International brands flock to Shanghai Fashion Week

What happened Shanghai Fashion Week (SHFW) is back for Spring 2025, and it’s shaping up to be a bumper season packed with both local and intercontinental talent. The event, which kicked off on October 9, will run for 10 days through October 19. While the usual homegrown suspects, such as Mark Gong, Shushu/Tong, and streetwear duo Staffonly are in tow, this iteration has also seen an influx of international brands. For example, Moncler will unveil its latest Moncler Genius spectacle, featuring A$AP Rocky and exhibitions from Rick Owens and Jil Sander on October 19; Sir Paul Smith will open a flagship store on October 13 at The Bund Finance Center; Vivienne Westwood is closing the official runway calendar on October 17 in the Xintiandi district; Swedish fast fashion retailer H&M will present its new collaborative series with SHFW and local label Garçon by Garçon; British label Knwls make its debut at ENG Concept Store with a room-sized cat installation; Harrods is continuing its Hives event at Fotografiska Shanghai; and Vietnamese designer Linh Nga will showcase her work on the calendar, marking the first time the creative has presented outside of Vietnam. In total, global brands will make up over 50% of exhibitors at the fair, reports CGTN, with even more foreign names attending compared to SHFW’s Fall/Winter 2024 season, which took place earlier this year. The Jing Take Less known compared to its Western counterparts, Shanghai Fashion Week has been scrambling to reclaim its presence after it was forced to move online during Covid-19. The event made its physical comeback in 2022, and momentum has been steadily picking up since. This year, the prominence of international brands will no doubt help put Shanghai Fashion Week firmly on the fashion map. However, the presence of these major global labels also runs the risk of eclipsing China’s rising domestic talent. This season, the calendar will welcome a raft of exciting new local names, including Joyce Bao, Ili Node, Hengdi Wang and Aqohill. Angel Chen will also be making her runway return on October 15 after a lengthy hiatus, in collaboration with Chinese tea drink brand Chagee. It’s an interesting time for global brands to be moving into the Chinese market, as younger shoppers display a growing preference for domestic talent amid the country’s burgeoning guachao movement. Nevertheless, Western players have spied potential across China, and are looking to amp up their APAC presence in a time marked by slowing luxury spending. SHFW’s wave of new global entrants also arrives in line with a broader shake-up across the fashion week circuit. London’s most recent season, for example, saw a slew of Chinese designers decamp from their spot on the LFW schedule to glitzier locations, such as designer Susan Fang’s relocation to Milan. As Shanghai Fashion Week’s global profile rises, international brands are undeniably eager to engage with the emerging fashion capital, which poses the question: Could the upstart fashion event soon rival the Big Four in global cultural clout? The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

International brands flock to Shanghai Fashion Week

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Published October 11, 2024

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International brands flock to Shanghai Fashion Week