Shanghai Fashion Week to 'bloom the spring'

The AW2021 Shanghai Fashion Week and related events are to be launched in April aiming to "bloom the spring.”

This season of Shanghai Fashion Week will launch offline activities and interact with the public online through Internet smart technology, on the basis of strict implementation of epidemic prevention and control. 

Catwalk presentations, the major part of the fashion week, will be held from April 6. 

Over a hundred new collections of men’s and women’s wear, children’s wear and formal wear will make their debut during the event at several fashion and art landmarks in Shanghai, such as Xintiandi, Tank Shanghai, Jing'an Kerry Center and 800SHOW Creative Park.

According to the organizing committee, over 65 percent of the brands taking part this year attended previous sessions. Among them, more than 60 percent saw significant sales growth in 2020 driven by the release of their work during the fashion week, while nearly 40 percent opened new bricks-and-mortar stores.

With Chinese design gaining popularity, the attraction of Shanghai’s urban fashion is becoming more pronounced, said organizers, with local brands accounting for more than 50 percent of the weeklong runway shows this year.

More than 40 percent of the brands are combining their work with environmental protection, nearly 20 percent related to non-heritage, and nearly 50 percent are cooperating with brands in other industries.

As part of the fashion week, Mode Shanghai is putting on a fashion trade show, offering a window into China's vast geography of regions and markets, while providing a channel for export sales of international brands and China's emerging designers. 

It will help original design brands with trade and ordering services, as a core carrier of the fashion week's function in developing the exhibition economy.

The Shanghai Fashion Life Carnival, a new consumer-oriented event, will be making its debut. 

It is to present new fashion products on various online platforms to persuade consumers to pursue a better life with crossover creativity, and to promote experiential consumption with advanced technologies. 

The campaign will also support the city's Double Five Shopping Festival to be launched in May, according to Liu Min, deputy director of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.