After a tough time for fashion last year, “New Chinese Style” designs are off to a strong start to 2024. Despite the various challenges facing China, New Chinese Style fashion is on the rise and orders in factories across the country are increasing rapidly.
One of the key factors behind this trend was the recent Chinese New Year, which is the most important festival in China and provides an opportunity for many to connect with traditional Chinese culture. Since Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala, sales of New Chinese Style designs on JD.com have increased by 215 percent on a yearly basis, while sales of Hanfu (Han style clothing) have increased by 325 percent on a yearly basis.
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The number of posts about “New Chinese Style” in the Little Red Book exceeded 2.6 million. New Chinese Style clothing is considered one of the “three must-have items” of Chinese New Year. Videos tagged “New Chinese Style” have been viewed more than 1.02 billion times on TikTok; Last year, sales of “New Chinese Style” fashions on Tmall increased by more than 50 percent on a yearly basis, and the market size is said to have reached 2019. 1 billion consumers.
This market data shows that the “New Chinese Style,” once jokingly called the “Old Chinese coin style,” is attracting more and more consumers and pushing more brands to produce Chinese-style clothing. With the great promotions of this trend on various e-commerce platforms, it also attracted the attention of investments.
Earlier this year, WWD China’s parent company, Chinamind Next Interculture Group, published a special issue that delved deeper into this new trend. Issue titled “New China”if Style Enlightenment” featured interviews with brands, designers, industry representatives, academics, researchers and other players on the latest developments and overviews in the category, including the latest market trends, cultural and social trends and supply chain.
There is no doubt that New Chinese Style has become a guarantor of social media traffic in a generally stagnant market and a quick way to generate income for many designers and brands. However, it is too early to determine how sustainable the trend is. Is there potential for further growth and even globalization? Or will he face a similar fate like those exaggerated? Guochao The one that was over-exploited and stopped short of becoming a permanent trend (Chinese streetwear)?
Younger generations are looking for cultural and spiritual identity in their clothing choices
Over the past century, international brands have incorporated Asian elements into their designs to open the door to the Chinese market and used “Chinese style” to develop a localized marketing narrative. At the beginning of this century, the “traditional Chinese clothing” trend emerged, contributing to the popularity of Chinese design and the Hanfu craze, as a number of domestic brands made Chinese elements the focus of their new products to develop emerging markets. .
However, the New Chinese Style differs from previous design trends in that it represents a new set of social values.
These values are not just an awakening of the cultural confidence that dominated market sentiment during the Guochao era. Behind the New Chinese Style is a deeper connection with national culture and heritage, a conscious expression of cultural identity. From traditional images to ornaments to China’s traditional color schemes, these clothes are cultural codes that create not just fashion but also a new identity based on tradition for their wearers.
The imperial family was not the only group in ancient China to adopt the mythological auspicious symbol dragon motif as the main brocade pattern expressing wishes for long life; Ordinary people also used this figure in jewelry. Wear something that has the potential to bring good luck. Throughout China’s 5,000-year history, the popular patterns of each period not only reflect the aesthetics of that period, but also reflect a social philosophy by expressing the aspirations of the people of that period.
Nowadays, these models are examined in depth by designers and redesigned in accordance with fashion. These designs aim to appeal to the desires of the new generation of consumers who are looking for emotional and spiritual satisfaction as well as the latest fashion trend.
Spiritual satisfaction is also reflected in the data of Ctrip, China’s largest travel platform; This data shows that ticket prices for tourist destinations with famous temples have increased by 310 percent on an annual basis since 2023, while online searches using the keyword “temple” have increased by 310 percent. 600 percent annually. Post-90s and 2000s generations accounted for almost 50 percent of bookings to these destinations. The index also clearly reveals younger generations’ search for spiritual fulfillment and traditional Chinese wisdom and values. Their growing demand for New Chinese Style clothing stems to some extent from similar motivations: a better, more fulfilling life with auspicious patterns, colors, and other aesthetic elements.
Is the New Chinese Style here to stay?
At the beginning of 2024, numerous businesses in Zhejiang were in full swing, thanks to the popularity of the New Chinese Style.
At the Evergreen Wholesale Apparel Market in Hangzhou, New Chinese Style clothing accounted for 80 percent of the business. According to sources, “Some orders were lined up in ten days to half a month.” Orders from factories and businesses upstream of the supply chain also increased as demand exceeded supply. Some fabric factories in Haining, Zhejiang Province had to turn away orders due to lack of capacity. Other factories are shifting their production to produce more New Chinese Style fabrics to meet market demand.
An industrial cluster known for its leather goods, Haining currently has more than 100 manufacturers producing New Chinese Style fabrics, with a daily output of up to 30,000 meters.
But it’s not just fashion that’s driving demand for the New Chinese Style: the trend is also evident in the areas of beauty, food and nutrition. At the end of February, New Chinese Style health brand Juztlab received an investment of 10 million renminbi, or approximately $1.4 million, from brand management company RYC.
Beyond these sectors, Chinese contemporary architecture and interior design seeks an aesthetic form that combines tradition and contemporary design. This, among many other things, can be found in the works of Ma Yansong and his concept of the “landscape city”, which draws its inspiration from traditional Chinese gardens.
Famous Chinese designer Wu Bin, who won the global Anderson Martin International Interior Design Award, also created works influenced by Chinese traditional style. The “Modern Oriental Design Language” created by him has become a unique label in the interior design industry. His installation “Journey to the Mountains”, recently exhibited at M&O 2024 in Paris, used the traditional forms of Chinese landscape painting and poetry and its spiritual essence to respond to technology and the future while promoting traditional Chinese culture abroad. Whether it was Wu Bin’s Modern Oriental or British designer Kelly Hoppen advocating the unity of heaven and humanity, both showed that the New Chinese Style had a place on the international stage.
However, fashion is different from architecture and interior design, and it is not yet known whether this trend will be adopted by markets outside China. But for now, China offers a new growth path for the fashion industry, as local demand is likely to continue growing.
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