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Shanghai Fashion Week (SHFW) is transitioning into a new era, 21 years after its founding. The Spring/Summer 2024 edition, which ran 8-16 October and featured around 100 shows and presentations, is expanding its public-facing activities as organisers seek to extend the event’s influence and reach.
The return of foreign fashion editors and buyers for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic made this season’s SHFW feel more dynamic and global than it has in years. However, domestic consumption has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and some industry insiders said attendance and order volumes were lower than expected. Buyers were also more cautious in choosing new brands.
Shanghai-based brand Icicle opened the event with a co-ed show — marking its debut at SHFW. Stella McCartney closed the week with a show and sustainability exhibition. There were the usual trade shows and showrooms: Mode Shanghai Fashion Tradeshow brought together more than 300 domestic and foreign brands. Ontimeshow, ushering in its tenth Spring/Summer ordering season, welcomed local designers.
The fashion ecosystem in Shanghai is becoming more organised and comprehensive, says Haizhen Wang, creative director of the eponymously named brand. “The development of Shanghai Fashion Week and the supporting facilities are gradually improving, giving designer brands full support,” he says.
Still, challenges persist. Brands are increasingly being forced to get back to the core of their products since customers and buyers are no longer willing to pay for “designer” elements and freshness at a time when the general health of the consumer market has not yet completely recovered post-lockdowns, industry experts say.
The role of consumers in the development of fashion trends is increasingly shifting from recipients to participants, and even leaders, as social media gradually replaces other communication channels for fashion firms. SHFW has expanded its content and activities in response, enabling communication between all stakeholders in the fashion business. This season, it teamed up with social media and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu (also known as Little Red Book) on a content creation partnership. At the time of writing, the #XiaohongshuFashionWeek group chat topic had received 80.4 million views. SHFW has also continued to work with short-form video app Douyin to launch shows in the form of live broadcasts. Users can open Douyin and search “Shanghai Fashion Week” to directly access the digital show.
Established and emerging brands brought together
The SS24 edition of SHFW was full of highlights, both from established and emerging talents. After seeing the growth of guochao [or ‘national wave’ — a recent trend focusing on the rise of brands that celebrate Chinese identity], and the frequent changes in the pandemic environment, Chinese independent designers have given more thought to the balance between commerce and creativity this season. This was evident at shows from the likes of Comme Moi, the brand founded by Chinese supermodel Lu Yan, which marked its 10th anniversary with the presentation of a 1990s-inspired collection on 10 October. The catwalk included Chinese supermodels such as Qu Ying, Qi Qi, Wang Wenqing and Tong Chenjie.
Several of the more established Chinese designers — including Susan Fang, 8ON8, Rui Zhou and Didu, opted to show in New York, London, Milan or Paris this season, to bolster their international presence. “We believe that overseas shows following the outbreak are crucial if we hope to one day establish ourselves as a major global fashion brand,” says Fang. However, Fang was among those to also hold a presentation during Shanghai Fashion Week to stay in contact with the Chinese market. Icicle, which was launched by Ye Shouzeng and Shawna Tao in 1997, gained recognition locally before expanding internationally. Today, it has stores in France and Japan.
Elsewhere, Chinese retailer Labelhood brought together 19 local brands, including established names like Linlin Chasse, Ponder.er, Fabric Qorn, and Shushu/Tong brand, as well as new talents such as Redemptive and Markgong. Labelhood doesn’t just sell clothes; it also fosters community, says Jeanine Li, head of its PR. “We aspire to bring together the new generation of Chinese design forces under the banner of ‘Chinese Design’ in order to foster the expansion of China’s fashion sector,” says Li. “By doing so, we will create a creative community that is both contemporary and Chinese, and we will all be able to share in each other’s progress.”
Challenging market conditions
One of SHFW’s strengths is the wide range of options it offers for buyers to do their ordering, including Ontimeshow, Mode, Showroom Shanghai, Shitang, Tube Showroom, Not Showroom, Autumn Showroom and many more trade fairs across the city. Mode has an exhibition space of 20,000 square metres and features more than 300 domestic and international brands. This season, it collaborated with wholesale platform Joor to provide overseas ordering services for designer labels in an effort to encourage the expansion of Chinese businesses in international markets.
Léo Guegan, a senior women’s apparel buyer from the French department retailer Printemps, made her first trip to SHFW this season. Guegan tells Vogue Business that she picks brands based on the product quality, positioning and storytelling. “The process of product selection is actually choosing brands that are consistent with our positioning, and considering how to use on-site layout and display to tell stories to consumers.”
Guegan also emphasised sustainability as another key component. Consumers are becoming more conscious while making purchases, and Printemps just introduced a new environmental label called ‘Unis vers le beau responsible’ (Uniting for good) which helps consumers to pay attention to sustainability. SHFW demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by hosting a number of activations this season, while Stella McCartney closed the event with a show and exhibition of new-gen materials.
The challenges facing emerging designers in China were laid bare this season. “We have always been open to new brands and new categories, but the number of young entrepreneurs is actually declining,” says Lin Jian, founder of the Shi Tang showroom. This is partly because the market has been saturated with commercial brands launched by large corporations.
Taking the jewellery category as an example, Yi Zhen, a buyer from Shenzhen-based brand Coink Concept, says: “The market has begun to polarise into two levels this year. Products that are too young and have a sense of design are conflicting with more low-priced brands in the market, and the impact is serious.” However, Zhen adds: “Brands that can build good brand power and understand high-end customers and their occasions are still very strong.”
“The brands with superior ordering are supported by robust supply chains and operational skills,” adds Shi Tang’s Jian.
Some attendees and exhibitors commented on low attendance and order volumes at the shows, and reported caution among buyers. Designer Wang says the current market situation is still relatively severe. He expects it to take two more quarters to slowly recover.
Shi Tang’s Jian believes there’s no need to be worried; the market is simply normalising after a spike when China’s Covid restrictions were lifted at the start of 2023. Fashion sales have been improving in the second half of the year, he adds. There were 12,000 visitors to the Shi Tang showroom during SHFW this season, up 120 per cent on last year. Around half were buyers.
Chen Tingting, founder of Autumn Showroom, was more cautious: “The overall environment is down, and our expectations for SS24 will be relatively conservative.” Still, he remains optimistic about the domestic market. “Even if the industry’s vitality has not yet fully recovered, there is still great demand for new brands with characteristics and quality. For example, the order performance of new accessories brand Le Mandorle and hat label Amiso is outstanding. In fact, this period is a great test of the new brand’s comprehensive strength.”
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