Man wins hearts of customers with tailored, creative umbrellas

Video clips featuring a Chinese man showcasing custom-made umbrellas with creative designs have become an internet sensation, attracting domestic internet users and even foreign netizens, who are amazed by the unimaginable "Chinese creativity."

Photo shows Lei Penglin. (Photo/CCTV News)

Lei Penglin, from central China's Henan Province, displays a shining laser reflective umbrella to dispel darkness, an umbrella with floor-length plastic curtains to prevent one's clothes from getting soaked, a twin umbrella especially designed for couples, and many other umbrellas in the clips. All of these umbrellas are produced by the 38-year-old man.

Because of Lei's performances in the clips, netizens also affectionately call him "uncle."

Lei has operated an umbrella factory in Shaoxing city, east China's Zhejiang Province. Before that, he worked in an umbrella plant, taking up almost every post in the plant. Thanks to his work experience, he can tell the workmanship and approximate price of any umbrella by just weighing it in his hands.

Lei Penglin showcases a laser reflective umbrella. (Photo/CCTV News)

In 2014, Lei set up his own umbrella factory. At first, his factory saw booming sales. However, as competition became fierce, sales of his umbrellas plummeted, and Lei had to explore new opportunities.

"Consumers prefer personalized products. So the umbrellas need to function as decorations aside from protecting people from sunshine and rain," he said.

Being aware of customers' preference for creative products, Lei started to design his umbrellas.

Inspired by short video marketing, Lei opened an account on China's short video sharing platform Douyin to advertise his umbrellas. Now, his account has garnered 1.74 million followers.

In 2022, an umbrella he produced with a flashlight went viral, and many internet users said that they wanted to buy the umbrella.

In the comments section of videos of his products, Lei noticed an interesting request: make a reflective umbrella for walking in the dark.

"The comment garnered many likes. I believed that people would like such an umbrella," Lei said.

Photo shows a scene of Lei Penglin's factory. (Photo/CCTV News)

Following the advice, he created the "laser reflective umbrella." Surprisingly, videos showcasing the reflective umbrella have received more than 1.5 million likes, and nearly 20,000 reflective umbrellas were sold in just three months after hitting the shelves. So far, over 70,000 such umbrellas have been sold.

Since then, Lei began to attach more importance to comments from internet users to absorb new ideas.

Lei spends several hours reading comments every day. "I usually read 300 to 500 comments a day. I read and reply to comments by myself. Only by carefully reading the comments can I know the customers' needs, and solve possible problems on time after selling the umbrellas," he said.

Various umbrellas developed based on internet users' comments have hit the shelves. “Almost all the umbrellas made so far can be sold without a loss," he added.

Lei sells nearly 50,000 umbrellas each month on Douyin, as sales volume increased by 60 percent.

Lei hopes that he can continue to try new creative ideas and products. He also wants to make Chinese-style umbrellas that can be paired with traditional Han-style costumes. "I want to try something new and promote our Chinese culture," Lei said.