China is increasingly focusing on the domestic market. Chinese designers, who position themselves in the upper price segment, play a central role in this development. The young generation is overturning the Western notion of ‘Made in China’ and creating a ‘new Chinese wave’.
Gone are the days when ‘Made in China’ meant cheap copies and poor quality. The country is no longer just the factory of the world. China knows how to produce for luxury brands and is now making this knowledge their own.
“The derogatory aspect of ‘Made in China’ and fast fashion made people forget that China was one of the first civilizations to develop expertise in clothing,” says Jean-Loup Rebours, who runs Faxion’s Chinese fashion agency directs. “Faxion was born out of a passion for China and the country’s history, which is not well known in the West for political reasons. Namely, the ideological rivalry between China and the West, which impedes cultural exchanges. The idea of the agency is [chinesischen Designer:innen] to offer a platform that makes it easier for them to move in the Parisian scene. Above all, it’s about the language barrier, administrative challenges and the time difference,” he explains.
Today, Chinese designers are driven by a desire to make their voices heard in the West and elevate ‘Made in China’ by emphasizing Chinese craftsmanship, philosophy and arts in fashion. This happens in particular through incubators like Labelhood.
Labelhood supports the development of emerging Chinese designers
According to strategy consulting firm Eclair, quoted by Jing Daily magazine, purchasing power for luxury goods in China increased exponentially between 2011 and 2018. By 2025, China will account for about half of global spending on luxury goods, and nearly 80 percent of that spending will come from people under the age of 40. So young people are the driving force behind fashion consumption in China. At the same time, the number of companies in Shanghai has increased by an average of 30 percent per year.
Labelhood emerged from this context. The self-proclaimed cultural community brings labels and young Chinese consumers together through events, retail experiences and events. With 70 employees, Labelhood now has eight sales rooms, including a flagship store, a VIP house and various pop-ups.
Labelhood showcases talent at Shanghai Fashion Week and Youtopia Festival and operates Lab, a commercial showroom that hosted 30 brands for the Fall Winter 2022/2023 collections. As an incubator, the project also works with international B2B and B2C counterparts such as Pitti Uomo, Tomorrow Group and Machine-A.
Ruohan: Focus on craftsmanship
A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Ruohan Nie launched her eponymous brand in March 2021 during lockdown. “Although the pandemic has been a pretty depressing time, it has been an unprecedented opportunity. We had time to question ourselves and to rethink our manufacturing and creative process,” says the designer. Your biggest challenge is communication. Accustomed to Chinese channels like XiaoHongShu, Wechat, or Weibo, she finds it difficult to express the intricacies of her minimalist style in Western media, with which she is little acquainted.
For the Fall/Winter 2023 season, Ruohan Nie designed a silk fabric using a traditional Chinese technique for dyeing the silk. “We worked the fabric to give it an almost muddy feel that ties into the theme of the collection. We value craftsmanship and strive to apply it to every detail.”
At Shanghai Fashion Week SS22, Ruohan was awarded the Lane Crawford x Labelhood 2021 Scholarship and Commercial Achievement Award. Her collection has been selected to be presented at Harrods x Labelhood pop-up in London and Shanghai. The brand works with more than 40 Chinese retailers and 16 boutiques in Europe, Japan and the US. She is also part of the official Paris Fashion Week calendar and will walk the runway on March 2, 2023.
Peng Tai: From Chinese Herbology to Yin and Yang to Fashion
Since its inception in October 2016, Peng Tai has taken the five elements and ideology of Huang-Lao Taoism as its brand core, constantly experimenting with new techniques. Since 2017, the designer has dabbled in Chinese herbalism, using tinctures of plants like Galluss, Astragalus and Mugwort, which some have recommended as an anti-Covid treatment. The designer also experiments with sappan wood and gardenia to give each garment a unique color and shape.
In 2019, Peng Tai launched the ‘Medication Room’ project and set up a traditional Chinese medicine laboratory in Pan, the home of Chinese herbalism, to explore the possible links between herbal dyeing, clothing making and healing. In the same year, the brand launched its first men’s collection. For his latest collection, Peng Tai explored the philosophy of yin and yang. According to this, every organism has within itself the source of its own destruction. This is the source of movement and development.
rle: Implement textile waste in new collections
rle is a sustainable fashion brand founded in 2021 by Chinese designer Qixin (Cici) Zhang. The brand name is inspired by the word ‘rule’ (rule) without the letter ‘u’ (you), which represents the brand’s message: “To be yourself, without limits or definitions.” The Fall-Winter 2023 collection of the brand was presented at London Fashion Week on February 20th. The product range of rle includes women’s clothing, accessories and bags.
Like Peng Tai, Cici found it difficult to understand Western culture and human relationships. However, in Europe she met artists and friends whose openness inspired her to found her brand.
For her creations, she has designed a yarn made from the elements that are discarded in the manufacture of certain garments. It strives to produce no more waste. That’s why the designer is currently working on developing a machine that can convert all kinds of textile waste into a sustainable material to integrate into the production of her next collections.
Weisheng Paris and the call for a new male dress code
Taiwan-born Weisheng Wangn, a menswear designer based in Paris, aims to “break the traditional codes of masculinity by designing feminine-looking pieces for men”. He is convinced that fashion promotes self-confidence and should encourage people to be themselves and to live without prejudice and fear.
Weisheng uses European know-how for his creativity: he makes his embroidery with the Parisian workshop Safrane Cortambert, his jewelry with the jeweler Anton Heunis from Madrid. He also works with Italian feather makers. Its other materials are made in China, including a fabric made of optical fibers that is made to glow with the help of batteries. These are flexible enough to make clothes or accessories. One of his dresses went viral on Twitter and Tik Tok.
Ruirui Deng: First fashion show in Paris opened the fashion week
The time she spent at Central Saint Martins University in 2015 and the hands-on experience she gained during her internship at Burberry enabled London-based Rui Deng to launch her eponymous brand in 2021. Their design philosophy is based on the mythology of alien mermaids who come to earth to explore art and life.
All the materials used are made in China – including their signature lace featuring the brand’s motifs – and then finished in their London atelier. Although the step from China to Paris is a difficult one, Rui Deng still showed her collection in Paris at the end of February and gave the Paris fashion scene a foretaste of the luxury of tomorrow.
This article was published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ