Quanzhou Underwear Manufacturers Quickly Grab Orders as the City Reopens

Key takeaways

Shenhu is what a knitwear cluster looks like at close range: one town where the underwear industry is the largest single industry, accounting for around 60% of total economic output, with more than 200 underwear producers inside it.
The scale is what makes a cluster different from a supplier list. Annual output value there runs above 3 billion RMB, and that capacity sits inside one sourcing radius rather than being spread across a country.
Product breadth inside a single town is wider than most buyers expect — men’s and women’s underwear plus swimwear, cotton pyjama shorts and sports bras are made in the same district, so a multi-category programme can stay inside one radius.
Capacity in a cluster is allocatable in a way a single factory’s capacity is not: when one site is constrained, work moves to a neighbouring site running the same machinery base instead of waiting.
The April 2022 episode is the useful stress test to read here, and it describes that period rather than the present — traffic in Quanzhou reopened in stages from 13 April 2022 and city-crossing lorry passes were withdrawn at that point.
What the episode demonstrates is the shape of a cluster-level interruption: the constraint was movement and staffing rather than orders or machinery, so the recovery lever was site-by-site classification rather than a blanket reopening.
The three-tier split into restricted, controlled and prevention zones is worth understanding as a template, because it is how a producing region restarts capacity in slices instead of all at once.
For a buyer, the practical question during any such interruption is not whether a supplier is open but how far out the order book is committed; at that point in 2022 the book was already running to July.
That question separates a supplier answering from its production calendar from one answering from optimism, and it is the number to ask for whenever capacity tightens.
The counter-measure for concentration risk is decided before the interruption rather than during it: capacity spread over several sites inside a cluster is what makes reallocation possible at all.
The reverse is the risk a 200-factory town carries — when a whole district is affected, every site in it is affected together, so cluster depth and cluster concentration are the same fact seen from two directions.
A local presence is what turns cluster depth into usable capacity: the ability to walk a site, hold a sample and re-place work is what a liaison point inside the producing region buys.
The durable reading of this kind of episode is geographic: the town’s strength is its density of makers, and the buyer’s job is to hold enough of that density to have somewhere to move work to when one site or one district stalls.

Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.)

Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. is a professional underwear sourcing & supply-chain management company based in Xiamen, Fujian Province, in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster of south-east China. Founded by Will Lin, who has worked in the apparel trade since 2004, the company has been exporting since 2009 and was incorporated in Xiamen in 2013. It runs its own liaison office in Jinjiang and works with a network of BSCI & OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified partner factories to serve retailers and brands across Europe, the US and Australia.

On April 13, 2022, in accordance with the principle of “Orderly Opening Up”, Quanzhou City restored the traffic gradually in different classifications and zoning. While it promotes the resumption of public transportation and traffic in safe and orderly manners. The Truck Pass which is a must for the truck driver as certification to go through the city has been canceled. Except for some control areas, the trucks are easy past different zones without any restrains as usual. On the same day, the “Jinjiang New Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters Office Note (No. 96)” was released. According to the requirements of epidemic prevention, control, and resumption of work and production, the headquarter decided to adjust and standardize the city’s traffic quarantine inspection work. According to the three-level management requirements of the management area, control area, and prevention area. The establishment of traffic quarantine inspection points shall be adjusted by division and level. The dynamic supervision shall be implemented to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and logistics in an orderly manner. Factories, commercial buildings, and construction sites have resumed work in an orderly manner as well. A series of adjustments in epidemic prevention and control measures show that Quanzhou is making the greatest efforts to promote the orderly restoration of social production and living order in various cities.

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With the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control measures in many towns of Quanzhou City, these areas have resumed normal traffic. According to the actual situation of different enterprises, relevant departments and villages (communities) of Shenhu Town have carried out classified management, and actively urged enterprises to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control. It helps enterprises to resume normal production in an orderly manner.

Shenhu is a famous underwear town. The underwear industry is the largest industry in Shenhu town, accounting for 60% of the town’s total economic output. There are more than 200 underwear manufacturers. The main products of underwear are men’s underwear, women’s underwear, swimwear, cotton pajama shorts, comfortable sports bras, etc., with an annual output value of more than 3 billion RMB, and its industrial scale and market share occupy a certain position in the garment industry in China.

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Under the premise of strictly doing a good job in epidemic prevention work, the Unitex underwear manufacturer is doing its best to complete the customer’s orders.

In the workshop of Liwenlai Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in Shenhu town, all departments like knitting, cutting, production, inspection & packaging, in each production line (cotton boxer briefs, cotton boxer shorts, women’s underwear, boy boxers, and girl’s boxer shorts) workers strictly Wearing a facial mask and operating the equipment skillfully. The familiar sound of the machine is coming back and the underwear products are under sewing in the production line, fully occupied machines.

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The current order has been generally placed in July. Of course, due to the impact of the pandemic, it was slightly interrupted. However, the local government and the village committee have given us great support. At present, production has been resumed and the personnel has also been in place.

The epidemic prevention and control situation is improving positively, and the resumption of work and production is progressing in an orderly manner. it is a vivid practice of stabilizing the global supply chain and industrial chain. We make every effort to restore economic vitality. A continuously optimized business environment is the most critical factor in attracting global companies, which is of great significance to stabilizing the global supply chain and industrial chain. All of the efforts make Unitex stand out in the global supply chain competition and become the best choice for customers.

Last updated: 2026-10-02 · Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. — OEM & ODM underwear sourcing partner

Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — OEM/ODM underwear sourcing and supply-chain partner in Xiamen, China; in the trade since 2009, incorporated in 2013. Based in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster, Fujian Province, south-east China.
Supplier	Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — trading company working with long-term partner factories, Xiamen, China.
Subject	How a production base recovers after a disruption — the operational pattern
Stage 1	Staged restart — a partial return with a limited workforce before full capacity
Stage 2	Queue rebuild — the backlog clears from the restart date rather than being absorbed
Stage 3	Material catch-up — fabric and trims arrive after the lines restart
What the buyer should track	The restart date, the queue position and the fabric booking, separately
What the buyer should ask	Which of the three is the constraint on the specific order
Planning consequence	The recovery period is longer than the disruption itself
Freight consequence	Space tightens at the restart as the backlog clears
Common error	Planning against the restart date instead of against the queue
Buyer action	Build the buffer from the three stages rather than from the disruption alone
Verification	A written revised schedule rather than a verbal reassurance

Buyer checklist

Ask which of the three stages is the constraint on your specific order.
Get the revised schedule in writing rather than verbally.
Confirm the fabric and trim position separately from the line restart.
Allow for the queue rebuild rather than only the disruption.
Check freight space on both sides of the restart.
Identify which styles could ship earlier if part of the order is ready.
Confirm whether a partial shipment is possible.
Reset the following season's dates once this one has settled.
Keep the revised schedule with the order file.
Review the plan against the actual dates rather than the promised ones.

Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.)

Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — OEM/ODM underwear sourcing and supply-chain partner in Xiamen, China; in the trade since 2009, incorporated in 2013. Based in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster, Fujian Province, south-east China.

Sources & references

US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) — textile and apparel trade data https://www.trade.gov/otexa
WTO — International trade statistics https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_data_e.htm
EURATEX — European Apparel and Textile Confederation https://euratex.eu/
UN Comtrade Database — international merchandise trade statistics https://comtradeplus.un.org/
UNCTADstat — UN trade and development statistics https://unctadstat.unctad.org/
Eurostat — official European statistics on production, trade and consumption https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/home
OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 — harmful-substance testing and certification for textiles https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/our-standards/oeko-tex-standard-100
amfori BSCI — social compliance audit programme for supply chains https://www.amfori.org/amfori-bsci

Buyer Questions

MOQ, lead times, certification and trading terms

How does a production base recover after a disruption?

In three stages rather than one: a staged restart with a limited workforce, a queue that rebuilds from the restart date, and a material catch-up as fabric and trims arrive after the lines are running. The recovery period is longer than the disruption itself. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

Why is the recovery longer than the disruption?

Because the queue is rebuilt from the restart date rather than absorbed. The lines stop for a period; the work that accumulated during it is cleared afterwards, so the effect on a delivery date is the disruption plus the rebuild. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

What should a buyer ask during a disruption?

Which of the three stages is the constraint on their specific order. The answer differs between orders and it determines whether the useful action is on materials, on capacity or on freight. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

Why does freight tighten at the restart?

Because the backlog clears through the same routes, so space tightens at the restart rather than only during the disruption. That is why the freight buffer belongs on both sides of the date rather than on one. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

How should the schedule be revised?

In writing, against the three stages rather than against a single promised date. A verbal reassurance cannot be checked, while a written revised schedule shows which stage the order is actually waiting on. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

What should be done once the order has settled?

Reset the following season's dates rather than carrying the original plan forward. A schedule inherited from before the disruption embeds the delay into the next programme, which is how one event costs two seasons. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

“Recovering” the Life Paused by the Epidemic – Quanzhou Underwear Manufacturers Quickly Grab Orders

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Buyer checklist

Sources & references

MOQ, lead times, certification and trading terms

“Recovering” the Life Paused by the Epidemic – Quanzhou Underwear Manufacturers Quickly Grab Orders

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Buyer checklist

Sources & references

MOQ, lead times, certification and trading terms

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