The 2023 Dalian Fashion Week recently opened and will continue until September 7th. This season’s fashion week combines “shows, exhibitions, and events”, with four major sections: fashion release, summit forum, business linkage, and fashion selection. On September 2nd, the only venue of the 2023 Dalian Fashion Week, Pulandian District, Dalian, was awarded the plaques of “China Fashion Intelligent Manufacturing City” and “Liaoning Fashion Customization City” by the China Textile Industry Federation and Liaoning Textile and Clothing Association, respectively. For a while, the clothing and textile industry has frequently appeared on the “hot search”, becoming the focus of people’s recent attention.
The clothing and textile industry belongs to China’s traditional manufacturing industry and is also one of the important pillar industries of China’s national economy. For the general public, the clothing and textile industry is directly related to clothing, and is an important livelihood industry. Textiles and clothing are also important consumer goods for residents. The high-quality development of the clothing and textile industry plays a very important role in promoting national economic development, solving employment problems, and enhancing residents’ consumption. In the retail data of 16 categories of units above the designated size released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the growth rate of retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, and needle textiles reached 12.8% in the first half of this year. In terms of increasing variety, improving quality, and creating brands, China’s clothing and textile enterprises produce distinctive products through differentiated brand positioning, continuously enhancing product competitiveness.
However, there are still bottlenecks in China’s clothing and textile industry, such as weak industrial agglomeration effects, insufficient independent research and innovation capabilities, and low brand recognition. To this end, we should continuously improve the level of industrialization, intelligence, personalization, and branding, add to the icing on the cake, and promote the development of the clothing and textile industry to be more modern.
One is to strive to improve the modernization level of the industry. We need to forge strengths, supplement weaknesses, strengthen the foundation, improve industrial agglomeration effects, and promote the improvement of commercial value and economic benefits. In addition to building a professional base that integrates research and development, operation, production, printing and dyeing, strong cities and counties in the field of clothing and textile should also build a third-party public service platform with strong industry attributes, and create a clothing and textile industry service platform that integrates original design, fashion taste, demand research, internet e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce, industry seminars, exhibition halls, news and information. This can not only attract clothing companies to achieve one-stop procurement of spot accessories on this comprehensive platform, but also provide a comprehensive and clustered business exchange platform for designers, fashion enthusiasts, photographers, experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs by establishing professional studios, model training centers, fashion art IP authorization trading centers, and online live streaming rooms.
The second is to achieve the transformation from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”, leading the upgrading of industry quality. Nowadays, the development of digital economy and intelligent manufacturing has become a new highlight, advantage, and platform for economic development in various regions. Clothing and textile enterprises should take advantage of this trend and gradually abandon the “face saving” development model of competing resources and speed, and pursue more “inner” development. They should promote the intelligent and digital transformation of clothing and textile equipment, complete the intelligent transformation and upgrading of production lines, and gradually replace traditional industrial production lines with intelligent manufacturing flexible production lines.
The third is to meet the personalized needs of consumers, especially young consumers, as much as possible. The design and innovation of clothing and textile products are the soul of enterprise development, and improving originality ability can enable the enterprise to develop significantly. Clothing enterprises should achieve design innovation, technological innovation, and conceptual innovation, gradually explore a consumer led “on-demand customization” production model, gradually transform the development model of OEM and brand agency into flexible production and personalized customization, clarify brand positioning, shape brand personality, and improve their influence, popularity, and reputation among consumer groups.
The fourth is to take the path of branding development and improve user stickiness. We need to strengthen brand building, enhance brand grade, improve product quality, and gradually explore a unique development path with independent style. Guide enterprises to strengthen branding and professional management, and pay attention to the integration of technological content and cultural connotations of clothing products. For the clothing and textile industry, we should focus on the industry positioning of “technology, fashion, individuality, and green”, and pursue a brand development path of high performance, environmental protection, low-carbon, and personalized experience.
