Handmade and homemade for success

Quality first

Pan has no intention of gearing up the workshop for mass production, even though new orders are flooding in to Panwallzer due mainly to its popularity on social media.

He believes producing a superior product is the right way to maintain sustainable grow. With a peak monthly sales volume of 100 to 200 sweaters, Pan wants to provide a customized service through his novel sweater designs.

"People don't buy your sweater just because it is handmade, they buy it because it is both stylish and handmade," he said.

Inspired by design brochures and fashion shows, Pan creates and upgrades his designs in summer when he is less occupied filling orders.

Yu Han, 40, a math teacher from Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, is one of Panwallzer's regular customers and has bought at least one sweater every year for the past eight years.

Yu said she initially started buying them as she liked the traditional handwork and Pan's bold designs. "Later the style improved from sweaters that just kept you warm to fashion," Yu said.

Pan said even though the bespoke sweaters were made from a design template, each was different.

"We will alter the knitting details based on a client's measurements and special needs. For instance, we sometimes change a round neck sweater into a turtleneck as it better fits one certain client," Pan explained.

Customized production isn't cheap, and the sweater prices range from 1,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan ($141 to $706) on Panwallzer's Taobao shop.

The employees are paid 200 yuan to 1,200 yuan a piece, depending on the complexity of the design and the knitting involved.