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Shanghai Fashion Week’s (SHFW) Spring/Summer 2026 edition signals a new stage of growth for the event. The provisional schedule, released on Monday, features an expanded line-up of global names alongside homegrown labels celebrating anniversaries.
Running from 9 to 16 October, this season will feature more than 100 shows, slightly exceeding last year’s count. Trade show Ontimeshow and showrooms including Tube, Lab and Not will continue their participation. SHFW’s own trade show, Mode, will also return.
But challenges remain: independent designers still struggle to convert cultural cachet into commercial relevance, while the broader luxury and fashion market continues to face headwinds from a sluggish economic recovery. The SS26 schedule, however, does underscore Shanghai’s ambition to be both a launchpad for Asian talent and a proving ground for China’s creative power.
This season marks significant anniversaries for independent Chinese designers who have grown alongside the fashion week’s rise. Labelhood, an incubator platform launched in 2016, celebrates its 20th season. Homegrown labels such as Shushu/Tong, Xu Zhi, Mark Gong and Yirantian are each commemorating the 10-year milestone with runway shows. This season, SHFW will also debut the Shanghai Fashion Designers Association (SFDA) New Wave Awards, an initiative spotlighting the next generation of creative directors, coupled with an evening gala to strengthen the industry network.
The schedule also introduces several international names making their Chinese runway debuts. Seoul-based Eenk and sustainability-focused New York label Climate Project are set to present collections, alongside Vietnamese designer Thanh Huong Bui, highlighting the city’s growing role as a platform for budding Asian talent.
Adidas will stage a headline show celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Creation Centre Shanghai (CCS), a hyper-localised product creation hub, which focuses on developing unique products for the Chinese market by collaborating with local designers and brands, and empowering emerging local talent through programmes. The show will exclusively feature products designed in China.
Alongside first-time debuts and local milestones, long-time partners are reaffirming their commitments to SHFW. French luxury brand Kering will host the fourth edition of its Kering Generation Awards, which identify promising changemaking startups and technologies in China that have the potential to challenge the current value chain. Harrods returns for the sixth year with its fashion forum; and H&M will unveil its second collaboration on 9 October, following its first with Chinese label Garçon by Garçon last year.
Commercially, organisers say they are seeing renewed momentum from international buyers. Department store Masahiro Koishikawa from Japan and Chalhoub Group, the Middle East’s largest luxury retail operator, will attend this season, signalling growing appetite for Chinese and regional designers alike. According to the organising committee, the proportion of international buyer participation has returned to pre-pandemic levels, reaffirming Shanghai’s position as an increasingly important stop on the global buying calendar.
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