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Yuhang carves foothold in fashion industry
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NOTED Canadian designer Roze Merie Ceuvas has opened a studio in the new E-Fashion Town in the Yuhang District, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attending signing ceremonies.
“Hangzhou is my second hometown,” said Ceuvas, who has been in Hangzhou for three years.
The founder and designer of fashion brand JAC by Jacqueline Conoir, Ceuvas spends seven months a year here and the rest of her time in Canada.
“We focus on the large Chinese market, which has potential for huge growth,” she told Shanghai Daily. “The key is to stay ahead, to be different and to be a leader for others.”
For decades, “made in China” stood for inferior merchandise made with cheap labor. But that has changed. Globalization, e-commerce and the new emphasis on creativity are revolutionizing the garment industry.
One of Zhejiang Province’s pillar industry is clothing. Tongxiang County produces over 600 millions woolen sweaters every year. The city of Haining is famous for a leather shopping mall housing more than 11,000 stores. The city of Shaoxing boasts Asia’s largest textile market.
Yuhang symbolically stands in the center of the three. E-fashion Town, in Linping New Town, officially opened two weeks ago.
“It is expected to become the Milan of China in five years,” said Chen Lianhong, deputy director of Linping New Town committee. “Chinese buying power is increasing, and China is a huge fashion market. We cannot waste this opportunity.”
About four-fifths of Hangzhou fashion brands are based in the district, and thousands of clothing factories surround Yuhang.
E-Fashion Town houses designer studios, fabric suppliers, clothing stores, e-commerce agencies and art workshops.
“From the initial design idea to the production and sale of clothing, the whole process can happen here,” Chen explained.
Xiao Hong, founder and designer of fashion brand Brj just moved her studio to the town.
“I can find any resource that I need here,” she said of that decision.
The culture of Chinese clothing is also highlighted in the town. There is a museum of traditional Chinese costumes and several studios that label their fashions “original from China.”
Qiu Haisuo, art director of Hangzhou Die Ran Fashion Design Co said China’s fashion industry can no longer thrive on just intensive, cheap labor because that paradigm has shifted to southern Asian.
“Creativity needs to become our mainstay,” she said.
Designer Cheng Shiyi just returned from London to set up her Craft+ brand company in the town. Cheng designs and makes jewelry and accessories with local craftsman, including ethnic minority artisans.
“We want to show that traditional folk art can be mixed with contemporary design to produce beautiful pieces,” she said.
E-Fashion Town is keen to attract more international brands and professional talent. It offers subsidized rental space to award-winning designers. JAC by Jacqueline, for example, is operating in rent-free accommodation for three years.
To lift its profile as a magnet for fashion design, the town plans enter into cooperative agreements with the State University of New York Fashion Institute of Technology, the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in the UK and the Istituto Marangoni in Italy.
The accent here is definitely global.
Michael Wang and colleagues have established the Touch Africa Studio in the town, specializing in African fashion and handicrafts.
“We chose to locate here because of its potential to become a fashion capital in China and because preferential policies were so attractive,” said Wang.
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