When the order for custom leather jewelry boxes arrived in Dongguan, the factories here relied on the hands and wisdom of the experienced masters to gradually turn the design into reality. Let’s step into the workshop and see how traditional craftsmanship and modern management are ingeniously combined.
The first step: Manual order splitting and material procurement
After receiving the order, the experienced order-following staff will carefully check the design drawing and manually disassemble the list of materials such as leather, fabric and cardboard that need to be purchased. The purchaser went straight to the Houjie Leather Market, selected the top-grain cowhide that met the softness standard by touch, and then negotiated with the fabric merchant to choose the inner lining fabric that did not fuzz. All the materials can be gathered on the same day. This is the advantage of the supplier network accumulated by Dongguan over 20 years.
Step Two: Precise cutting by an experienced cutter
The materials are sent to the cutting workshop. The cutting machine operator uses a steel die on the CNC cutting machine to accurately position the leather, and the leather parts with smooth edges are formed. When encountering complex arcs, the edges will also be manually trimmed with an arc-shaped leather cutter. (Machines cannot cut out such smooth arcs.)
Step 3: The art of glue and needle and thread
The cut components were sent to the assembly area, where a faint smell of yellow gum filled the air. More than ten female workers first sanded the seams of the leather with sandpaper and then applied eco-friendly glue. They bonded the leather main body, the inner lining fabric and the cardboard interlayer like building blocks, and at the corners, they had to press them down bit by bit with a cone. The installation of metal buckles is the most demanding of craftsmanship – a special punch must be used to chisel holes in the leather that just fit the buckle feet. If the deviation exceeds 1 millimeter, rework is required.
Step 4: The sharp eyes of the quality inspector
The finished products were sent to the quality inspection area. The quality inspector touched each stitch with his fingers and said, “The stitches here are loose. Rework!” They have a unique testing method: Drop the box from a height of one meter onto the concrete floor and listen to the sound of the lock popping open to determine whether the structure is firm. The boxes that pass the inspection will be carefully wrapped by the female workers in PP bags (which saves costs and is scratch-resistant), and then placed in the color boxes printed with the customer’s LOGO.
Step 5: Flexible logistics relay
The packed containers are transported to the logistics distribution point 3 kilometers away. Here, for shipments to Europe and America, sea containers are used, while for urgent orders, night flights at the neighboring Shenzhen Airport are taken.
