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Text/Doumi

Editor/Sydney Wang

After swimming through swarms of jellyfish, turbulent undercurrents and huge waves several meters high caused by storms, wearing a two-piece swimsuit and traveling through the icy sea water for 14 hours and 31 minutes, Gertrude Ederle finally put her feet firmly on the fine sand and walked step by step towards the crowd who lit a bonfire for her in the dark night - this is the most important scene in the recently released movie "Young Woman and the Sea".

It was 1946, and 20-year-old Trudy Adler became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. She swam not only through storms and turbulence, but also through fear and prejudice.

Before this, women were considered unfit for swimming and could not have the freedom of swimsuits. Their swimsuits were heavy woolen fabrics, including corsets, dresses and stockings - this was in line with the secular moral standards of the time. Under this standard, nothing was more important than a woman's modesty, even if these fabrics put them at risk of drowning.

After Trudy Adler, swimsuits used less and less fabric, and gradually appeared designs such as spaghetti straps, backless, and boxer briefs, until the bikini appeared in 1946.

The source of this change is Xingcheng, which is under the jurisdiction of Huludao City, Liaoning Province. According to statistics, one out of every four swimsuits sold in the world is made in Xingcheng; the local population is less than 500,000, and one out of every five people is engaged in the swimsuit-related industry. After the rise of live e-commerce, swimsuit people are trying to find a way to accelerate the upgrading of the industrial chain.

Who is making the rules for women's swimwear these days? Who is determining the swimwear trends behind the scenes? This July, we went to Xingcheng, 450 kilometers northeast of Beijing, to try to find the answer.

“Making swimwear with a female aesthetic”

The "Bikini Square" is a landmark of Xingcheng. From a distance, this square, which cost 180 million yuan to build, has a giant red bikini cup across the sky. The swimwear industry and this landmark have made Xingcheng known as "China's sexiest county", passionate and lively.

"I tell you, this place has nothing to do with sexiness." It's hard to imagine that this sentence came from Jiang Yunfeng, the owner of the local swimwear brand Xigeer. "This is completely from the perspective of male aesthetics" - his next sentence was even more unexpected.

Making swimwear based on women's aesthetics is an experience that Jiang Yunfeng has repeatedly verified over his years of work.

Jiang Yunfeng started live streaming swimwear e-commerce on Douyin in 2020. When he first started live streaming swimwear, he was like everyone else, focusing on traffic. He signed models with an annual salary of one million yuan and wore swimwear with exaggerated lace, straps, and hollow designs. Once the live broadcast started, it could attract thousands of people online at the same time, and more than 2 million views a day.

After a while, Jiang Yunfeng found that this didn't work. Most of the fans attracted by sexy female models were male fans who only looked but didn't buy, and would also stir up trouble in the comment section.

At that time, his wife Fu Junyi came up with a completely different design idea. The bottom of the swimsuit she designed was closer to a boxer shorts, with some small prints; she also found women from the neighborhood who looked like girls to be models. These swimsuits are very tolerant of body shapes, and people from 100 to 150 pounds can wear the effect of the model pictures.

"This is so ugly," Jiang Yunfeng said, looking down on his wife's design. He still insisted on his own ideas and designed a style with more transparent fabric, lower chest, larger triangle slits in the bottoms, and longer legs. He naturally thought that swimsuits should be "a little exaggerated and eye-catching."

"Even if you don't wear it normally, don't you have to show off your figure when you go out in Shanghai?" Jiang Yunfeng thought he understood women's psychology very well.

A "competition" started between the couple. As a result, two of the four or five swimsuits designed by Fu Junyi sold out. These swimsuits, which cost about 150 yuan per customer, sold better than those of Jiang Yunfeng, which cost 80 or 90 yuan. Jiang Yunfeng found that his wife spent her money wisely, choosing higher-quality fabrics and craftsmanship that paid more attention to details.

"Other women have been making swimwear for decades, but I have only been making swimwear for ten or eight years. I must learn from women." After this real-life competition, Jiang Yunfeng began to pay attention to women's voices.

He also learned from other stores, checking their live broadcast room comments and comments, and turned them into inspiration for adjusting his own products. In Jiang Yunfeng's view, Douyin live broadcast gives merchants an "open book exam" opportunity, "It is very fair. When you see a merchant who is doing well, you can learn from it and surpass it."

Jiang Yunfeng's live broadcast room is located on the fifth floor of the factory. On the day we visited, Lian Lian and other machine workers were working in the processing workshop on the second floor. Lian Lian is 38 years old and has been working in the swimwear industry for more than ten years. His salary has increased from 2,000 yuan at the beginning to more than 10,000 yuan in the peak season.

July is the peak sales season. Amid the hum of sewing machines, workers are busy working among piles of colorful fabrics.

Such a scene was something Jiang Yunfeng never dared to imagine.

Around 2019, due to improper management, the factory had an inventory crisis, with thousands of pieces of goods left unsold, and could only be sold at 10 yuan per kilogram. At the time, Fu Junyi had just given birth, and she thought that she couldn't just give up and sell the swimsuit as scrap, so she did a live broadcast on the kang in her hometown to sell it.

Live streaming e-commerce has brought huge traffic and opportunities. Soon, a swimsuit live streaming base was built in the local area to centrally control the content and products of the live streaming.

But on the other hand, the bonus period of e-commerce also faded quickly. "When all companies come in in a short period of time, the traffic will gather at the top," said a swimwear industry practitioner in Xingcheng.

In addition, Xingcheng has almost no live broadcast industry chain. Yang Ji, vice president of the local swimwear industry association, told us, "Xingcheng is mainly based on factory production, and most practitioners are older or more technical, and live broadcast-related talents are even more scarce."

Jiang Yunfeng decided to break out and build his own live broadcast production chain at that time. And this decision really saved him. Many swimsuit people regard Douyin traffic as a flash in the pan, but Jiang Yunfeng found that the user stickiness here is very strong and stable all year round. "As long as you match people, goods and venues, and surpass others, you can get stable traffic and income in interest e-commerce like Douyin."

Today, his company has opened more than a dozen stores on Douyin, each of which follows the "small and beautiful" route. They will not be particularly popular, but they save the high operating and promotion costs.

Livestreaming has also made him more willing to listen to the voices of female users. "As a man, of course, beauty is based on 'sexiness, exposure, and the ability to arouse his primitive desires'; but women are completely different. They mainly want to cover up their ugliness. They want to show their best parts and cover up the not-so-good parts."

Young people from Northeast China returning home

In Xingcheng, people born in the 1990s like Jiang Yunfeng belong to the third generation of swimsuit lovers.

The area is surrounded by more than 260 kilometers of coastline, with nearly 90% of it covered by sunshine and beaches, so swimsuits have naturally become a necessity. In the 1980s, some smart people in Xingcheng started by helping tourists sew swimsuits, then imitated and made them themselves, and then carried baskets to the beach to sell them, thus joining the wave of the swimsuit industry.

In the 1990s, they joined forces with relatives and neighbors to transform their small family workshop into a swimwear factory. After the rise of e-commerce, some people seized the opportunity to create original design brands. For example, Yi Meishan, a well-known swimwear brand that has caught the trend, has seen its sales increase from 3 million to 30 million in the past five or six years, reaching 200 million at its peak, becoming one of the most well-known brands in the local area.

But this cannot stop the outflow of local young people.

Against the backdrop of the economic decline of Northeast China, they, like young people from other cities in Northeast China, rushed to the interior of China and headed for bigger cities. Jiang Yunfeng was no exception. He first studied automotive engineering machinery programming in Shenyang, and after graduation, he moved to Beijing with 2,000 yuan in his pocket. He first paid more than 1,000 yuan for medical examinations and accommodation fees, and then went to the factory to see that the dormitory corridors were filled with urine smell, and there was not even an office. Jiang Yunfeng realized that he had been "cheated" and bought a return train ticket that night.

The train was heading north, and when it passed Huludao Station, he backed out and did not get off the train, "It would be too embarrassing to go back."

Going home meant that he could only work in swimwear. Before he graduated from college, some relatives persuaded Jiang Yunfeng to return to Xingcheng. From childhood to adulthood, almost everyone around him worked in swimwear - his second aunt worked in quality inspection, his uncle worked in cutting, his two cousins ​​worked on machines, and his cousin's husband opened a cutting studio. Jiang Yunfeng, who was rebellious by nature, resisted swimwear and even more so the life that was arranged for him. He repeatedly told himself "I can't go back."

You get off wherever the car takes you. Jiang Yunfeng eventually found a job in Dalian, designing water meters. He had a solid foundation, was smart, and was hardworking. In less than a year, he became the workshop director, earning 7,000 to 8,000 yuan a month.

But gradually, he discovered the problem. "It's hard to start a family in Dalian with this income. When I first arrived, the housing price in Dalian was 5,000 yuan per square meter. After working for three years, the price of a house has risen to 15,000 yuan per square meter."

What finally made him decide to go home was a sudden family change - his parents' divorce. After his father left, his mother's mental state was not good, and she cried all night long. When she couldn't sleep, she called him and said she was scared. Without discussing it with his mother, Jiang Yunfeng resigned and returned to Xingcheng.

At first, he wanted to stick to his old job and found a Beijing-affiliated factory to make auto parts. The factory had old equipment and his skills were completely useless. He was paid only a few thousand yuan and had to ride an electric bike for 40 minutes every day to go to work in the development zone. Half a month later, Jiang Yunfeng resigned.

At that time, Xingcheng swimwear e-commerce was booming, and Jiang Yunfeng found that the local area was in great need of artists, that is, people who do graphic design and color matching for shelf e-commerce, which is exactly what he is good at. So he finally entered the swimwear industry, from opening a store with others to having his own company.

"Can we just be a different person?"

"The sun is shining brightly. It's time to go out and play instead of staying at home doing laundry, cooking and cleaning the house every day. Isn't the sea water much better than dishwashing water?" Da Meng, who is 1.6 meters tall and weighs 147 kilograms, chatted with the sisters in the live broadcast room while showing off her off-white swimsuit in front of the camera of a mobile phone.

"I'm 175 pounds, dark and fat, can I wear this?" a comment flashed by.

"Sister, you are not confident. In the hot summer, if you don't use beauty filters, you will be dark if you go out. Just wear this and take 4 plus sizes. It will make you look clean and not dirty."

35-year-old Da Meng has been a live streamer at Jiang Yunfeng's company for more than two years. The swimsuit she is holding is a hit this year, with nearly 8,000 pieces sold. The upper body of the swimsuit is made of off-white gauze puff sleeves with butterfly-shaped fixed bra cups; the lower body has two layers of skirt. This design can cover arm fat, side breasts, and belly fat, while also wrapping sagging and outward-spreading breasts well into the cups. The maximum size can be worn is F cup, which perfectly meets the needs of plus-size girls.

Jiang Yunfeng decided to go the route of plus-size swimwear after studying Douyin for a while. He summarized his user profile as "sophisticated mothers, senior middle-class people and 20% of small town youth". So in product design, he also catered to the pain points of this type of users - slimming. High-waisted styles that exceed the navel are used to cover the belly and show the waist; underwear should be made larger so as not to make the legs look thick; the cup pattern is re-opened to make it more stylish on women with large breasts; the prints should also be enlarged to achieve a visual slimming effect.

Since Xingcheng lacks professional anchors, he looked for married women who used to sell insurance or cars to do the job. They understand sales and cherish this opportunity.

It was at that time that Da Meng was chosen by Jiang Yunfeng.

She had been a full-time mother for more than ten years until her child entered junior high school. Because her family had a mortgage, she decided to work to supplement the family income. Before becoming an anchor, she sold large trucks in an offline store and earned 3,000 yuan a month. In comparison, live streaming is much more cost-effective - she broadcasts three hours a day, and when the performance is good, she can earn 20,000 yuan a month.

When she first joined Jiang Yunfeng's company to do live broadcasts, she always felt that she was fat and "full of flesh", so she didn't dare to wear a swimsuit and only held it in her hands while she was doing the commentary. After two or three live broadcasts, she finally mustered up the courage to wear it as she could no longer resist the requests of her fans.

Fans all said that she looked good, and Da Meng slowly found his confidence.

With her confidence, she began to encourage more plus-size girls to wear swimsuits boldly. Once, a sister in the live broadcast room said that she weighed 150 to 160 kilograms and had never worn a swimsuit because of her poor figure. She wanted to ask Da Meng to recommend a black, conservative swimsuit that concealed her flesh and made her look thinner.

"Sister, you usually wear black long-sleeved shirts and long pants. When you go out to play, why don't you wear something nicer? Don't care about other people's opinions, just choose what you think is beautiful. Can we be a different person?" Da Meng felt sorry for her, and also felt sorry for her former self who didn't have the courage to wear a swimsuit.

With her encouragement, the other party placed an order for the blue printed two-piece swimsuit that Da Meng was wearing. "It was amazing when I put it on. It made me look whiter and thinner."

Old lady and the sea

After the success of live streaming, Jiang Yunfeng's factory has grown bigger and bigger. Jiang Yunfeng has hired 60 to 70 female workers like Lian Lian, most of whom are in their 40s and 50s. This job is precious to them, with a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan, commuter transportation, and time to take care of their families.

These women who have worked on the machines for most of their lives are also the most familiar with the fashion trends of swimwear. They told me that the earliest popular swimsuits were leopard print and polka dots, with bright colors such as Barbie pink as the main colors. There were not many styles, and they were all one-piece swimsuits. Later, two-piece swimsuits became popular, with tassels or ruffles on the upper body and high waists on the lower body, the kind that "covers the belly button"; long-sleeved triangle styles similar to surfing suits and sports styles are also becoming increasingly popular.

In general, domestic swimwear tends to be more practical and decent, "all with skirts or sleeves."

The existence of the swimwear industry has made Xingcheng a rare city where women earn more than men. Women working in the swimwear industry are more confident and have more say.

It's not easy to be in a situation where you have to rely on others. Da Meng still remembers the years when she was a full-time housewife. "I stayed at home all day to take care of the children, wash clothes and cook. I didn't make any money, but I felt sorry for my husband's hard work, so I had to spend my money in a restricted way." She couldn't find her own value, felt out of touch with society, and couldn't sleep well at night. She always thought about checking her husband's phone, wondering if he had met someone better.

Now, she has her own business and has become the highest earner in the family, and she no longer has wild thoughts. Family members say that she has become more irritable after making money. "Not really. I used to keep all my grievances to myself because I didn't know what to do on my own. Now that I have the ability and can support myself, I can no longer bear it," Da Meng explained to me.

The sea in Xingcheng is still the same sea. When she was young, Da Meng could only go to the beach a few times a year, and even if she did, she rarely had the courage to wear a swimsuit. But now, she wears a swimsuit to and from get off work, with a cover-up on the outside, which looks no different from ordinary women's clothing. In her opinion, today's swimsuits are more of a self-display for women. "A colorful swimsuit can be sexy or conservative, and it is an opportunity to bravely show yourself. What you wear is up to you."

"How long do you plan to stop doing this?" I asked Dameng.

She laughed heartily, "I often tell the sisters in the live broadcast room that we can grow old together. At 50, I can still wear swimsuits, sell swimsuits, and dress differently."