By Flora Zhao

Recently， the “China Eastern Silk Market Cup · China Fashion Design Competition” （hereinafter referred to as the competition）， a businessoriented fashion event settled in Shengze and focusing on cutting-edge design， has been officially launched， announcing that after the collection， preliminary evaluation and matchmaking meeting in August and September， the competition will be held in October at the 5th Jiangsu （Shengze） Textile Expo， and the results of the competition will be condensed in the“Silk Fashion Show” to be part of “China Fashion Week”.

At the same time， “100 Designers to Shengze” will be held from August to September， while “Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W Static Exhibition”， “French Fashion Brand Show” and other series of fashion events will come to Shengze in the same period in October. The competition is guided by China National Textile and Apparel Council， and jointly sponsored by China Textile Information Center， China Textiles Development Center， and the Peoples Government of Shengze Town， Wujiang District， Suzhou City， Jiangsu Province. It is specially supported by China Fashion Association and China Eastern Silk Market Management Committee.

To create a new label for the era

Shengze has been engaged in silk industry since ancient times. Today， Shengze has developed into a leading production， trading and export base for silk and chemical fiber textiles in the country and even the world.

According to the relevant person in charge of the competition， “The above-mentioned series of fashion activities are rooted in Shengzes huge textile industry foundation， with “culture， design， fashion and green” as the core， aiming to strengthen a new label for the era - “Culture Shengze ·Fashion Shengze”.

“The event will be guided by fashion trends， focusing on product development， guiding enterprises to continuously optimize and improve product development processes， and combining resource integration and technical services to link upstream and downstream to promote collaborative development. At the same time， it will promote lifestyle-based creative design and play the role of creativity and design in the industrys leading and driving， cultivating Chinas design force. Based on the professional activities and the industrial cluster platform， it will meet the needs of enterprises to improve industrial fashion creativity， and lead the transformation and upgrading of the national textile industry with Shengze as a benchmark.”The relevant person from the organizers said.

Inheriting the originality， enabling from fashion

It is introduced that “China Eastern Silk Market Cup · China Fashion Design Competition” is title sponsored by Jiangsu Wujiang China Eastern Silk Market Co.， Ltd.， and will select outstanding designers with independent brands at home and abroad to collect designs that meet the requirements of the latest trends. The competition will last for nearly three months from collection， to preliminary evaluation， matchmaking， show finals and awards， and participation in China Fashion Week. Among them， the initial evaluation from August to September will select 10 outstanding designers to participate in the matchmaking meeting with Shengze enterprises， and cooperate with Shengze fabrics companies to make custom-made garments to participate in the finals. After that， in the final show in October， there will be a fierce competition for six grand prizes. The winners will join hands with Shengze enterprises to participate in the “Silk Fashion Show” held during China Fashion Week in Beijing at the end of October.

The competition， themed on “Inheriting Originality， Blooming Fashion”， and with “Fabrics China 2019/20 A/W” published by China Textile Information Center and China Textiles Development Center as the core， advocates trend-oriented product development and fashion design. The aim is to promote “Fabrics China” and strengthen the close connection between Shengze pioneer fabrics companies and original de-sign based on fashion trends and market demand， promote the two-way commercial value of fashion and creativity， and realize mutual benefit and collaborative innovation between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

It is reported that the “100 Designers to Shengze” event held in conjunction with the competition will organize 100 outstanding fashion designers to go to Shengze and conduct professional communication and procurement matchmaking with the excellent fabric companies there.

“Silk Fashion Show” will fully demonstrate the industrial development imagination space and value re-creation brought by “Shengze Manufacturing”， “Shengze Design” and “Shengze Fashion” which are culturally empowered， showing the design style of brands and the innovative charm of Shengze fabrics.

Green design and green manufacturing create new space for development

The“Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W” will be held in Shengze during October 17th - 19th， and will present more than 600 innovative fabrics and eco-friendly fabrics from domestic excellent textile companies through creative static exhibition.

In recent years， Shengze has been attaching great importance to the responsibility of green raw materials， green design， green production and recycling applications， promoting the establishment of a responsible R&D; system， procurement system， production system and logistics system to enhance the sustainable development capability.

Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one

In the process of industrialization and modernization， various countries have formed their own design culture with distinct characteristics， complete system and stable inheritance. To become a “textile power”， Chinas textile industry is required to use the pioneer industry cluster as an important experimental window， focusing on cultivating the innovative design culture with strong recognition and independent soul， with traditional characteristics of Chinese culture， the industrial characteristics of industry culture， and the resource characteristics of regional culture. Meanwhile， under the new pattern of advocating globalization and open- ing up， we need to learn from each other and be inclusive， and lead new development with fashion.

As we all know， the French culture and art are of profound foundation， and it has given birth to a romantic and elegant fashion design culture. In October，“French Fashion Brand Show” will invite the French fashion brand Myriam ROUAH to launch the new collections in Shengze. Myriam ROUAH is a Parisian Haute Couture brand. Myriam， a representative of French independent designers who has always brought amazing design works for 10 years， was awarded the title of “Independent Outstanding Entrepreneur” by the French government.

Shengze， the famous “Ancient Silk Town， Textile City， and Fabric Capital”， now has a capacity of 3.25 million tons of spinning， 12 billion meters of weaving capacity， and 3 billion meters of printing and finishing capacity. It owns well-known large-scale textile enterprise groups such as Hengli， Shenghong， Yingxiang and Fuhua， and has listed companies such as China Eastern Silk Market， Nanjidianshang Group， Huajia Silk， Chuxing Fashion as well as the NEEQ listed companies.

After more than 30 years of development， China Eastern Silk Market in Shengze Town has become the national foreign trade transformation and upgrading demonstration base and the national integrity demonstration market. It has gathered more than 6，800 silk textile firms across the country and operates more than 10 major categories and thousands of varieties of textiles. In 2017， the market transaction volume reached 117.3 billion yuan， exceeding 100 billion yuan for five consecutive years. At present， Shengze Textile Industry has initially formed an industrial chain from silk spinning， chemical fiber spinning， weaving， dyeing and printing， textile deep processing to garment products， and an integrated system integrating R&D;， production， marketing， logistics and service. It has become the main production base， export base and product distribution center of silk textiles in China， and is moving towards building the largest and world-famous silk textile production base in China.