【正文】
r girls, which she had started in 2020. Her pany designed, manufactured and promoted the clothes, which were sold through a work of Miss de Mode retailers. Sales had grown quickly, with the number of stores increasing from 30 to 107 in just two years. At the start of 2020, all the retailers asked Ms Wu to increase output. “They told me this fall/winter season is going to be very good ... But when the [financial crisis] struck, they abandoned more than half of their order,” she says. Most of the stores reneged on their contract to buy more products. Ms Wu could not sue each retailer, but she also could not sell the clothes anywhere else as she had no other sales outlet. She had to swallow the loss, representing Rmb12m that year, while sales continued to slow. It was a rude awakening for Ms Wu. Creditors started calling at the pany’s offices. An entrepreneur from the city of Wenzhou, where her brand was popular, offered to buy the Miss de Mode brand and her stock for Rmb2m. Take the deal, her mother urged – at least she could recoup some of her original investment. “But this brand is like my child. I couldn’t possibly give it up,” says Ms Wu. Many of her 30 staff were supportive. One even suggested that she pay the workers shenghuofei – basic living costs – for two months, but Ms Wu felt it was vital to maintain salaries. However, she did accept a loan from her office assistant, who refinanced her apartment to help Ms Wu pay outstanding bills. With that and by refinancing two of her own apartments, Ms Wu raised to stave off creditors. She did not bother to ask the banks. “It’s almost impossible for small, private businesses to get a loan in China, unless you have guanxi [connections],” she explains. With sluggish cash flow and a pile of unsold stock, Ms Wu had to find another sales outlet fast. Luckily, , the Chinese emerce site, had just launched Taobao Mall. She was already familiar with the group: in fact, it was Taobao that had inadvertently p