The chinese fashion for many years it has been associated with poor quality clothing and imitation brand clothing, the truth is that, although there is a large market with these characteristics, the fashion industry in the Asian giant is a benchmark for the world , since many companies and designers take their trends as references. But how much of Chinese fashion is trend or imitation? Join us to learn a little more about it.
In recent times, Chinese society has been changing behavior schemes before the market, it has become more demanding, it spends and invests in fashion and that has caused the way of conceiving it to change, for which greater importance is being given to the quality of design, materials and accessories.
Due to this series of changes in Chinese fashion, different countries around the world have significantly valued the new model, its conception of the market, the quality of its products and the way how to trace its marketing strategies, becoming a key factor in the economy of some countries and not only for the most accessible prices but for the quality of their designs, fabrics, materials and accessories, which have positioned many designers and brands in the majestic world of fashion.
In this sense, the chinese fashion has gone from being identified by imitation to being recognized for its quality designs, thanks to a group of promising young people who went to the West to study fashion and returned to China to set up their own workshop, bringing with them new ideas, different styles, materials and trends, which they have been able to combine with existing ones to impose the forefront of their designs and quality.
Thus, when these designers finish their studies, they have the opportunity to work in important fashion studios in different western cities, which allows them to get to know the western market better and more closely, thus converging between two currents that have made it possible to diversify chinese fashion. Some of these designers also have the opportunity to participate in the preparation of the collections in important international fashion shows, such as Fashion Week in Paris, New York or Milan. This also provides them with learning, prestige and convening power.
In this way, Western companies frequently seek the services of Chinese marketing agencies specialized in the Asian market to sell their products, and Chinese consumer behavior is studied in detail to know how to reach it. This is where Chinese millennials play a key role, thanks to their massive use of cell phones to shop and interact with KOLs (“Key opinion leader”, or more commonly known as influencers), and to browse and share all their acquisitions on Chinese social networks such as Weibo, WeChat, Youku, QQ, Renren, among others.
It is important to point out that in China there are different organizations that support local design in different cities, such as “Dongliang” or “PMQ”, which represent the fashion centers that value and support the emerging and entrepreneurial national design, and contribute creative and productive ideas for the evolution of the fashion sector in this Asian giant, with the firm objectives of strengthening not only the local market but also international.
These organizations offer new talents the opportunity to show their designs through different events and exhibitions in the country, they guide them in relation to market strategies, business organization, among other aspects of vital importance within the company of the fashion, encouraging them to sell their clothes and offering rentals or studios at more affordable prices, among other benefits.
It should be noted that some of the best-known Chinese designers began in this type of centers located in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong, among others. However, other cities are also becoming important fashion centers, such as Miañen. Big cities present many advantages, but also drawbacks to creative minds. On the one hand, they facilitate connections in the fashion sector and greater visibility of their creations, but, on the other hand, factors such as pollution, crowds of people, crowds of cars, among other factors, are not the conditions best for inspiration.
This is causing many talents to prefer to find this inspiration in other places and thus establish their fashion studios in quieter, cheaper cities that are equally well connected to the big cities. This is how world-renowned designers emerge, such as: Helen Lee, MashaMa, GuoPei and Angel Chen, who are just some of the best-known names in the international Chinese fashion scene.
Although many of these designers sell their collections in online stores, in physical stores or in so-called pop up stores (temporary exhibition and sale of articles in certain stores and fashion centers in different cities around the world), on many occasions its design begins to be discovered through celebrities such as Rihanna, who wore a spectacular GuoPei design at the 2015 Met Gala.
Another very famous Chinese designer is MashaMa, who began her steps in the world of fashion studying at the Central Saint Martins school in London, presenting her designs at Paris Fashion Week, and drawing the attention of artists such as Lady Gaga, who wore his designs on several occasions.
For her part, Angel Chen is a young designer born from the Dongliang project mentioned above, who is considered one of the best young talents, to the point that every year she exhibits her collections on the catwalks of Paris or Milan.
Furthermore, when it comes to the most famous catwalks in the world, not only the western ones have international fame, since Shanghai Fashion Week has also become a world reference in the sector. In this way, famous brands such as Chanel do not hesitate to present their collections in China or hold world-famous events such as the Victoria’s Secret Angels parade, held in November 2017.
For its part, the great cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong has become one of the main gateways between China and the West, because it is a large modern city with a large foreign population, and is located at a strategic point from the economic and logistic point of view in the Asian geography.
With all this development and evolution, the chinese fashion has left behind paradigms that have labeled their designs as simple cheap and low-quality imitations, imposing a style that mixes the local with international trends.