My first weeks in Shanghai

Hi everyone! Two weeks ago, I started my eight weeks internship period at Kappahl in Shanghai. Kappahl is a Swedish fast-fashion brand founded in 1953 and today their head office in located in Mölndal outside Gothenburg. However, their production is located far from Gothenburg, namely in Asia, and to be closer to their suppliers the company has several production offices on this side of the world. And as mentioned, this is where I am. I feel very excited to be in this amazing city, there are dumplings and milk tea in every corner. Workwise I couldn’t be happier, I have gotten an introduction to each department at the office, and started working in the in-house lab. Throughout these weeks, I will spend a couple of days in each department (in-house lab, merchandising, quality control, social compliance, design technicians and logistics), and in each merchandising team (heavy-knit, woven and jersey) to get an understanding of how it works being the link between the purchasing department in Sweden and the suppliers in China. I will also visit suppliers and factories. Last week we did a visit to the warehouse and the port from which most of Kappahl’s goods are shipped to Sweden. See pictures below. It was very interesting and it got a little more real to me that most products sold in Sweden have had a long journey before arriving to the stores. The goal of my internship is to get a deeper understanding of how offshoring can be executed and what it is like to work in a production office in China. I look forward to share my further leanings and experiences on the blog!