Marketing Background

Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has grown rapidly. After 2000, China's fashion industry has entered its golden age of development, and the national awareness of fashion has been significantly improved. In particular, China's footwear market, after 20 years of development, has formed a complete industrial chain and a good market environment, becoming the world's largest consumer market. Moreover, China is also the world's largest producer and consumer of textiles and clothing, with a total annual fiber consumption of about 30 million tons and a per capita fiber consumption of 22.4 kilograms. At the same time, thanks to the rapid development of China's e-commerce and omni-channel, China's online fashion penetration rate is as high as 40%, which is the top of the world, and constantly leading the global trend in new fields such as social e-commerce.

In terms of industrial chain, China has obvious advantages in manufacturing and export. In 2021, China's apparel exports already accounted for 40% of global apparel exports, with a real added value of more than 250 billion US dollars, and maintained a compound annual growth rate of 3% in the past decade. Its position as the world's largest apparel exporter is stable.

At present, the development of China's fashion industry can be divided into four stages: basic consumption, development consumption, enjoyment consumption and emotional consumption. In the current stage of emotional consumption, it has spawned a lot of diversified and ethnic aesthetic and brand, and the combination of traditional elements has become a major direction of the development of the fashion industry.

Importance of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is crucial for the subsequent development of our project. Firstly, sustainable financial support is essential for a project to thrive and progress in the long term. Through Entrepreneurship, the project can acquire funding, resources, and technological support to further research and improvements, thereby driving continuous scientific advancements. Secondly, our project is a research project centered around synthetic biology technology. Entrepreneurship and commercialization enable the translation of scientific research from the laboratory to the real world, stimulating the development of related industries, promoting employment, and facilitating technology transfer. Moreover, our project serves a philanthropic and environmental purpose, with high applicability in different countries. Its development will contribute to global environmental protection and sustainable development, advocating for worldwide environmental conservation efforts. If our project achieves successful commercialization, we will further consider promoting the implementation of more research projects, providing assistance to synthetic biology practitioners, thus fostering a virtuous cycle.

Questionnaire

In order to better understand the market demand and optimize the products, we conducted a questionnaire to understand the public's use and preference for textiles and leather. Through this survey, we hope to understand the public's needs and preferences for textile and leather products in order to better meet the public's needs and develop more promising products.

Our questionnaire covers various aspects, such as usage, brand preference, material selection, etc., to gain a comprehensive understanding of the public's demand and preference for textile and leather products.

As of August this year, we have collected more than 700 valid questionnaires, from which we have learned a lot about the use of textiles by the public. Through the analysis of these data, we can better understand the market value of our projects and optimize the project design.

The results of questionnaire analysis are as follows:

1. Regarding the use of animal and plant leather (Figure 2), we found that 73% of the respondents had used animal and plant leather, and 27% of the respondents had not used animal and plant leather.

2. For respondents who had never used leather, we asked them why they did not buy enough leather and why they did not use leather. The result is shown in Figure 3. We found that more participants believed that leather production is expensive (24%), obtaining leather will harm plants and animals (24%), there are suitable alternatives to leather (19%), and there is pollution during leather processing (14%), so they choose not to use or buy enough leather, reflecting a strong environmental protection awareness of participants. This also shows that to a certain extent, the public has a certain understanding of the environmental problems caused by leather, and there is a willingness to reduce the use of leather. Therefore, if a new environmentally friendly material produced by microorganisms can be developed to replace ordinary animal and plant leather, many people will be willing to use it. If our project is successful, many people who would otherwise choose not to buy leather because of environmental concerns may be willing to use our products.

3. For the advantages of leather materials compared with other fabrics (Figure 4), most participants chose the two reasons of good texture (42%) and good durability (34%). This shows that leather as a kind of clothing fabric, its texture, durability is generally valued by people. Therefore, this also reveals us that in the development of new microbial clothing fabrics, if we can improve its texture and durability, it will better fit the needs of consumers, if our leather texture and durability is quite good, and even achieve the effect of replacing leather, or even beyond leather.Some participants also chose to meet the pursuit of fashion (14%) and the symbol of wealth (7%) two options, it can be seen that leather in many people's hearts, is also a symbol of fashion and wealth. In fact, we can consider the new fabric produced by microorganisms as a fashion product to promote people's consumption.For the participants who chose the "other" option, some gave the following reasons: "waterproof", "breathable, comfortable", "to meet the needs of some formal occasions." This also brings us a revelation that water resistance, comfort, and formality can all be considered as the properties we need to consider in the development of new microbial fabrics.

4. As for the factors to consider when buying clothes (Figure 4), according to the results of the questionnaire, we know that there are many factors to consider when buying clothes. For the six reference directions we provided, we assigned 6-1 points according to the ranking to conduct a comprehensive score. It can be seen that the three aspects that people consider most are price, style design and performance. Among them, the price is the most concerned factor. Therefore, in the process of subsequent product development, we should try to control costs, reasonable pricing according to market demand, and in the pursuit of performance, but also take into account fashion factors.

International Interviews and Communication

Nanjing-China is a team dedicated to internationalization. In order to expand the audience for our project and explore potential international markets, members of Nanjing-China took the opportunity of overseas visits to conduct interviews and exchange activities in Manchester and Oxford in the United Kingdom, as well as Puerto Rico in the United States. By interviewing people from different countries and different ethnicities, we gained a further understanding of the concerns and expectations of people from different countries regarding microbial clothing. This laid the foundation for the future commercialization of our project.

In Manchester and Oxford in the United Kingdom, we conducted random interviews with passersby and fellow students. The interviewees came from countries such as the UK, the US, and India. We introduced the basic content of our project to them and asked them some questions related to the fashion industry. The interviewees shared their opinions on our project and expressed their expectations for certain performance improvements in cellulose or expressed concerns.

In Puerto Rico, we engaged in discussions with students from the University of Puerto Rico. We introduced synthetic biology and our project to them. They found our project very appealing. They provided us with suggestions on cost and functional implementation and wished us success in our project.

By collecting opinions on microbial material from people of different nationalities and ethnicities, we have further increased the number of feedback received and expanded the international reach of our project, making it more diverse. Additionally, this international interview experience has given us a better understanding of the current international fashion landscape and further highlighted the significance of our project.

The main takeaway from these interviews was the awareness of potential environmental pollution issues during the degradation process of microbial textiles. We hope to quantify the energy consumption required for our products, assess their market competitiveness, and determine if they truly align with sustainable development. To address this, we will further optimize our experimental plans, control production costs as much as possible, and make the price of microbial textiles no longer a factor of hesitation for consumers.

Simulation of Optimum Yield

We have found that the public's primary concern regarding our product is its price. Having lower production costs is also key to our commercial success. Therefore, our dry experiment group utilized data obtained from the gradient experiments conducted by the wet experiment group to simulate the optimal cultivation conditions and maximum yield of wood vinegar bacteria. We obtained a 3D image. Based on the results of the dry experiment, we recommend cultivating the wood vinegar bacteria for 96 hours with a glucose concentration of 33.029g/L and ethanol concentration of 0%, which yields a maximum cellulose production of 51.901 g/L. (Restriction condition: 10g/L≤[Glu]≤40g/L; 0≤[ethanol]≤2)

The results obtained from the dry experiment simulation are crucial for our commercialization efforts and will be an important part of our business plan. This outcome can guide us in scaling up our bioproduction and further reducing our production costs.

Consult with SynMetabio

For a better commercialization, we sought the help of a commercialized company to guide us on how to proceed. And we thought of SynMetabio, a company similar to our project. Derived from iGEM, SynMetabio has been highly successful in commercialization. Therefore, we wanted to learn from and emulate their commercialization model.

We were delighted to be received by Xu Huandi, the CEO of SynMetabio. During the discussion on product design, Xu emphasized that a qualified product should first have a low cost. SynMetabio guided us through their laboratory and explained their approach and methods for large-scale production of bacterial cellulose, such as using low-cost glucose as a carbon source. Secondly, the product should possess excellent properties.

When we inquired about the path to successful commercialization, Xu Huandi mentioned that we should first have our own commercialization strategy. Secondly, we should identify the target audience for our product to efficiently generate interest among potential consumers. Lastly, we should believe in the success of our project and confidently present it to potential investors. This way, we have the possibility of obtaining sponsorship and truly embarking on the commercialization journey.

For the public have concerns on biosafety on our product. We also consulted Xu on the issue of biosafety. As for how to alleviate public concerns about biosafety, we decided to use easily understandable narration mode, such as mentioning that K. xylinus can be found in common foods like kombucha.

Regarding how to commercialize our product, based on Xu's advice and our analysis of the questionnaire, we have identified the target audience for our new material as young individuals with moderate income, high acceptance of new materials, and a strong interest in environmental issues. We have also conducted some research on the current market situation for new biobased materials. Lastly, we have started focusing on patent applications and intellectual property protection, and have developed our own preliminary commercialization plan.

This visit was fruitful and we will also continue to stay in touch with SynMetabio for ongoing collaboration and communication. We look forward to meeting in Paris this year!

All Chinese Leather Exhibition

The China International Leather Exhibition (ACLE) is a significant event for the fashion industry, and also a splendid opportunity for our team`s market research and business activities in the leather industry. In 2023, the exhibition covered over 80,000 square meters and attracted more than 1,000 renowned companies from nearly 30 countries and regions. Our primary objective was to explore the leather products of both domestic and foreign companies and stay updated with the latest advancements in advanced leather technology research and development, with a focus on the commercialization of biobased leather and related technologies. We aimed to differentiate our project in the market and understand how to industrialize an emerging technology.

We attended the "Leather New Products & New Technology Session" in the morning, where professionals from six leading domestic leather companies introduced advanced leather manufacturing technologies and showcased unique and innovative new leather products. But we also note that these companies are fundamentally different from our path to commercialization. Most of the companies started as traditional leather companies within the fashion industry. They already have a series of very mature traditional leather products, but based on market competitiveness, environmental factors, product performance and other considerations, they optimize the product through new technology.

But our project is completely different. We want to develop biobased leather based on an emerging technology. But as undergraduates, it is relatively difficult to commercialize due to our lack of sufficient and specialize market research background, customer understanding and commercialization experience. Therefore, we should not be obsessed with wanting to disrupt the entire fashion industry, but should be based on our technology to promote innovation and change in the industry. For example, we can work with traditional leather companies to use their existing production chains to make our biobased leather mass-produced. In terms of commercialization, we can also cooperate with such leather manufacturers to package our products as a high-end brand of their enterprise, and design corresponding fashion pieces for young people who pursue environmental protection.

During the visit, we saw various types of leather, including traditional leather and new types such as chemical leather and bio-based leather. We noticed that these new technologies are mostly based on traditional leather production processes and still require traditional animal leather as raw materials, which may have some negative environmental impacts during processing and treatment. There are few products of the same type in our project, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for us. Due to the small number of competitors, the environmental advantage of our project can make it stand out among many products and win the favor of consumers who pursue environmental protection. However, at the same time, the market size in this field is small, how to open the market and cut into the needs of consumers, which requires us to conduct multiple rounds of customer demand analysis in the later stage, so that our products continue to approach the expectations of consumers.

In conclusion, the ACLE provided us with valuable insights into the latest advancements in leather technology research and successful experiences from different types of business within the fashion industry. We believe that our project has a promising future in the market, and we will continue to commercialize our project.

Business Outline

After interacting and learning from companies like SynMetabio and attending the All Chinese Leather Exhibition, we have formulated our team's business outline. This outline summarizes the areas of in-depth research that our team will focus on for future commercialization efforts, providing valuable guidance.

Outlook and Future Plan

Our commercialization journey is far from over. We need to further refine our business plan outline and develop a comprehensive business plan. Through our efforts in commercialization, we aim to bring our product out of the laboratory and into the hands of the public. For entrepreneurship, we are on the long road.

References

[1] McKinsey & Company. 2022 China Fashion Industry White Paper: From quantity to quality: Start a new journey for China's fashion industry[J], 2022