The Shanghai Fashion Designer Association, a relaunched initiative to fuel the next stage of growth for Chinese fashion designers, celebrated its official launch just ahead of October’s spring 2025 edition of Shanghai Fashion Week.
SFDA’s revival was led by Shanghai Fashion Week’s secretary-general Lv Xiaolei, who is now focusing on her role as executive vice chairman of SFDA.
For the past 10-plus years, Lv has been responsible for repositioning Shanghai Fashion Week as a key industry event and a major trade and ordering platform in Asia.
Initially founded in 2009, the SFDA and its newly launched homepage will become a “informative platform for China‘s fashion creative talents with international influence,” according to a SFDA statement. The organization will also help designers develop supply chain capacity and provide legal support.
The new organization now occupies a three-story historical villa along the Suzhou River, which was built in the 1920s as a textile workshop.
SFDA’s headquarters by the Suzhou River.
Courtesy
“Today, the association’s ‘petit building’ officially reopened after renovations. This first open day is a great opportunity for our old friends and new partners to reconnect. Moving forward, we now have a dedicated space to host more events and engage with all of you. We are here today, and we look forward to a bright future together,” Lv said.
For Tasha Liu, founder of Labelhood, the city’s fashion retailer and emerging Chinese designer support scheme, the reestablishment of the association means Chinese designers finally have a place to call home. “Suzhou River is known as the mother river of Shanghai. We hope to flow into the future and reach international waters,” Liu said.
Uma Wang, who established her eponymous brand 15 years ago, was one of the first Shanghainese brands to seek global expansion. “I crossed the river by feeling my way over the stones,” said Wang, borrowing a saying from Deng Xiaoping, China’s former leader who launched the country’s Reform and Opening-up Policy more than 40 years ago. “I see so much fresh talent today who are so creatively driven. All I want to say is that I can be your ‘stone.’ Touch me if you need me.”
For the generation of designers that came after Wang and came of age during Shanghai’s designer fashion boom in the past 10 years, they now face a drastically different market reality as China navigates an economic slowdown.
“At the end of last year, I became a teacher at the China Academy of Art to explore whether I could contribute to the industry in a different way,” said Chinese designer Chen Peng.
“I want to know how to think about design from a more structured perspective,” said Chen’s peer, the designer Xuzhi Chen, who recently enrolled in a local business school.
At SFDA, designers will be able to exchange ideas and foster a more community-driven mindset outside of the fashion week context.
With eyes set on expanding global cooperation, SFDA has also established partnerships with related organizations from Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The organization also established strategic relationships with Xiaohongshu, the social-commerce platform, and Labelhood.
SFDA will be cohosting The Sustasia Fashion Prize alongside Shaway Yeh’s sustainability agency Yehyehyeh. The prize, aimed at supporting emerging sustainability talents, will be open for application on SFDA.org.cn until Oct. 30.
