The rapid spread of the pandemic around the world has had a significant impact on some foreign trade companies and related industries that rely on exports of the European and American markets.

Starting in mid-March， the newly confirmed cases in Europe and the United States began to explode， and the operating situation of many apparel fabric companies began to turn sharply. On the one hand， European and American customers began to cancel orders in large numbers. On the other hand， the payment cycle for the part of the order that has not been cancelled has been significantly extended， and the payment cycle for some goods has been directly extended from tens of days to nearly 100 days， further increasing the cash flow burden of the company.

In the face of sudden chargebacks， many apparel fabric foreign trade companies are actively helping themselves.

Switch to production of masks and other anti-pandemic materials

Some companies have transformed boutique workshops that produce high-end fashion into mask factories. However， only a few apparel fabric companies can realize the conversion to production masks. Some person in charge of small and medium-sized clothing spinning enterprises told reporters that masks， protective clothing and other anti-pandemic materials have a large investment in the early stage of production， which makes it difficult to switch production and it is difficult for small enterprises to take risks.

Keep close to the consumption psychology， develop anti-viral fabrics

In the past few days， customers in the showroom of a fabric company in Shaoxing have been endless. It turns out that the company has successfully developed a fabric with anti-virus function in cooperation with a company in Hong Kong. This series of fabrics was developed specifically for the COVID-19. The market is currently well received. Many apparel brand customers have begun placing orders.

Live-streaming sales， open up new sales channels

This is a live-streaming of a clothing company headquarters in Ningbo， Zhejiang. Affected by the pandemic， all offline stores of this company were unable to operate. But the online sales have opened the market. According to the person in charge， the current sales volume of a live-streaming is about 3，000 orders， and the sales can reach 300，000 yuan.

The industry believes that from the current perspective， the normalization of clothing retail may have to wait until July autumn order production. In the next six months， the textile and apparel trade will still be in an unstable state. For companies， what they can do now is to ensure cash flow， strive to reduce inventory， and ensure normal receipts and payments.