At Integral, we are looking to change the dated preconception that the textile industry hires workers for primarily manual tasks.

Beginning with our recruitment process, we are a pioneer in hiring multi-skilled engineers to manage our specialty spinning operations, with a majority of them having received tertiary education or above (85%). Our career program trains them to not only be technical experts in operating our highly automated mill, but also team management. This blurs the divide traditionally seen between manual operators and office workers, and shifts toward a manufacturing model of the future with “managineers” (combination of manager and engineer). Transforming job roles in such a way has given our managineers higher income and greater flexibility in the workspace, with more engaging tasks that require both technical expertise and people skills.

Our specialty spinning mill has 38,000 spindles capable of annually producing 4,500 tons of specialty blended yarn, such as cotton-silk or cotton-cashmere. By pairing talent and technology, our yarn output has tripled given the same working hours.

The innovative approach to talent is driven by our focus on people as much as it is driven by market need. As new talents are increasingly educated and prefer more fulfilling work, there is an immediate need for the textile industry to rethink jobs on the shop floor in order to attract and retain such talents.

In our commitment to sustainability, our team at the garment operation shop floor has one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals constantly on their minds: responsible consumption and production.

To run an operation that makes the most out of our resources, the team is guided by lean thinking, learning from and exchanging ideas with global Lean experts along the way. In collaboration with Lean Enterprise China, our Lean Management Training Center was launched at Integral in 2021 April, with the intention to promote lean manufacturing.

At Integral, our teams combine fabric cutting, sewing and finishing into production cells on the shop floor, creating a tightly efficient flow of work. By optimizing processes and layouts for small-batch flows and visual management instead of traditional bulky lines, we have reduced inventory, idling times and defects, while consistently maintaining high quality and efficiency. This not only lets us serve our customers better, but also lowers our environmental footprint. Furthermore, we drive better quality and productivity from our staff due to stronger engagement.

Our adoption of lean management principles at Integral has reduced work-in-process on the shopfloor by 64%, slashed production lead time from 15 days to 5 days, and raised staff income by 19%. Overall, lean management saves us millions every year.

Blue brick is an iconic element in traditional Chinese architectural culture, evoking a sense of calm and quaint beauty. Beyond decorative purposes, blue brick is an inheritance of culture. It features in the exterior walls of our Garment Operation building, the Logistics Center next to it, and the Power Station. Historical cultural significance and modern design come together in an elegant meeting at Integral. With curved roofs inspired by “flying eaves”, a traditional architectural feature, and a courtyard layout, Integral’s design marries traditional beauty with innovation in harmony.

Each wall of blue brick is also a testament to our commitment to excellence. Our management was initially taken aback by the first attempts of constructing the blue brick walls, as we discovered that different production batches had resulted in varying shades of colors across the bricks. Unable to let the inconsistencies mar the impression we wanted to achieve, we went through the trouble of diligently reworking each wall with a unified color tone for our blue bricks. The smooth blue hue we see today is a reminder of how we ensured that every brick laid meets our standards; we never compromise the quality of our foundations. It is with the same intensity that we make sure every shirt we manufacture meets our quality expectations, down to the very last stitch.

Taking into account the surrounding community’s economic development and the potential energy consumption and waste resulting from transporting raw materials, we used proximity as one of our principles when procuring raw materials as part of our commitment to sustainable development.

Embodying innovation and a keen awareness of our local context in one, the exteriors of Integral’s architecture features bamboo – a readily available local material – in abundance, utilizing designs that modernize such natural and traditional components.

Integral’s façade, mostly comprised of a bamboo-based composite, brings form and function together in a beautiful exterior that captures light in such a way it looks dynamically different based on the time of day, practically creating a new façade every hour. The structure of the façade also helps to redirect air flow to aid in the natural ventilation of our facilities.

The use of bamboo complements the beautiful mountain scenery that Guilin is so famous for, visually integrating Integral with its natural surroundings effectively.  Much of Integral’s aesthetic is designed to seamlessly blend into the landscape in a solid demonstration of peaceful coexistence with nature.

The manufacturing model of the future that Integral demonstrates seeks deep transformation, not just aesthetically in the hardware, but also in the culture of our people. A healthy workforce is a productive one, and encouraging a truly wellness-conscious mindset begins with foundational changes to people’s lifestyles. Successfully making such a shift requires a relationship of trust.

Our dining spaces in Integral do away with what the average worker might expect – unhealthy carbs in a packed canteen – and replace them with balanced meals designed by nutritionists using locally-sourced ingredients, and sunlit, airy halls with scenic views of the Lake. Lunchbreaks are no longer just for people to enjoy their meal but also to relax in the company of one another.

Alongside the introduction of Integral’s new dining model, we spend time educating our workforce on the importance of healthy diets, as well as mental wellness. We also introduced an app for pre-ordering meals, minimizing waste in the kitchen and encouraging Esquelers to naturally take on an environmentally friendly stance.

The establishment of trust extends to our decision to avoid dark colors in our dining halls, a popular choice normally as they more easily hide less-than-savory spots. By choosing light-colored furnishings, we simultaneously brighten the mood and indicate to Esquelers that we don’t cut corners when it comes to their well-being.

The effects of water scarcity on our planet are no small matter, endangering ecosystems, hampering hygiene, and impeding social development. Given the textile and apparel industry’s great thirst in dyeing and washing, we are determined to find ways to reduce water consumption and minimize wastewater discharge in our industry.

During the signing of the land from the Guilin government, Esquel made a commitment to have zero operational wastewater discharge. This means that any water that has been affected by industrial processes or activities is not allowed to flow out into surroundings of our concern.

We therefore employ Eco-wash at Integral, an alternative washing process that uses only 2% of the water used in a conventional wash, and completely eliminates wastewater discharge – yet attains the same effects and hand feel as a conventional wash.

Aside from managing operational water usage, at the heart of the site of Integral, we have also set up the Lake in a way that lets it manage itself. The Lake self-regulates water levels amidst the region’s frequently rainy weather, and cleans itself naturally through its own ecosystem.

A major part of Integral’s construction has been hand-in-hand with its immediate surroundings of nature. While landscaping typically levels out large amounts of terrain and clears out obstacles to fit a design without ceremony, we took a very different approach to designing Integral. By collaborating with nature instead of trying to dominate over it, we are restoring the local ecosystem and giving it space to flourish. Based on what was already there, we built along or around it. This is why our Integral site has gentle, untouched slopes.

There are also artistic rock formations on site that are a sight to behold on their own without any interference needed. As such, we left them as they are, one of which – located by the entrance – we affectionately named Lion Rock, in tribute of our Hong Kong origins.

In addition, as the site was formerly a brick factory, the clay extraction had left the land with one massive pit. With respect to nature, we wanted to protect the land and let it heal itself. Over time, local rainfall naturally filled the pit, and the Lake was formed.

The southern part of the garden formed a sizable amount of dry land, where the most damage to the ecological environment took place due to long-term excessive digging by the brick factory. Meanwhile, the northern side of the garden had managed to retain a better ecological environment. With those land conditions in mind, we chose to adopt a form of restoration that would require minimal excavation, and built most of our large facilities in the south while keeping most of the north as untouched as possible.

After years of restoration efforts, egrets – a bird that has high standards when it comes to their natural habitat – chose to grace the Lake with their presence. In doing so, they provided a gratifying picture of fully restored nature, in line with traditional Chinese poetry that features egrets in the sky as a symbol of natural beauty.

The Lake was fondly named in Chinese after a college that resided in Shuanglin, the hometown of Esquel’s Chairman Marjorie Yang’s and Vice Chairman Teresa Yang’s maternal grandfather, Mr. Tsai Shengbai. A majority of the founders of the college were from the Tsai family, and it was the first college in Mr. Tsai’s hometown, built in 1869. It reminds us to uphold such important contributions to our community, and emphasizes Esquel’s devotion to Education as a significant part of our eCulture.

In a courtyard by one of Integral’s dining halls, a captivating relic rests. The 6.2-meter-long sampan, a traditional Chinese three-planked wooden boat with a long, slim shape and flat bottom, has been well-preserved since its time in the waters almost half a century ago.

This particular sampan recollects a warm, cultural connection. It was donated as a gift by the people of the town of Shuanglin to the families of Yang and Tsai, where the roots of Esquel’s founders run deep. Both families have ancestors in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with the Yang family originating from Suzhou, east of Lake Taihu, and the Tsai family hailing from Shuanglin, just across the lake on the southern shore.

Handcrafted in the 1930s, the sampan was one of many small fishing vessels on Lake Taihu that loyally served the fishermen and their families in the Jiangnan region until it retired in the 1980s.

Here at Integral, the sampan symbolizes Esquel’s journey from intimate family connections to a world-leading textile and apparel company. Though the boat may have come to rest, the spirit of venturing forth, supporting our roots, persevering, and remaining faithful continues to rise in Integral today.

At Esquel, we are committed to combating climate change as a part of our vision of Making a Difference. To us, this means more than purchasing carbon offsets.

We start with green design. With Integral, we planned to build energy-friendly elements into our buildings from the outset.

These are especially apparent in our Garment Operation building, where we have high-volume low-speed (HVLS) fans installed for more efficient air circulation. Light tubes in the roof bring sunlight onto the back of the shop floor.

Natural light is also invited in through our extensive incorporation of floor-to-ceiling glass walls across the buildings on site that people frequent the most. We use Low-E glass, which has a low-emissivity coating that helps block UV rays and provides better insulation. This results in less energy required to regulate the temperature of the workshop as well.

With no obstacles between man and nature, people taking a break from their busy schedules can connect with their natural surroundings and feel refreshed.

As we aim to reduce our carbon footprint through green thinking and design, we regulate and monitor our energy savings and consumption through an energy management system. With it, we can take advantage of real-time reports and standardized measures for swift recording of data and analysis for better efficiency.

Innovation lies at the heart of Integral, where we challenge industry norms with new takes on workplace culture, shopfloor organization and employee welfare, among other customs. We believe that for positive transformation to bloom, however, space must be created for such ideas to bud.

Our Innovation Center and Learning Center are beautiful spaces designed to stimulate the mind and encourage creative juices to flow. They provide the resources and environments for inspired discussion and brainstorming, as well as simply learning, for people at Esquel and beyond.

For different industries, Integral provides holistic solutions for events and conferences on a small to broader scale. Spacious and appropriate for conferences and showcases of fashion, technology, and other products within gorgeous, natural surroundings, Integral is much more than just a manufacturing space. The model of Integral itself is an innovation in our industry, and we desire to be the grounds in which many other industry-transforming seeds are sown.

Esquel proudly presents Silk Pavilion II from the Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab. The centerpiece of the project has been on display in the Learning Center at Integral since November 2020. Standing six meters tall and five meters wide, the silken display is a fascinating fusion of technology and biology.

Exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York earlier in 2020, Silk Pavilion II is an iconic work of Neri Oxman, award-winning architect, designer, inventor and professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab.

Going on display together for the first time ever, the kinetic jig that helped to create Silk Pavilion II joined the exhibit at Integral in 2021. Programmed to rotate in a way that facilitates the natural spinning motion of the silkworms, the kinetic jig made it possible to cause sheets to be spun naturally without having to boil cocoons. Its exhibition alongside Silk Pavilion II provides viewers with a holistic understanding of the landmark collaboration between human engineering wisdom and natural creative forces.

Through her work, Oxman offers a version of future where architecture and manufacturing can work synergistically with nature rather than dominating over it. This makes the scenic campus of Integral a perfect home to the masterpiece. It serves as a conspicuous reminder that disruptive technologies are constantly knocking on our door, and reminds us to never get complacent with the status quo.

Our Visitor Center at Integral greets guests with the striking sight of a bright wooden wall, spanning 15 meters long and 3 meters tall.

Comprised of over 1,000 wooden pieces that come in 46 distinct shapes, each piece is representative of one of the strokes that make up the Chinese characters of “Shi Ru”, the Chinese name of Integral. The name refers to the “Ten Suchnesses”, a set of traditional philosophies that encapsulates the reality of all existence. Integral was designed and built with those “Ten Suchnesses” in mind.

The fascinating interlocking construction of the wall  required no modern tool to fasten each section together. In fact, the wall holds together on construction principles based on ancient Chinese mortises and tenons.

We warmly welcome visitors to admire the interlocking pattern of the wall, which appropriately resembles a fabric pattern. Through this ornamental celebration of our Integral logo and weaving, as well as Chinese engineering and philosophy, we want guests to start their visit with a keen appetite for the stories around the garden that they are about to discover.

In Chinese, our Visitor Center is named “Sheng Bai Hall” after Chairman Marjorie Yang’s and Vice Chairman Teresa Yang’s maternal grandfather, Mr. Tsai Shengbai, who was an icon in early Chinese industrial circles.

The dyeing process in the textile and apparel industry consumes vast quantities of water and produces chemical waste from dyestuffs and auxiliaries. To reduce our impact on the environment as an industry, we are in sore need of a dyeing alternative.

Natural dyes, made from plants, clay and even insects, require less water and come with the added benefits of being sustainable and biodegradable. The art of natural dyeing has been passed down over centuries of wisdom, art and local heritage.

Since 2018, Esquel has been collaborating with the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to explore industrializing natural plant-based dyes and preserving the art of indigenous plant-derived textile dyeing, including that which produces the shade of indigo famously known as China Blue. Together, we are working to establish the very first Natural Dye Botanic Garden nation-wide, as well as a Natural Dye Plant Research and Development Center.

Guilin contains one of the richest collections of plant species. The first phase of our Natural Dye Botanic Garden, spanning an impressive 53,000 square meters, will house a wide range of diverse flora contributing to a vital gene bank of local plant species potentially used in natural dye. Meanwhile, the Natural Dye Plant Research and Development Center will develop key technologies to make plant-based dyes viable for wider research use.

It is our hope that through our preservation of biodiversity and contributions of new technology for natural dye acquisition and dyeing, visitors to our Natural Dye Botanic Garden will witness a sustainable solution that combines plant-based dyes with modern technology.

The Natural Dye Botanic Garden adopts its Chinese name, “Fragrant Hill Garden”, after the Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing’s suburbs, in respect of the business development efforts of Esquel Group founder Mr. Y. L. Yang over the years. Fragrant Hill Hotel was commissioned by Mr. Yang in the late-1970s.

Our view on the concept of sustainability starts from the very planning, design and construction of Integral. We wanted the raw materials used to construct Integral to come from local sources or recycled materials whenever possible.

For example, stretches of road curb at Integral are made of defective buttons, plastic scraps and cut-offs from our button factory, in just one instance of how we re-purposed waste.

We also upcycle the wood from crates that were initially used to transport large goods between our sites in Guilin, combining it with metal frames, glass and fabric to produce solid indoor furniture that we use in Integral, such as worktables, coffee tables and sofas.

To construct the fence surrounding Integral, we utilized all the bamboo and brick supplies that were left over from building the façade for our Spinning and Garment Operation facilities.

Wherever you look in Integral, you will find our efforts to build as sustainably as possible.

Integral is located within a lush and verdant landscape, exemplifying a harmonious co-existence between people, manufacturing, and nature in one place.

Wherever possible, we left the terrain in Integral unleveled and untouched, allowing us to pave scenic paths towards each building.

As such, our design of the paths to Integral’s buildings are deliberately made to meander a little, dotting each path with tall bamboo bushes and other greenery. For Esquelers to truly live in harmony with nature, we believe they must slow down a bit to appreciate it. Going to work should not be about rushing from point A to point B. Rather, we want their way to work to be an opportunity to absorb what nature has to offer, and to be a part of it through quiet, contemplative strolls.

It is our hope that Esquelers will never take nature for granted. Whenever they take the time to walk along Integral’s paths, the stunning and restored landscape surrounding Integral boosts their mental wellness and awareness of their surroundings.

Integral explores a very different workplace culture and design from what is typically seen in our industry. We want our employees to actively work together to solve problems as a team, rather than take an individualistic approach. We therefore look to establish a culture that encourages mutual respect and open communication.

First off, we set the production line and part of the office in the same space, eliminating the barriers normally seen between the two teams and allowing for direct access. This challenges the industry norm of distinguishing between office staff and workshop employees, allowing for a more relaxed flow of communication between them.

We have made conscious design choices to open up our workspaces physically. The large glass walls declare transparency, invite sunlight to pour in, and frame inspirational and rejuvenating backdrops for Esquelers to admire.

We also offer plenty of multi-functional breakout areas to encourage free flow of communication and flexibility. With our employees’ wellness in mind, we let Esquelers choose from different workstation configurations, encouraging Esquelers to move around. Furthermore, office supplies and refreshments are all shared and openly available for self-service.

All these factors, including the small things, add up to the atmosphere of trust and respect we are building.

At Esquel, we prioritize our employees’ wellness, both physically and mentally. Our focus extends beyond basic health and safety in the workplace. We recognize the importance of ensuring that our employees are healthy inside and out, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals for good health and well-being, as well as decent work and economic growth.

When shifting into Integral, we reduced our employees’ daily working hours by half an hour without reducing their take-home pay. We also urge our employees to spend time with their families for a healthy work-life balance. Throughout normal working hours, Esquelers are encouraged to regularly exercise to refresh and recharge themselves.

Outside of working hours, we organize a range of wellness activities for our employees to take part in, to improve their welfare and awareness of mental and physical fitness issues. Sport activities such as fun runs, basketball matches and badminton competitions create team-building opportunities while concentrating on physical health. We also arrange a health month every year, providing tai-chi and yoga classes alongside talks given by experts that educate Esquelers on healthy eating habits and mental health concerns.

We believe that happy customers are served by happy employees. We place our people at the heart of our business and do our utmost to ensure that they are well taken care of.