"Nearly 1,213 exhibitors, of 400 from 21 nations and regions outside China, presented their new collections from March 15-17, at CHIC Shanghai (Spring), Asia’s leading fashion trade show. CHIC covered 107,200 sq. mt. area at the National Exhibition & Convention Centre, Shangahi. And 108,164 trade visitors registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, increasingly multi-brand stores, etc."
Nearly 1,213 exhibitors, of 400 from 21 nations and regions outside China, presented their new collections from March 15-17, at CHIC Shanghai (Spring), Asia’s leading fashion trade show. CHIC covered 107,200 sq. mt. area at the National Exhibition & Convention Centre, Shangahi. And 108,164 trade visitors registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, increasingly multi-brand stores, etc. Special focus was given to innovations and inspiration. To be different’ – looking different than others remains one of the most important claims for the fashion conscious Chinese consumers.
Chen Depend, Head of CHIC and President of China National Garment Association, explains, “Prime importance in the fashion & textile industry is given to technical developments, also in the view of increasing labour costs. New designs increase demand and incite desire; fashion enriches cultural diversity. A special demand is also given to ecological fashion with high fashion level. And lastly, no more brand image defines the success, but the combination and relationship of individual design, quality and price.”
Growing China’s retail expanse
The retail market in China is still growing. In 2016, the market noted an increase of 6.8 per cent in stationary trade and even 18.6 per cent in online shopping compared to the last year. For 2017, growth is pegged at 10 per cent. CHIC registered this year many department stores, which have expanded to China such as House of Fraser or the Greek Folli Folli New Concept Store Hong Kong.
New products’, satisfied exhibitors
Special interest registered the company Saint Andrew who presented innovation via intelligent clouds. This new system enables customers to develop their own style and have it afterwards produced as individual piece. As in the past, Turkey participated in Heritage (leatherwear section) and presented its high-end leatherwear, fur and shoe companies. A new performance was given by an international leather handbags exhibition where around 40 exhibitors showed their new collections. Among them were Calvin Klein, Hello Kitty, National Geographic, Travelbox.
Surely the exhibitors were a happy lot as Roby Spernanzoni, Owner, Spernanzoni Srl, Italy pointed out, “Chic is the only fashion fair that we participate in China as we regard it a valuable event and an effective way to access the Chinese market. This is our sixth time to join this fair. This year we found the Chinese market is changing. More and more Chinese clients are searching products at high quality regardless the fame of the brand and are more willing to insert some brands with good products even the brand names are not so familiar to the Chinese consumers. The arrangement of the runway show is a very nice approach to increase the visibility of our goods. After six editions' participation, we still believe the Chic Show will assist our brands to know more and manage better in this potential market.” In the same vein, Stefano De Angelis, Calzaturificio Giovanni Fabiani Srl, Italy, said, “All of Giovanni Fabiani’s know-how on the femininity front has been pured into the contemporary collection for next Fall/Winter at CHIC, the most influential and professional fair in China. We collected during the CHIC Spring edition a great feedback from the customers and the Chinese operators especially for our quality supply and the high level of the presentation of our F/W collection.”
Messe Offenbach, Arnd Hinrich Kappe, CEO, ILM, Germany, shared, they made good new contacts with retailers at CHIC. Global attendance at ILM is growing through international presentations like this. Javier Roca, Owner, Jose Roca, Spain, informed, “It is second time at CHIC and we made many contacts we have to follow-up after the fair. Our location is very good, how we proceed will depend on the result of this time’s participation.”
Ginning Wu, ing Brand Management, Distributor China, Amazonas, Brazil, said, “We made contacts to new clients this time again and received good orders. We find at CHIC a good mix of fashion people visiting of all distribution channels, offline and online. We will come back again in October.” Six times participant, Raymond Lam, Owner, Vendula London, UK, said, “It’s being a great show for us, we received very positive response. Many of our old clients came and we made numerous contacts to new customers like House of Fraser or Wanda Plaza. In October, we will be back at CHIC again.”
Sanikai, a young Swiss designer label of vegan designer Sanaa Akaaouf remarked, “Coming to China through CHIC was a very big step for us and we are proud that we realized it this time. We received a lot of contacts from all over China, as well from Singapore and Malaysia. We do see it as well as a kind of mission to introduce our PET collection to China and want to contribute to a change of mind in one of the world’s biggest consumer markets. We noted a very big interest in our ecological fashion.”
Special Activities during CHIC
CHIC as service platform assists international participants by realizing special activities such as match-makings. The China Fashion Business Forum (Spring) devoted its topics to optimizing supply chains and accessing to cloud-intelligent manufacturing. But also trend seminars belonged to the program. A special highlight was the 25 brand fashion shows which enabled visitors to get an overall idea on new brands and new trends. At the same time and same location further trade shows took place: Intertextile, China International Trade Fair for Textiles and Accessories, Yarn Expo and PH Value. This parallelism is possible due to the enormous size of the fairground with over 400,000 sq. mt. indoor. The next show is slated to held from October 2017, 11-13.
