75-year-old Cao Yuxiang trims thread ends from gloves. [Photo / China Daily]

Man Changtong, chairman of Jining Glove and Sewing Product Co Ltd, says he owes his success to the joint venture.

"I would not have known how to expand overseas without the experience I gained with Sanyuan," says Man, who worked as a salesman at the joint venture for 10 years. At least 80 percent of the glove bosses in Jiaxiang once worked for Sanyuan, he says.

Man is said to have been the first entrepreneur in the county to have sought out customers by taking part in trade shows overseas.

"The shows brought me more than 80 foreign customers," he says.

Other people in the trade in Jiaxiang followed suit and began to take part in trade shows overseas, too.

To sell their wares, glove company bosses have also climbed on the e-commerce bandwagon. Among them is Li Xianqing, chairman of Jining Tianjiu Industry and Trade Co Ltd, whose company says it has spent 500,000 yuan developing an e-commerce platform since 2005. Online orders account for 80 percent of the company's business, it says.

But many in the industry recognize that it is its abundance of skilled, experienced workers that forms its backbone.

"I tried six times to open a glove-making factory in other cities, but failed because there weren't enough experienced workers," Man says.

Meng says: "A good worker needs at least two years of experience. You can tell how good a worker is just by listening to their sewing machine."

The knitting is crucial to gloves because the tiniest flaw can result in a customer canceling an order, he says.

"In knitted gloves, the knitting structure in particular sections can improve comfort and performance or reduce hand fatigue. That includes varying stitching over the knuckles, which can increase flexibility. Once the knitting is done, finishing treatment can be customized to improve protection in certain areas. Skilled workers can do this more easily than can novices."

To raise skills and quality, the local government is encouraging companies to improve innovation. By the end of last year 47 local companies had set up research and development centers. This has resulted in more than 60 kinds of technology receiving patent protection.

"Without a creative mindset and actions in line with the market, companies will be left behind," says Wang, who sees China's foreign trade upgrading as an opportunity for local companies to build their own brands.

A report published by the Ministry of Commerce in October said China will carry forward policies and measures to encourage companies to boost innovation processes, improve the quality of their products, create global brands and set up international marketing networks.

"Our OEM orders fell substantially in the US and the European Union in 2008 because of the global financial crisis," Wang says.

"We realized we had to develop self-owned brands."

Local companies have developed more than 20 brands, including Kineed and Suntex.

"If you want to earn more, you have to develop high value-added products," Man says.

He has registered the trademark Jining Glove Texx One with the EU Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market and the waterproofing trademark NexTex in China.

Now half of the 1.2 million gloves Man's company makes that are sold overseas bear the label NexTex in addition to foreign trademarks.