Chinese awakening
Austrade is set to Shanghai Chinese fashion.
After years enduring Chinese apparel imports flooding the Australian marketplace, the government trade body is set to turn the tables by staging an elaborate fashion showcase in the heart of China's fashion capital Shanghai.
Dubbed Australian Style in China, the event is the first official promotion held in Asia specifically promoting Australian fashion designers, jewellery brands, and fabric and yarn manufacturers. The October 21 to 28 event, supported by Tourism Australia and Qantas, will also put the spotlight on what Austrade terms the country's "overall excellence in creativity and style" with business mission packages also available for homeware designers, photographers and those from the performing arts and entertainment sector.
Staged in the heart of Xintiandi Shanghai's "lifestyle" quarter, the week-long promotion is based on similar ones run annually in London, Dubai, Moscow and New York and is believed to be a taster for a much bigger fashion-focussed event planned for the city in 2007.
Melbourne-based designer Alannah Hill is among the first to sign up to the event, however it is understood Austrade is targeting several other high-profile textile manufacturers and labels with its wish-list thought to include key David Jones suppliers Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa and sass & bide.
The event has been timed to coincide with a visit by the Australian Ballet however Shanghai Fashion Week, the Intertextile Shanghai trade show, and the Shanghai International Performing Arts Festival are also on at the same time, providing Australian delegates the chance for further networking opportunities.
Austrade China senior team leader Julie-Anne Nichols - who along with her Asian team spent 12 months putting the event together - said highlights of the week would include a stylish launch event at the Xintiandi lake as well as a networking night for media, VIP Chinese government officials and key buyers.
Nichols said a live "Australian street party" and group fashion parades were expected to prove the biggest draw card for media outlets. However off-site tours - where interested parties were offered the opportunity to visit key fashion-based manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in regional Shanghai - would be of interest to Australian attendees.
Nichols said those on the textile mission would be taken Wuxi or Nanjing, the country's key textile manufacturing and buying areas to meet directly with major Chinese consumers and explore textile sales opportunities and contract manufacturing. Those on the fashion mission would be taken to a number of garment manufacturing facilities with a special focus those with specialist small production capabilities, she said.
Nichols said compared to its global competitors, Australian brands and products enjoyed a relatively low, under-stated profile among local Chinese consumers as well as business customers and innovators so the time was ripe for an event of this nature.
"Education and profile-building is needed on Australian suppliers key points of uniqueness and innovation. For some Australian organisations, Shanghai is proving to be a launch pad for market entry into Europe as international business visitors to Shanghai see their products, fall in love and then go about connecting them to retail or wholesaling opportunities in their home countries. The celebration will target media, buyers and the general public to ensure the myths are squashed and replaced by the vivid images and reality of Australia's leading edge in fashion, design and innovation in this broader industry chain."
Those interested in participating in Australian Style in China are asked to contact Austrade directly.