Song brocade waistcoat with jeans, shirt with horse face skirt, stand collar, cloud shoulder and other elements "walk" into daily dress... This spring and summer, "new Chinese style" clothing continues to be popular, becoming a new phenomenon in the domestic consumer market. What created the "flow code" of Guofeng Clothing? How does the "national trend" become hot? The reporter went into the front-line market and interviewed all parties in the industry.
The clothing market has become a "national trend"
Handmade button up cardigan, Xiangyun gauze dress... "post-90s" white-collar Ms. Wang bought a lot of "new Chinese style" clothes in her Taobao shopping cart. She said that since last year, she has been fascinated by the national fashion, and has collected almost every popular fashion item. "When you go shopping, you will choose 'New Chinese Style', which is both fashionable and interesting."
On April 18, tourists in Han suits took photos near the West Lake in Hangzhou. Photographed by Han Chuanhao, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency
Since this year, the "new Chinese style" has continued its popular trend. Walking in the streets and alleys, you can see people wearing various national style costumes from time to time. "New Chinese style" continues to be a hot topic on platforms such as Tiaoyin and Xiaohongshu. According to the data of fast e-commerce, in the first quarter of this year, the order volume of "new Chinese style" goods increased by 700% year on year. The number of orders for Han clothing products increased by nearly 300% year on year.
"Half a year after our orders were placed, the annual compound growth rate of our revenue exceeded 100%." Lin Qi, the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage of the production skills of horse face skirts and the founder of the "Living on the Left" brand, told reporters that he had made and promoted horse face skirts since 2016, when only a dozen pieces were sold a year. In just a few years, the annual sales volume of the company's horse face skirts has reached nearly 100000 pieces. "The market has changed a lot," she said. Now, the customers of the brand not only include people with high consumption ability, but also a large number of young people.
The Song brocade, which bears the profound history and culture, has also become the "top stream" of "new Chinese style" clothing.
In the production workshop of Suzhou Shangjiukai Silk Science, Technology and Culture Co., Ltd., pieces of Song brocade fabrics with exquisite patterns have been rolled off the production line. Wu Jianhua, chairman of the board of directors of the enterprise, introduced that the market demand has surged, the enterprise has maintained full capacity production, and the number of looms has expanded to more than 100. It is estimated that in August this year, the daily production capacity will reach about 3000 meters.
"The" out of the circle "of national style clothing is closely related to the popularity of traditional culture. Consumers not only pay for clothing, but also recognize its aesthetic significance and cultural value, which is an intuitive expression of cultural self-confidence." Yang Xiaodong, full-time vice president of the China National Garment Association, believes that national style clothing has become a new track in the industry. "We should seize the opportunity to let Guofeng Clothing better enter the market and life."
New, cross-border integration unlocks "traffic password"
Behind the popularity of "new Chinese style" clothing, there are new changes in the industry.
New design, organic integration of tradition and modernity——
Today, the horse face skirt coming from history has a more diversified presentation: from the long skirt to the eight part skirt, six part skirt, the length changes adapt to more occasions; From thick wool weaving to light cotton, linen and silk, the texture improvement meets the needs of different wearing scenes in different seasons; Patterns, tailoring, colors... Because of the integration of more and more fashion elements, the horse face skirt has better plasticity.
On April 11, Chinese clothing enthusiasts selected accessories at the Guofeng Market of "Expo Source" in Shanghai. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Ying
From cheongsam to hanfu, behind almost every "popular style" is a re interpretation of tradition. "We have invested a lot of time and money to collect 700 or 800 kinds of traditional patterns of Song brocade, study the weaving process, and innovate on this basis to make it more in line with the aesthetic standards of modern people," said Wu Jianhua.
"The 'new Chinese style' clothing is to find a balance between tradition and fashion, and make the Chinese style more international in the continuous polishing and innovation." Qian Mengyuan, chairman of clothing brand Hengyun Yaxu, said.
New technology, constantly meeting new needs——
The innovation of fabric improves the wearing experience of "new Chinese style". Wu Jianhua told the reporter that while realizing the modernization of Song brocade weaving technology through electronic jacquard machines, the enterprise also carried out research and development of elastic Song brocade to improve the wrinkle resistance, color rendering and comfort of the fabric and make it more suitable for modern wear.
The application of digitalization promotes the organic connection between supply and demand. Improve the efficiency of developing "hot money" through big data analysis; Fashion release adopts the mode of "virtual+reality"; Accelerate the application of industrial Internet to make flexible manufacturing more popular... A series of practices are being carried out in the industry.
It is worth noting that many enterprises have increased joint research and innovation with supply chain partners. From Xucun in Haining to Shengze in Suzhou, some industrial clusters build new IP with manufacturing advantages to promote the integration of clothing and cultural tourism.
"Many 'playing methods' of' New Chinese Style 'are different from those of the traditional clothing industry." Industry insiders believe that Guofeng Clothing will expand more possibilities in cross-border.
Steady, keep the core and keep the "national trend" going
The "new Chinese style" clothing has developed rapidly, but there are also good and bad products on the market. Industry insiders believe that with the expansion of industrial scale, more attention should be paid to improving quality, and more efforts should be made to purify the market environment, strengthen industrial chain coordination and other aspects.
"I'm not worried that there is no market for Song brocade, but I'm afraid it will be damaged." Wu Jianhua said that since this year, there have been many imitations in the market. Although the appearance is similar, the process and fabric are very different. The enterprise weaves brand symbols on the edge of each piece of fabric to resist counterfeiting and other behaviors. It will also study high-tech anti-counterfeiting means, promote the formulation of standards and the preparation for the establishment of the Song brocade identification center.
"Enterprises invest a lot of energy in researching products and technologies. Once they are poorly manufactured, a large number of inferior products appear, which will undermine the normal business order and is not conducive to establishing a correct understanding of culture." Linqi suggested that policies be introduced to promote the construction of benchmark brands, while improving relevant norms and establishing a value orientation of quality.
Qian Mengyuan believed that enterprises should be calm and steady, dig deeply into the connotation of traditional culture, improve the R&D and design capabilities of fabrics, colors, processes, structures and other aspects, and provide more good products from the supply side.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Commerce jointly organized and carried out the 2024 "three products" national travel activity, encouraged local, industry associations, e-commerce platforms and other collaborative empowerment, supported online and offline sales platforms to connect with key production enterprises, and gave priority to promoting high-quality national fashion brands.
"We set up the Guofeng Garment Special Committee a few years ago. The next step will be to give professional guidance to designers, increase support to industrial clusters, and promote high-quality industrial development from the perspective of culture, products, and market." Yang Xiaodong said. (Reporter Zhang Xinxin)
