The Billionaire Supplier To Nike, Uniqlo, Adidas And Puma

The textile industry not long ago found much of its growth in traditional apparel like dress shirts and other work garb. These days changes in the way footwear is made and the popularity of sportswear are stitching new opportunities. A big winner is Shenzhou International, one of China’s largest exporters of fabric and garments, and its chairman, Ma Jianrong. A former factory worker, Ma is worth an estimated $4.3 billion, ranking No. 39. Shenzhou, which went public in Hong Kong in 2005, has over the years quietly turned itself into the largest integrated knitwear maker in the world. It was on Forbes Asia’s Fab 50 companies this year. Sales in the first six months of the year increased by a quarter to exceed $1 billion. The company has notched significant percentages of big brands’ apparel procurement: 12% of Nike, 12% of Adidas, 14% of Uniqlo and 30% of Puma. In a September report, Citibank predicted those figures will increase by three to five percentage points by 2020. Steady business has helped to lift its stock by more than 40% in the past year. Read more at Forbes.