Frontline of Taobao Maker Festival 2020｜Chinese Girl makes popular Han-styled pet apparel for cats

Reported by Ivy Yu in Hangzhou, Edited and translated by Hao Li

What does it feel like to turn a hobby into a job? Doing what you like while earning a good income is probably the common ideal life for young people born after the 1990s. In Changsha, Hunan Province, Qiu Qiao, a girl born in 1994, is the role model of many people. Her brand "Chunfeng Daxiaoqiao" is a Taobao shop that specializes in creating fashionable Han-styled pet apparel, focusing on putting exquisite Han-style clothes on cats. In less than a year, her shop's monthly turnover exceeded 70,000 RMB.

Qiu's family is from Hunan, where they run a small garment factory. Since childhood, Qiu has been exposed to all kinds of clothes and fabrics, and what she loved to do most was to make clothes for her dolls. Qiu's love for traditional Chinese culture gave her the idea to make a traditional Chinese costume (Hanfu) for her pet cat Liuliu.

In May 2019, Qiu quit her job and returned to Changsha, to start her Hanfu business. From design to choosing fabrics and accessories, Qiu did it all herself. "I wanted to do just what everyone else was doing differently to make original pet products," Qiu said.

With the help of her mother, Qiu's Taobao shop was officially launched after three months of continuous attempts. One week after the store opened, Qiu shelved four items, without promotion or publicity, one customer immediately took all four pieces.

Qiu told reporters that Liuliu is the first employee of the store. Before designing each piece of clothing, Liuliu takes part in the fitting, and then Qiu adjusts the pattern according to what Liuliu is wearing. In return, Liuliu gets not only delicious dried fish but also a set of all the beautiful clothes in the shop. Now, Liuliu may be one of the cats with the most elegant outfits in China.

One year after opening, Qiu's Taobao store has more than 16,000 fans, and she also won the Innovation Award at the 2020 Taobao Jiyoujia Merchant Conference. "Taobao provides a great platform for the younger generation to turn their hobbies into careers through a new work model," Qiu said.

In the future, Qiu wants her products to be known by more people and even go out of the country so that people around the world can love Hanfu. She hopes each cat can live an exquisite and beautiful life.