By Flora Zhao

On September 11th， “China Eastern Silk Market Cup · China Fashion Design Competition” Appraisal Meeting was held in Shengze， Jiangsu Province. Nearly 700 works from 136 fashion designers participated in the fierce competition. “The event promotes lifestyle-based creative design， stimulates creativity and design to lead and drive the industry， fosters new strengths in Chinese design， meets corporate needs， and promotes industrial fashion creativity.” Some responsible people from the event introduced the significance of the contest.

From “good fabrics” to “good design & good brand”

Li Binhong， Director of China Textiles Development Center， pointed out in her speech that China Textile Information Center and China Textiles Development Center established “Fabrics China” at the beginning of this century， from the aspects of technology， fashion， quality， market and responsibility， carrying out matchmaking between the upstream and downstream industrial chain from “good fabrics” to “good design& good brand” through a series of activities， including FabricsChina Trend research and release， the establishment of China Textiles Development Center， China International Fabric Design Competition， China Ecofriendly Fabric Design Competition， “Fabrics China Innovation Exhibition”， “Fabrics China New Designer Invitational Tournament” and other activities.

“China Fashion Design Competition” adheres to the same working principle. It guides textile fabric designers and fashion designers to understand and apply fashion trends for product development and fashion design， while promoting the outstanding new products of Shengze textile enterprises， which strengthens a close connection between fabric companies and original designs based on fashion trends and market needs. She also mentioned that in the future value growth， design will become a new productivity， which is peopleoriented， open， intelligent， and sustainable.

Zhang Jianghua， Director of China Eastern Silk Market Management Committee， introduced in his speech that as an “Ancient Silk Town， Famous Textile City， and Fabric Capital”， Shengze has more than 2，500 weaving enterprises， with an annual output of 13 billion meters of fabrics（accessories）. China Eastern Silk Market， which has “Chinas No. 1 Cloth Market”， covers a variety of products including silk， garment fabrics， accessories， and home textile fabrics， industrial fabrics， textile raw materials， textile machinery and accessories， enjoying continuous sales of over 100 billion yuan in five years. In recent years， Shengze has strictly followed the requirements of high-quality development to solidly promote the transformation and upgrading of the textile industry for steady and rapid development of the economy and society. In the first half of 2018， the regional GDP was 20.073 billion yuan， and the fixed assets investment of the whole society was 3.495 billion yuan. He also pointed out that China Fashion Design Competition brought together Chinas cutting-edge fashion design talents and industrys advantageous resources.

Realizing the commercial value of fashion and creativity

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 design 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.

The competition， title sponsored by Jiangsu Wujiang China Eastern Silk Market Co.， Ltd.， 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.

Trends as the guide for innovative design and fashion ideas

The jury of this competition was judged by Li Dangqi， the former Dean and Party Secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University， and the Chairman of the 7th Council of China Fashion Association， while Qi Mei， Vice President of China Fashion Color Association， Director of the Trend Department of China Textile Information Center， and Editor-inChief of Fashion Insight， served as Deputy Director of the judges. Agnes Kubiak， Partner and Creative Director of Style-Vision Asia， Bian Xiangyang， Professor& Doctoral Adviser of Donghua University， Li Jun， Executive Vice President and Associate Professor of Shanghai International Fashion and Creative College， Donghua University， Wu Xuekai， General Manager and Design Director of Shanghai Biaoding Garment Co.， Ltd. & Jinding Award Designer， and Zeng Fengfei， Design Director of Xiamen Fengfei Fashion Design Co.， Ltd. & Jinding Award Designer， served as judges.

Trends and market demand lead creative design， which is the core concepts advocated in China Fashion Design Competition. At the meeting， Ms. Qi Mei made a professional interpretation of “Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W” published by China Textile Information Center. With “unbounded” as the core concept， she elaborated on the comprehensive in-depth analysis of the frontiers of the trend and the multi-dimensionality of the consumer market in terms of “INNOVATIVE”，“COMPATIBLE” ， and “INDIVIDUAL”， providing direction suggestions for creative design， and also providing a professional and scientific evaluation basis for the competition evaluation.

It can be seen that the entries were creatively interpreted and designed in the three themes of “Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W”. Design innovation， per- formance， system， and marketability are important factors for the judges to evaluate the design works. The judges said that they attached great importance to the originality of the work as well as the understanding and grasp of fabric trends. In addition， the application of the design elements and the comprehensive expression of the application in fabrics， colors， patterns and crafts， the coordination of the overall collocation of the garments and the integrity of the styling and visual expression， and the balance between the design and the commercial as well as the practicality， commercial value and market potential of the garments， are also important criteria for the judges in evaluation.

Liu Zhaoxiang， Director of the Industrial Cooperation Department of China Textile Information Center， said that the purpose of the event is to promote the interconnection between fashion designers and Shengze textile fabric industry clusters and enterprises， with the research results of “Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W” as the core. It aims to help fashion designers to establish and optimize fabric supplier channels and resources to support their creative design. Also， it is to build a pragmatic and efficient communication platform between Shengze textile fabric industry cluster & enterprises and fashion designers for more cooperation and win-win.

The shortlisted designers will meet in October for final competition

The competition has set up gold， silver and bronze medals， and the total prize money is 240，000 yuan. After a comprehensive assessment， the jury selected 10 outstanding finalists. It is reported that the finalists will participate in the professional matchmaking activities with Shengze enterprises， and together with the excellent fabric companies of Shengze， they will make garments on the design theme and enter the finals held in the fifth Jiangsu （Shengze） Textile Expo in October. 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 Appraisal Meeting of China Fashion Design Competition raised the curtain of the series of fashion events in October in Shengze. At that time， the finals of the competition will be held together with “100 Designers to Shengze”， “Fabrics China Trend 2019/20 A/W Static Exhibition”，“French Fashion Brand Show” and other series of fashion events in the same period.