Thinking out of the box helps Chinese brand stay ahead of other players

Compared with the state-of-the-art offices of a company president, Zhu Weiming's office looks more like a design workshop and exhibition room.

Large French windows that provide adequate natural light in the room, and furniture in complementary colors dot the office. Mannequins attired in the company's latest designs are scattered around Zhu's desk.

"I was born to be a designer, and I established the company not only to run my own design, but also to provide a platform for young designers to showcase their talent. I know the disappointment of being a designer who has come up with a really great idea, but did not get the required support from his employer," says Zhu.

Zhu says when he was working as a designer at his uncle's leather jacket factory in 1998 after he graduated, almost all his design ideas were rejected because his uncle did not want to take any risks.

"I always believed that leather wear should go beyond necessity. It should reflect the latest fashion and the style of the people who wear them. Hence I decided to be my own boss and work out the designs that were in my mind," he says.

Zhu established his own factory in 1999, with 100,000 yuan ($15,800, 12,413 euros) borrowed from his uncle. In 2005, he created his own brand, Natural Gift, and positioned it as casual fashion leather wear.

It was the hardest time in Zhu's career. Leather jacket companies normally receive their orders starting from August, but Zhu's company had no orders till the end of September.

"At that time, all leather wear looked the same, and most people were reluctant to accept new styles. Many people advised me not to take the risk, but I insisted," he says.

Zhu proved that his determination was rewarding. After his first order was successfully sold out, the company saw its sales revenue growing by 20 percent every year.

As one of the local leather wear companies in Haining, touted as China's center of leather products, Natural Gift is also the representative of fashion design, and has often made its presence felt in innumerable fashion shows.

"The products sell very well, even though the prices are higher than average," says Zhang Shigang, who runs a fashion shop that sells Zhu's leather wear at 3.3 Shopping Center in Beijing's Sanlitun area, which sells only haute couture or extraordinary costumes with unique design.

Most of the products that Zhang sells are limited editions of bright color products with a price range starting from 10,000 yuan.

"They can stand out even in a shopping building like this. Sometimes when I get new samples, I have to replenish them on the next day due to the huge demand," he says.

Pei Xiaoqin is one of the chief designers in Zhu's company. She has been in Haining for more than 10 years.

"I have witnessed how people are now attaching more and more importance to original designs. I found my values here in Natural Gift because I am given opportunities to work out whatever idea I have come up with. This is the biggest advantage of having a boss who is also a designer," she says.

Zhu says his motto is to give a free hand to the designers if they come up with a new idea. "Some of the products are not for sale, but only for art collections. They are so beautifully designed that I cannot give them up," he says.

But he is also very strict about the style of his products. If a piece of new design has not been sold in 10 days, it goes off the shelf forever.

As more and more of his designs entered public lives, Natural Gift also managed to attract the attention of the showbiz fraternity.

Zhu is now cooperating with the fashion brand of Jay Chou, China's top pop musician, and is also planning to work with the fashion brand of Andy Lau.

"Cooperating with famous stars is one of the easy ways to get publicity, and this is only a starter for my company in this field," he says.

Designing is not the only part Zhu pays great attention to. He also considers marketing strategies very important. He changes models and photographers every year to always keep fresh faces and minds on his clothes. He also attends business conferences and forums to attract publicity for his company.

"During the 2011 Halter Financial Conferences which was held in Guangzhou, I met former British prime minister Gordon Brown, and gave him one of our company's products as a gift. It does not matter whether he really wears it or not. It is an achievement for me that he is acquainted with the name Natural Gift," Zhu says.