Crouching tiger, hidden dragon, kangaroo

The Asia Pacific Fashion Forum aims to assist Australian fashion companies in getting the most out of the Asia Pacific fashion boom; as Belinda Smart reports.

This year's Mercedes Australian Fashion Week (MAFW) is a high profile fashion event with a difference, marking the inauguration of an ambitious project designed to foster greater co-operation and communication between the fashion industries of Australia and the rest of the Asia Pacific.
The Asia Pacific Fashion Forum (APFF) is the brainchild of Simon Lock, CEO of events company Australian Fashion Innovators, which organises MAFW. Lock believes the event will play a crucial role in putting Asia Pacific fashion on the global map.
"Europe and North America are generally regarded as the Holy Grail of fashion but the purpose of the APFF is to say, 'Hey guys, you know what? There's heaps of money to be made in the Asia Pacific region'."
Lock believes that while many Australian fashion businesses have grasped the nettle of offshore manufacturing in Asia, few have understood the enormous potential to be exploited by exporting Australian made product to Asia Pacific markets.
The APFF - and the establishment of cross border fashion industry association the Asia Pacific Fashion Council (APFC) - will assist Australian brands in promoting themselves to the exploding markets of Asia.
These markets are led by China and India, he says, although China is indisputably the key driver.
Australian-born US based designer Richard Tyler - who will speak at the APFF - is one designer who has recognised the potential both for manufacturing out of and exporting into China.
Tyler - whose self-named couture label is renowned among international celebrities - is to launch an affordable fashion label, the Richard Tyler Collection globally next year. But he wouldn't have created the collection without what he describes as an "extremely positive experience" manufacturing corporate uniforms in Shanghai for US airline Delta earlier this year.
"The experience made me realise that you can get extremely good quality product from China now," he says.
It also inspired him to consider launching the label in China - and possibly the rest of Asia - through department and specialty stores.
However, he does emphasise that Australians who "go in blind" to Asia do so at their peril.
"Whereas in Melbourne, Sydney or Los Angeles, I might have to make appointments with retailers and then show them the product, a lot more networking is required in China," he says.
"I appointed [Shanghai fashion agent] Talent Creations and their services were invaluable. They found factories for us and helped us with quality assurance and making sure everything was done to our specifications."
Mark Neuman, counsellor for international trade and global strategies for US women's fashion giant Limited Brands - also an APFF speaker - says Chinese customers are among the most brand-conscious in Asia.
"French and Italian luxury goods see China as the next frontier - in some cases even exceeding Japan's potential eventually. The key is to build world-class brands and develop a strategy to promote that brand efficacy and awareness in the Chinese market." A wide range of brands - from Chanel and Louis Vuitton to Walmart and Fruit of the Loom - are already doing so successfully, he says.
India - often described as the sleeping tiger of Asia - also holds immense untapped potential, albeit of a less brand-focused nature, says Neuman.
"India has incredible creative design innovation. I spent time interacting with students at India's premier fashion institute [and] I was deeply impressed with the calibre of students there."
"India also has everything - in terms of raw materials, production infrastructure and good needle. But bringing all those the assets together in one place is still a major challenge," he says.
"India hasn't opened its markets to the foreign retail sector as much as many would like and does not have the advantage of a highly Western-oriented territory populated by overseas Indians next door unlike the western oriented Chinese living in Taiwan and Hong Kong."
In addition, while foreign investment drives innovation in Chinese apparel manufacturing, this is lacking in India. Then there is the "hassle" factor of doing business in India - typified by top-heavy bureaucracy and long lead times.
However, despite these cautions, Neuman claims India should not be completely overlooked by Australian fashion businesses.
"China is better, faster, closer and cheaper as a production platform than anywhere else. But the threat of quantitative restrictions comes into play in China and not India, so apparel producers must not be too dependent on China, because many categories of clothing either are currently under embargo from China or could be, making China production in some categories a very risky undertaking."
International Market Assessment Asia (IMA Asia) provides a range of advisory services for managers of Asian operations who are based in Australia. IMA managing director Richard Martin will also be speaking at the APFF, examining the changing economic profile of the region and it's effect on consumer demand.
"The gist of my argument is that if you go back 10 years Asia went up like a rocket and the front pages of all the financial magazines talked about Asia's emerging upper classes and luxury brands like Hermes were selling into Asia like never before," he says.
Then the bubble burst. A collapse in home prices effected Japan Taiwan and Hong Kong while Thailand India Malaysia and Korea were affected by the Asian financial crisis. It took around seven to eight years to fix demand levels and, claims Martin.
"However, the difference between then and now is that in 1995 Asia was sitting on a huge current account deficit and low foreign exchange reserves, whereas today the opposite is true. We are looking at a gradual translation into wealth over the next five to 10 years, not the explosion of former times."
Asia, along with the rest of the world has changed in unforeseen ways over the past decade, not least because of the information explosion resulting from the rise of the Internet, he says.
This means that whereas previously Asia was a buyer of fashion trends, the region is now a key driver.
"In 1995 Asian fashion sense was derived from Western based magazines and television. Now because of the Internet we are seeing an explosion of local culture that is moving very fast and in most instances has nothing to do with western trends. For example from North Asian countries like Taiwan trends are moving to Japan, Korea and Shanghai."
"There is a much greater self confidence [in Asia] in terms of ideas, design and fashion, especially in India and the larger Chinese cities," he says.
China in particular has a smaller youth market with huge spending power. "We're also seeing a greying Asia phenomenon led by Japan, Korea, Taiwan and to some extent China."
"The average Chinese representative of this demographic spends more per capita than Germans or Americans. They're coming down with suitcases full of cash and spending it in Hong Kong."
However, claims Martin, the key message is not to be scared by the scale and competitiveness of production in Asia but to look for opportunities to sell high-end fashion in Asia.
Where we are uniquely strong is in the creation of ideas. Australian TCF companies need to think about how to get involved with taking ideas over to Asia but also The ultimate result, Martin claims, is akin to what has happened to Australian cuisine in the last decade. "We're going to see the emergence of fusion fashion that takes elements from say Chinese or Indian culture and blends them with Australian fashion."
Designer Richard Tyler agrees that Australia will receive greater influences from Asia as time goes on.
"People have been talking about the rise of Asia for some time, but now it's arrived."
"It's really possible to think globally about fashion. Everyone is reading the same magazines now and has access to the same information, so I don't see fashion as something you have to target differently to different markets."
Designers are increasingly launching labels on a global basis, and this will become very common in the Asia Pacific, he says.
"Quite literally, the world is your oyster."