Today was our first visit to China! We spent the morning at Li & Fung learning about their efforts in sustainability and their new design program for current employees. The design program filtered current employees into a year of education and training in order to prepare them for new roles in product design. It is obvious that Li & Fung invest in their employees and allow them to explore their different interests within the vast roles that Li & Fung play in the retail industry. 
After our presentations we were off to Shenzhen for a Kohl’s product presentation. In Shenzhen, we learned about the product development process including technical design, color matching, and brand management. It was especially cool to see how color is matched from across the world. It was amazing how technical the process truly is. Once we arrived back in Hong Kong we went to dinner at the Peking Garden Restaurant where we were treated to an amazing meal of Peking duck, Beggars chicken, and fresh noodles made right in front of us!
Tuesday, March 30
Today we toured PolyU. All I can say is AMAZING. We watched a fashion show in 3D, walked through a design studio where students were creating garments out of straw and other interesting materials, and saw some other technology that the school is leveraging. After our tour we ate lunch and departed for a denim mill and a sweater factory tour.
Our first factory stop was the denim mill. We walked through the entire process of what goes on at the mill. Some of these processes include hand weaving the material, washing the denim with stones, and inspecting each roll of fabric.
Next we headed to the sweater factory. It was definitely smaller than the denim mill, some very advanced technology. This factory is able to design a product in one day, and within 24 hours create the entire sweater! What impressed me the most was the company’s care for its’ workers. They hire from local struggling areas, and are very understanding of problems when arise at home. The factory manager was extremely enthusiastic about her job, and you could tell she had a positive impact on all the workers.
To finish the evening, we had another amazing dinner provided by Kohl’s!
Wednesday, March 31
Today we had the morning off to explore the city, but we ended up catching up on some sleep and packing up our room that had turned into a bit of a mess over the last few busy days.
That afternoon we flew into Shanghai and got our first glimpses of this beautiful city! We could not wait to explore more of it in the daylight. Our hotel here is GORGEOUS and we could not feel any luckier. Our corner room overlooks the city and has windows on every wall (including in the bathroom!) We ended our busy day of traveling with a delicious buffet at the hotel!
Thursday, April 1
We began today with an announcement from Jerry. He said there was good news a bad news. Good news was that we were going to be touring the city in a blimp. Bad news... APRIL FOOLS! Unfortunately, many of us were extremely excited and believed the "good news," since Kohl's has already treated us extremely well. After the news we were started our day. We visited one of Kohl's Factories. We saw how the factory receives the design, the rolls of fabric the clothing is made from, and also toured a room where workers were assembling some Apt. 9 pieces. There were lines of people each contributing to the creation of one pair of pants or a pair of shorts. The working conditions seemed to be very well at this factory, and we were both impressed with all of the work that is done there.
To end our day, we attended the Chinese Acrobat Show. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is very similar to Cirque de Solie. Kristi’s flip camera died, so we were unable to take video for you, but we would definitely recommend the show to anyone visiting the area!
Friday, April 2
Today was quite a busy day! We started our day early with a visit to the Jade Buddha, a worshipping area for Buddhists. After taking in the gorgeous scenery we got the opportunity to try some real Chinese tea! We spent the day sightseeing around Shanghai, including a visit to a garden from the Ming dynasty, and getting in as much souvenir shopping as we could. We could not have asked for a better last night in China though- we were asked to an alumni dinner with Chanchellor Martin! This was an amazing opportunity to network with former UW students now living in Shanghai. We ended our night (and our trip) with a chorus of a Badger favorite, “Varsity.”
Saturday, April 3
Although we are very sad to leave Shanghai, Kristi and I are excited to get home for Easter. Madison... Here we come!
Both of us are going into the retail industry, so it was very important for us to understand how a company like Li & Fung interacts with a retailer like Kohl's Department Store. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, and we will never forget all that we learned. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Kohl's and Li & Fung!!!!!!!!
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