University of Rhode Island  
Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design

Juanjuan Wu explains fashion in China

TMD 402L Made in China- Speaker Summaries

Dr. Juanjuan Wu: 

by Sarah Smith

The speaker at the fifth week of the spring seminar was Dr. Juanjuan Wu, a professor from the State University of New York at Oneonta.  Dr. Wu received her bachelor’s degree in clothing design and her master’s degree in costume history in China before coming to the United States to get her doctorate.  The topic of her presentation was the Chinese fashion industry.  She spoke about the enormous amount of apparel production in China, as well as Chinese fashion trends, fashion media, models, and designers, and she concluded with a brief mention of trade policies.

Dr. Wu began by providing some statistics about the apparel industry in China.  China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of apparel with an estimated 15 million workers employed in apparel manufacturing.  The Chinese government initially invested heavily in expanding this industry in economic centers along the coast, but they are now encouraging the relocation of some manufacturing operations to regions further inland to stimulate economic growth in those areas.

The next topic which Dr. Wu discussed was the current and past fashion trends in China.  Until the 1980s, the Communist government mandated the wearing of the Mao suit, but in the past couple of decades, the availability and popularity of Western-influenced styles of clothing have greatly increased.  The younger generation of Chinese are infatuated with all things Western, from clothing brands to restaurant chains.  According to Dr. Wu, “for many [young] Chinese, the definition of fashion is Western.”  Other influences that can be seen in Chinese clothing trends are fashions from Japan and Korea, and a desire for a very youthful appearance.

There are several promotional methods within the Chinese fashion media that Dr. Wu discussed, including magazines and newspapers, television, the internet, runway shows, fashion events, and sales promotions.  The first Chinese fashion magazine was started in 1980, followed by a number of other locally produced publications.  Since the 1990s, the popularity of the Chinese magazines has been challenged by magazines originating in other countries, such as Elle and Cosmo from the United States, and Rayli from Japan, which is currently the most popular fashion magazine in China.  Dr. Wu divides the fashion magazines available in China into the following three categories: comprehensive magazines, which are similar to American magazines, pictorials such as Rayli, and professional magazines such as Fashion China.  When runway shows began being produced in China in the early 1980s, they served primarily as a form of entertainment.  Today they are held in stores for sales promotions, at colleges to promote student designers, and at widely publicized fashion events, such as China Fashion Week in Beijing.  The first China Fashion Week was held in 1997 and was begun as an annual event, but has been expanded to be biannual to correspond to the spring and fall fashion seasons.  Both Chinese and international designers showcase their designs at these shows, and numerous Western fashion labels have opened stores in China.  Modeling and fashion design are relatively new careers in China, and contests are popular methods for new talents to be discovered in both fields. 

Though the fashion industry has expanded rapidly in China over the past several decades, there are still many challenges.  For Western brands expanding into China, a delicate balance must be struck between adapting to the new environment and maintaining the Western image which the young Chinese find appealing.  For brands originating in China, it is very difficult to gain global recognition, because China is viewed as a source for low-end production, not fashion innovation.  There are also trade conflicts between China and the countries to which it exports, because part of the agreement allowing China into the WTO included the condition that any country can claim market disruption due to Chinese imports and impose quotas on products.

Dr. Wu provided her audience with a very interesting discourse on the fashion industry in China, how and when its modern institutions began, and where it is currently headed.  One so often hears about the effects of Chinese imports on the apparel industries of other countries, that hearing about the apparel industry of China itself was a refreshing change of perspective.