by Ma Yunfei and Guo Shuyang
LANZHOU, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The shoes reach overseas markets with no obvious hint of their origin, bearing labels of international brands and styles that follow the latest fashion trends, yet a closer look reveals the woven texture of hemp fiber, carefully crafted by hand rather than pressed by machine.
The work begins far from global fashion capitals in Gangu County, a rural region in northwest China's Gansu Province. There, women sit at long tables weaving hemp threads into shoe uppers, which will later be assembled, branded and sold abroad.
Hemp shoes have been made in Gangu for more than a thousand years, using green hemp grown in the Weihe River basin. The technique was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage in 2017. For much of its history, the shoes were confined to local markets. In recent years, however, enhanced market access has driven a major expansion.
One of the people behind the shift is Niu Junjun, a Gangu native who studied e-commerce and returned home after graduating in 2011. While still in college, he and Guo Juan, now his wife, began selling hemp shoes online.
"The shoes were breathable and affordable," Niu recalled. "They sold well online."
Encouraged by this initial success, the couple decided to turn their experiment into a business. They founded the Gansu Yaluren hemp handicraft development company, set up a factory, recruited local artisans and focused on redesigning the product rather than the process. Using traditional hemp weaving techniques, they adapted popular footwear styles and updated designs based on market feedback.
Today, their company produces more than 200 styles of hemp shoes, including slippers, sandals and casual outdoor shoes. Annual domestic sales exceed 200,000 pairs. One of the new models, inspired by canvas sneakers, is designed for daily wear and has drawn interest from younger consumers.
In 2021, foreign trade firms began placing orders. Rather than requesting finished shoes, they focused on components such as woven uppers and decorative flowers, produced according to design drawings supplied by overseas clients.
Orders can be substantial. A single contract may call for more than 10,000 shoe uppers or over 200,000 decorative pieces, sometimes requiring several hundred female workers to complete.
The company now partners with multiple foreign trade firms, securing up to 5 million yuan (about 720,000 U.S. dollars) in international orders each year. During peak seasons, several overseas orders may run simultaneously.
The scale of production depends on a steady supply of trained workers. Since 2015, with government support, the company has offered free training in hemp shoe making, benefiting more than 10,000 people. According to Niu, his company provides local employment opportunities for more than 3,000 women.
Among them is Niu Junxia, a 44-year-old woman from a local village. She arrives early at the workshop to work from design templates laid out on her table. "I never imagined that something made by a rural woman like me could appear in international fashion stores," she said.
Her monthly income of 2,000 to 3,000 yuan allows her to work close to home with flexible hours. Across from her worktable, a mobile phone streams live video introducing the craft and explaining how others can get involved. According to Yang Kai, an employee of the company, many women discover this work through these livestreams.
As production has expanded, so has the range of products. Local manufacturers now make straw hats, hemp accessories and home decor items. In 2024, the total output value of Gangu's hemp weaving industry reached 50 million yuan, making it a growing contributor to the local rural economy.
Looking ahead, Niu Junjun said the goal is not simply to scale up output, but to develop a more complete hemp weaving cluster in Gangu. "While manufacturing products, we also want to share our own creativity and culture," he said. ■
