Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co., Ltd is a Chinese textiles and clothing company. Founded in 1972 in

Jining Jining () is a former capital of Shandong. Is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the no ...

, China, it is a subsidiary of Jining Ruyi Investment Co., Ltd. As of 2017, Ruyi Group was the largest textile manufacturer in China. It owns or part-owns brands including

Aquascutum Aquascutum is a British heritage luxury fashion house that designs, licences and distributes ready to wear and accessories. It is owned by Shandong Ruyi. History Beginnings Aquascutum was established in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition ...

, and Renown Inc. and has expressed ambitions to become the Chinese equivalent of

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding company and conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods and has its headquarters in Paris, France. The company was formed in 1987 through the ...

History

1972–2000

The company was founded in 1972, and was formerly known as Shandong Jining Woolen Mill, and is based in Jining, China. It is a subsidiary of Jining Ruyi Investment Co., Ltd. Future chair Qiu Yafu became vice president in late 1992 of Shandong Ruyi Woolen Textiles Group Co Ltd, and president in late 1996. In late 1997 he then became chairman and president, roles he held until 2002.

2001–2016

Shandong Ruyi was founded as is in 2001."Shandong Ruyi furthers global dreams with Bally buy"
Zhu Wenqian in Beijing and Ju Chuanjiang, ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' ( zh, s=中国日报, p=Zhōngguó Rìbào) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any ...

'', February 14, 2018 Qiu Yafu was chairman and president of Shandong Ruyi Science & Technology Group from August 2002 until August 2008, when he became only chairman."Yafu Qiu"
''Bloomberg'' He is also currently president of Shandong Ruyi Woolen Textiles Group Co Ltd. In 2010, it purchased a 41 percent stake in Renown Inc., a Japanese apparel maker, for $36.8 million, becoming its largest stakeholder. As of 2016, it also owned Hong Kong-based menswear group Trinity. Trinity Ltd was purchased for $283.88 million. In December 2016,

, a British luxury clothing manufacturer, was due to be sold for $120m (£97m) to two buyers, one of which was Shandong Ruyi. It was sold to Shandong Ruyi for $117 million. As of 2016, Shandong Ruyi owned the French company

SMCP Sperm mitochondrial-associated cysteine-rich protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SMCP'' gene. Function Sperm mitochondria differ in morphology and subcellular localization from those of somatic cells. They are elongated, f ...

, owner of fashion brands

Sandro Sandro is an Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, Georgian and Croatian given name, often a diminutive of Alessandro or Alexander. It is also a surname. Sandro may refer to: Given name or nickname Sports * Sandro (footballer, born 1973), Braz ...

, and Claudie Pierlot. It purchased the majority stake in SMCP in 2016 for £1.15 billion after six months of negotiations."China's Shandong Ruyi says it will take over French fashion firm SMCP"

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, March 31, 2016 SMCP CEO Daniel Lalonde said that the investment would fund SMCP's growth overseas, particularly in Asia."K.K.R. Selling Stake in the Fashion Group SMCP to Shandong Ruyi of China"
Elizabeth Paton, ''The New York Times'', April 1, 2016 SMCP was then taken public in 2017, with Shandong Ruyi maintaining its stake.

2017–2020

In November 2017, the company offered to buy a 54% controlling stake of menswear supplier Bagir for $16.5 million, due to complete on 31 August 2018. In February 2018, Shandong Ruyi acquired a majority stake in the Swiss luxury fashion brand Bally from its parent company

JAB Holding Company JAB Holding Company S.à r.l. (JAB or Joh. A. Benckiser) is a German conglomerate, headquartered in Luxembourg, that includes investments in companies operating in the areas of consumer goods, coffee, luxury fashion, animal health, and fast food, ...

for an undisclosed sum. The closing of the operation is still suspended, however, since more than one year. At the time, Yafu Qiu was chairman of Shandong Ruyi Group. As of February 2018, British billionaire

Sir Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 20 ...

was considering selling his Arcadia company to Shandong Ruyi. As of 2017, Ruyi Group was the largest textile manufacturer in China."Cotton woos Chinese textile giant to Arkansas"
America.gov As of 2018, it was also in the top 20 in terms of revenues for luxury fashion groups. In 2019, it acquired

Invista Invista (stylized as INVISTA) is a fiber, resin, and intermediates company headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It has about 10,000 employees in over 20 countries worldwide. The predecessor DuPont Textiles and Interiors was formed fro ...

's Apparels & Advanced Textiles business for an undisclosed amount said to exceed $2 billion, adding products such as

Lycra Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (physics), elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont. Name The name ''spandex'', which ...

and Coolmax to its portfolio. The acquired business operates under the name of The Lycra Company. However, in 2022 ownership of The Lycra Company was transferred to an equity group that provided funds for its acquisition, after Shandong Ruyi defaulted on loan repayment terms. In 2020 Ruyi struggled because of debt and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Operations

As of 2018, most of its business was concentrated in the clothing industrial chain, including supplying yarn, fabric, raw materials, dying, weaving, sewing and production. The company has operations in China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy. In 2017, Shandong Ruyi Technology Group said it would renovate a former television factory in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

into its first facility in North America, in a $410 million project."Chinese textile firm hiring up to 800 in east Arkansas"
Fox News, Associated Press, May 10, 2017 It was expected that Ruyi would absorb "almost all the cotton produced by Arkansas annually."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Chinese fashion Chinese companies established in 1972 Companies based in Jining Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Clothing companies established in 1972 Textile companies of China Clothing manufacturers