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CHIC Shanghai - THE MOTTO 'NEW MAKERS' BY CHIC INTERPRETS THE PROGRESSIVE CHANGE IN THE CHINESE FASHION BUSINESS Photo: JANDALI MODE.MEDIEN.MESSEN
26.06.2018

CHIC Shanghai - THE MOTTO 'NEW MAKERS' INTERPRETS THE PROGRESSIVE CHANGE IN THE CHINESE FASHION BUSINESS

  • The important trade fair platform for entry into the Chinese consumer market with China's most influential consumer group for the fashion and beauty sector with the strongest growth in consumption - the millennials - as target group
  • The international fashion showcase for decision makers with an overview of na-tional and international fashion brands
  • Strategic market development through comprehensive visitor marketing for inter-national brands at CHIC

 
CHIC, China International Fashion Fair presents around 800 exhibitors in an exhibition space of approx. 50,000 sqm (CHIC in March 100,000 sqm) in two halls from 27 to 29 September 2018 at the National Exhibition & Convention Center in Shanghai.

  • The important trade fair platform for entry into the Chinese consumer market with China's most influential consumer group for the fashion and beauty sector with the strongest growth in consumption - the millennials - as target group
  • The international fashion showcase for decision makers with an overview of na-tional and international fashion brands
  • Strategic market development through comprehensive visitor marketing for inter-national brands at CHIC

 
CHIC, China International Fashion Fair presents around 800 exhibitors in an exhibition space of approx. 50,000 sqm (CHIC in March 100,000 sqm) in two halls from 27 to 29 September 2018 at the National Exhibition & Convention Center in Shanghai.
The current conditions for international fashion companies in the Chinese market offer significant improvements for international brands. Import tariffs will be lowered from 15.9% to 7.1% to further promote the import and upgrade of the industry.  

The McKinsey study "THE `Chinese consumer´ no longer exists” defines Chinese consumers no longer as interested only in low prices, but as selective, healthconscious with diverse shopping hab-its and preferences. The fashion awareness changes to an individual sense of style, influenced by international and national trends. China's millennials are the WORLD'S most influential consumer group, with a 16% share of the population, driving consumption growth in the Chinese market and contributing more than 20% from today until 2030.  
 
According to the edition's motto "New Makers", Asia's leading fashion fair is picking up on the latest changes in the Chinese fashion market and providing the essential tools for the Chinese market. The new, young design of the fair, which was launched in March this year at CHIC, is being ex-panded. The individual sections of CHIC present the latest trends in the Chinese and international fashion market. CHIC connects and brokers partnerships and launches the new generation gar-ment industry, which builds on high-tech strategies and interlinks industrial production with modern information and communication technologies, relying on intelligent, digitally networked systems in self-organized production.

The individual fashion areas of CHIC  
FASHION JOURNEY puts the focus on interna-tional exhibitors. In addition to the large Italian pavilion, the French pavilion "Paris Forever" and the Korean show-inshow "Preview in China", in-dividual participants from Poland, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and the USA use CHIC as a bridge in the Chinese market. The next German group participation is planned for March 2019, whereby Germany will also be rep-resented with individual brands such as ESISTO in the area NEW LOOK.

IMPULSES, CHIC's designer section, features emerging designer brands such as Junne, Hua Mu Shen, King Ping, Anjaylia, Mao Mart homme, Tuffcan, etc.

The SUSTAINABILITY ZONE, first showcased at CHIC in the fall of 2017, is receiving even greater emphasis due to the increasing environmental and health awareness of Chinese consum-ers, featuring sustainable supply chain solutions, sustainable innovation and sustainable fashion collections. Programs such as Chemical Stewardship 2020, Carbon Stewardship 2020, Water Stewardship 2020 and Circular Stewardship 2020 are presented. The womenswear section NEW LOOK of CHIC presents next to the leading Chinese brands like AVRALA, and CMH also international brands like Saint James from France, ESISTO from Ger-many, Trenz Eight from Canada or PN JONE, USA.

Beside the suppliers of classic menswear, URBAN VIEW, the menswear section, also includes casualwear brands like NRDMA and SUPIN as well as bespoke companies like H. Pin& Tack, Jin Yuan Yang, Fa Lan Qian Mu, Long Sheng and DANDINGHE.
CHIC YOUNG BLOOD shows young lifestyle brands, KID'S PARADISE offers e.g the largest fashion group in China for children's fashion XTEP KIDS.

SECRET STARS (fashion accessories), SHANGHAI BAG (bags), HERITAGE (leather & fur), SUPERIOR FACTORY (ODM) and FUTURE LINK (services) complete the fashion offer at CHIC. FUTURE LINK gathers fashion service providers for among others supply chain solutions, smart retail and smart production, RFID, laser technology and data utilization.

Visitor management
On the rise in China's retail scene, multi brand and custom stores are the fastest growing offline sector. The number has increased significantly in the last five years from less than 100 to more than 5,000 stores. Exclusive shopping experiences and an individual offer are important. Custom-ers value a wide range of products: a mix of international and national exclusive brands is the most common concept.

The high investments of the CHIC organizers in the visi-tor management for the fair pay off: CHIC has a per-sonalized trade visitor database of over 200,000 con-tacts, which are used intensively for the visitor marketing in the run-up to the fair for a commercial matching for the exhibitors. At the fair, VIP match making activities will take place especially for selected international brands, that will have the opportunity to present them-selves there and make the relevant contacts in the Chi-nese trade. Meetings are organized among others with multi brand stores and buyers such as The Fashion Door, Dong Liang, Jing Dong, VIP Shop and department stores, and retailers such as Carrefour, Amazon, De-cathlon, Wang Fujing, etc. An important tool for the CHIC visitor marketing is social media; for this special programs are run, in which individual brands are pre-sented to prospective visitors.    

CHIC is visited by representatives of all distribution channels for distribution in the Chinese market, at the last event in autumn 2017 more than 65,722 visitors from all over China and other nations were registered at the CHIC, with a significant increase in multi brand stores.
 
Seminars and shows

The future of fashion business in China will be discussed in a panel of experts as part of CHIC TALKS. Furthermore, a trend seminar from WGSN for FW 2019 and a workshop on bag and shoe production from the Moda Pelle Academy are planned.

CHIC shows provide an overview of selected international brands.

CHIC is organized by Beijing Fashion Expo. Co. ltd. and China World Exhibitions, supported by China National Garment Association, The Sub-Council of Textile Industry (CCPIT) and China World Trade Center.

Photo: Pixabay
29.05.2018

ITALIAN FASHION INDUSTRY ON COURSE FOR INNOVATION

  • FOCUS ON DIGITIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Mailand (GTAI) - The Italian fashion industry is changing. The digitalization of production and the growth in online trading are forcing a rethinking in the traditional sector. The topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Against this background, Italian fashion houses are increasingly investing in their future strategies. German companies see good business opportunities as technology partners.

The Italian fashion industry is one of the core sectors of the Italian economy. In 2017, the sector increased its sales by 2.4 percent to EUR 54.1 billion, as reported the industry association Confindustria Moda. For 2018, the association expects a further increase of 2.6 percent to EUR 55.4 billion. The goal is to exceed the EUR 60 billion by 2020.

  • FOCUS ON DIGITIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Mailand (GTAI) - The Italian fashion industry is changing. The digitalization of production and the growth in online trading are forcing a rethinking in the traditional sector. The topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Against this background, Italian fashion houses are increasingly investing in their future strategies. German companies see good business opportunities as technology partners.

The Italian fashion industry is one of the core sectors of the Italian economy. In 2017, the sector increased its sales by 2.4 percent to EUR 54.1 billion, as reported the industry association Confindustria Moda. For 2018, the association expects a further increase of 2.6 percent to EUR 55.4 billion. The goal is to exceed the EUR 60 billion by 2020.

But the sector is developing inconsistently. Sales of intermediate products such as fabrics have been stagnating for years, while sales of end products such as clothing, shoes and bags are increasing. Both areas grew in 2017. End products (+2.9 percent) continue to be more successful than primary products (+2.2 percent). The main reason for the positive development of the fashion industry in recent years is the strong export demand for Italian products. In 2017 exports rose by a total of 3.5 percent and exceeded the EUR 30 billion mark for the first time.

The main export hits are clothing (one third of fashion exports), leather goods (around 20 percent) and shoes (around 18 percent), followed by fabrics (9 percent) and home textiles (9 percent). Sector representatives are concerned about developments in some important sales markets. Exports to the USA and Japan declined in 2017, the rising demand from China and Russia could not compensate these losses.

Significant rise in fashion imports
Domestic demand for fashion stagnated in 2017, while significantly more preproducts from the Far East and end products from industrialized countries were imported. Overall, imports increased by 2.2 percent to EUR 21.1 billion in 2017, Confindustria is expecting a further increase of 2.4 percent in 2018.

Germany is one of the most important markets for Italian fashion manufacturers; Italian shoes and bags are particularly popular with German customers. In return, Germany, with imports worth EUR 1.3 billion (plus 4.1 percent), ranked fourth as a supplier country in 2017, behind China, France and Spain. Clothing accounts for about half of German fashion imports and textiles for the other half. Germany is an important supplier of technical textiles, including sports goods and for the automotive industry.

Many companies strengthen their online presence  
The digitalization of the Italian industry does not stop at the fashion industry either. Thanks to the new technologies, traditional manufacturers can increasingly reach their customers directly without intermediaries.

How well this works was demonstrated by the Italian start-up company Yoox, an online luxury fashion retailer. Founded in 2000, the company merged with the French online fashion company and strong competitor Net-a-Porter in 2015. The Group is now active in 180 countries and generated sales of EUR 2.1 billion in 2017.
Many companies are strengthening their online presence and using their stores primarily as showcases to promote brands or new collections. The company Beste with the still new brand for men Monobi is an actual example. The traditional fashion houses Loro Piana and Zegna have been active in this direction already for several years.

Industry 4.0 sets impulses
Digitalization also makes new production processes possible for fashion houses. The networking of machines reduces production times, increases efficiency and reduces electricity and water consumption. In addition, manufacturers get the opportunity to offer tailormade solutions. Digitalization also ensures through just-in-time concepts that inventories and sales areas can be reduced, which leads to falling costs.

Well-known Italian fashion houses are investing heavily into the future. The luxury company Gucci has invested around EUR 100 million in a new innovation center, the so called ArtLab, in the greater Florence area. The company Beste has started two research projects in the field of Industry 4.0. The intensive research focuses on the development of new, environmentally friendly materials and the development of a digital platform for the planning, production and distribution of garments.

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a sales argument
The topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important. The National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI), for example, organizes discussion rounds on the subject. The fashion house Ferragamo has presented a sustainability plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. A new development by Ferragamo is also a sustainable fabric made from orange peels.

Gucci, Armani, Bulgari, the list of the world-famous Italian fashion companies is long. At the same time, Italy also has a large number of small and very small companies in the fashion sector. In 2017, the average number of employees in the companies was 9. Small and medium-sized com-panies also rely on sustainability.

The major Italian bank Unicredit, together with the European Investment Bank, is providing low interest loans for small and medium-sized fashion companies (up to 250 employees) for relevant investments. Similar programs are provided by the major bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

Source:

Robert Scheid, Germany Trade & Invest www.gtai.de

Rapidly growing German Fashion Export to China © Maclatz/ pixelio.de
09.02.2016

RAPIDLY GROWING GERMAN FASHION EXPORT TO CHINA

  • Volumes considerably upgradeable
  • Italy loses Top Position to North Korea

Beijing (gtai) - Chinese consumers appreciate German goods from cars to saucepan. Fashion "Made in Germany" is only now discovered. German providers benefit from the good image of their country of origin - and from the desire of the growing middle class to afford something "good". Local production usually has a rather bad reputation. However there is a lack of presence, German brand names are hardly known. Despite the high growth rates the sales potential is by far not yet exhausted.

  • Volumes considerably upgradeable
  • Italy loses Top Position to North Korea

Beijing (gtai) - Chinese consumers appreciate German goods from cars to saucepan. Fashion "Made in Germany" is only now discovered. German providers benefit from the good image of their country of origin - and from the desire of the growing middle class to afford something "good". Local production usually has a rather bad reputation. However there is a lack of presence, German brand names are hardly known. Despite the high growth rates the sales potential is by far not yet exhausted.

German Fashion in the PRC is coming: according to Chinese custom statistics in the first ten months of 2015  Chinese purchases from Germany of knitted and crocheted clothing and garments (HS-Pos. 61) rose by a whopping 31.8% and by 5.1 % in other apparel and clothing accessories (HS-Pos. 62). This is all the more remarkable because the total imports for clothes grew in the same period by 3.6% only, - and China across all sectors even recorded a stately import reduction by 15.7%.

But a sales volume of USD 5.6 million USD of a total import of products of these HS headings of USD 4.9 billion is rather negligible. In fact, German fashion brands, with a few exceptions such as Hugo Boss and Escada, are yet barely visible in the PRC. A really good positioning was reached by Adidas only.

Main delivering country for the PRC was Italy until September 2015, its highly quality textiles and clothing are greatly appreciated. It shipped in the first ten months of 2015 sector products worth USD 688.7 million. However, given the ongoing austerity and anti-corruption policy the Italian imports tend downwards significantly (-11.6% compared to the same period last year).

Luxury purchases are shifted abroad

The Shanghai Daily wrote in October 2015, Chinese luxury purchases have been shifted to abroad at two-thirds since 2012. In Paris, Milan, London, New York or Tokyo one can buy anonymously and also cheaper than on the mainland. In addition, there is a trend away from the "quasi everywhere" available "big names" to new, less known, more individual designers.

At least there seems to be a still unabated propensity abroad: For example, the Financial Services Global Blue reported an increase in tax refunds of Chinese tourists in August 2015 of 65.6% (July: + 73%) compared to the same month of the previous year.

Detached from the top position was Italy in October from Korea (Dem. P.R.) with USD 663.9 million. On the third and fourth place follow Vietnam (USD 587.5 million) and Bangladesh (USD 364.7 million). The success of these three countries is probably due to an already shifted production capacity of Chinese manufacturers, which bring their products back to China to sell them there.

Chinese imports of clothing
(in USD million, change in % compared to the previous year period)
HS-Pos. Designation 2012 2013 2014 January til
October 2015
Change
61 Apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted, coming from 1,344 1,666 2,067 1,894 9.9
  .Vietnam 87 169 242 280 39.9
  .Italy 231 267 296 226 -8.2
  .Bangladesch 63 89 144 146 20.2
  .Korea (Dem.) 67 88 119 139 34.3
  .Germany 5 2 2 2 31.8
62 Apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted from 2,664 3,141 3,559 3,034 0.1
  .Korea (Dem.VR) 373 499 622 525 -4.8
  .Italy 514 577 631 463 -11.6
  .Vietnam 154 236 310 307 18.9
  .Bangladesch 90 142 191 219 30.7
  .Germany 5 4 4 3 5.1
  Total 4,009 4,807 5,626 4,927 3.6

Source: China Customs

As in many other areas of consumer goods in the “Dress-Question” Germany does not utilize its opportunities on the Chinese market. According to sector insiders “here could happen much more" - not least because of the excellent reputation that the label "Made in Germany" enjoys among Chinese consumers.

The recommendation is - and this was repeated on the last "Chic" once again -   to see China not only as a procurement market but increasingly as a sales market too. In the words of a German leather jacket provider: "Twenty  years ago we bought leather from China, now we sell leather to China."

"Light Luxury" demanded

The "big" Italian or French brands such as Gucci, Armani or Chanel remain inaccessible for the most. Fashion "Made in Germany" can cover a niche in the medium price range that is affordable for the growing urban middle class, that also would like to buy "something international" and has come to appreciate German products from automobiles to saucepan. For them German fashion is not for luxury, but for good execution respectively processing and good material. At the same time other competitors are active in this field. In a similar notch for example, the Dutch men’s wear supplier Suitsupply abuts, which opened in Shanghai in the summer. 

Fake products are not an alternative for this clientele. In fact, the Chinese consumer does not make its decision for a German product due to the low price, but rather by the desire to acquire a piece of excellent quality. This then may cost something and stands out from the mainstream, whether through innovative materials, unusual combinations of materials, individual or humorous cuts or by a special design. Increasingly demanded are accessories such as matching belts, bags or shoes. As a micro-trend in the younger generation applies also wearing hats - and who wants to leave is going to the popular Octoberfest in a real Dirndl.

Sales price at least three times the purchase price

German manufacturers take advantage from the "demographic factor": the Chinese society is aging rapidly. Accordingly the demand is shifting away from "more funky and young" goods towards timeless, trendy-fashionable, quality orientated clothing, which then may be slightly more expensive - and it de facto also is. Experiential German import goods become more expensive due to transportation, customs and usual trading margin up to at least three times the buying price.

However, as successful niche products yes, - for the masses German goods therefore are not suitable. This may apply to lovingly designed eco-slippers as well as for trendy hats or quality handbags in a "Light-luxury segment". Not seldom the one or the other gap in the market can only be detected by local presence - so for example - each country has its own "house shoe culture", with which one must learn to deal with as a provider.

According to the experience of many exhibitors, sometimes Chinese buyers like with high standards masterfully crafted products even more than the Germans themselves. Moreover it is advantageous, to be able to offer customers next to the actual product, "a story". So it absolutely impresses, when a company is family-run by the fourth generation - or high craftsmanship can be documented with a film.