and processing enterprises, with a production area of 2.74 million square meters, employing more than 200,000 people.

The annual industrial output value is about 300 billion yuan. There are also more than 1,000 companies in apparel-related industries, such as printing and dyeing.

Meanwhile, the original women's wear sector is experiencing an upgrade from Original Equipment Manufacturer manufacturing to cultivating its own brands.

Li said the main challenge for Humen is a lack of famous brands and innovative products.

The government has been planning to help build two to three national brands and 10 to 15 provincial brands, making Humen a brand center in the Pearl River Delta.

Many local brands also are working harder to expand channels.

Yizhou Garment Co, a designer brand in Humen, has just hired a new operations manager with an annual salary of 1 million yuan.

Chen Zhuo, founder and now general manager of the company, said that in the next three years, it will focus on putting distribution channels in every province in China.

Leutus, a local company that specializes in lingerie design and production, recently moved into a 3,000 square-meter R&D center.

Zheng Liyuan, general manager with Leutus, said the company will focus more on brand-building and new products research.

Established in 2006, the company targets the middle class, with affordable garments having an average price of about 250 yuan.

As one of the fastest-growing companies in Humen, Leutus has tallied an annual growth rate of 30 percent in the past three years.

Currently, it has more than 1,000 stores in China, which rang up 300 million yuan in sales in 2012.

E-commerce potential

As more companies are involved in e-commerce, the Humen government also is sparing no efforts in the rising industry.

To better compete with companies from Zhejiang province, the Humen E-commerce Association was launched in January.

Soon after, the association signed an agreement with QQ, Tencent's popular online messenger service.

According to the agreement, Humen can sell its garments via QQ's platform.

Data from the local government showed that more than 5,000 companies have become involved in e-commerce since 2003.

Annual online sales for Humen in 2012 came to about 15 billion yuan.