on but as a slow, cinematic scene. Beyond the soft silks and harmonious brushstrokes lay something harder: ambition. This was China’s fashion industry, dressed in its cultural inheritance, stepping onto the world stage. Shanghai Fashion Week (SFW) has come a long way since its inception in 2003. “It was like planting a seed in a barren desert,” recalled Lv Xiaolei, secretary general of Shanghai Fashion Week Organising Committee and executive vice-chairman of Shanghai Fashion Designer Association, who is known as Madame Lv (pronounced Lu) in the industry. “In the first season, we invited several international big luxury brands to showcase their collections in Shanghai. “However, we soon realized that supporting Chinese designers and developing China’s domestic fashion industry was the right path forward. Starting from the second year, we shifted our mission to nurturing Chinese fashion design talent, providing them with a platform to present their work at Shanghai Fashion Week and supporting their continuous growth.” In the decades since, that mission has grown into a full-fledged fashion ecosystem. Today, SFW spans hundreds of designer shows, trade exhibitions, pop-ups, cultural dialogues and increasingly, global partnerships. From humble beginnings, it has transformed into a critical bridge between domestic creativity and international commerce. “In the beginning, we mainly focused on runway shows,” Lv said. “Gradually, we introduced a dedicated buying season. This evolution helped attract more creative talent from both China and abroad to come to Shanghai to start businesses and develop their brands. “Once it reached a certain scale and level of influence, we realized that we needed to turn it into a true commercial platform.” The turning point came in 2015, when Ontimeshow, an independent trade fair platform, officially partnered with SFW. “That’s when we started building the commercial engine behind the shows,” Lv recalled. “We shifted from pure spectacle to an actual order-based system. Once the commercial platform was established, the entire ecosystem of Shanghai Fashion Week underwent a significant transformation.” Multi-faceted event Over the past 20 years, SFW has evolved from a mere fashion platform into an integrated event system encompassing a catwalk, a trade fair and diverse themed events. Themed ‘Shaping New Dimensions, Building the Unseen’, AW25 Shanghai Fashion Week showcased nearly 100 new runway shows, nearly 1000 brand trade shows and dozens of high-profile international collaborations and events. Hosted at the West Bund Art Center, Ontimeshow AW25 featured more than 200 brands from around the world, offering an expansive look at what a decentralized, culturally rich fashion future might look like. Ontimeshow expanded its global reach this season, establishing dedicated zones for emerging labels from Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Northern Europe. Meanwhile, one of the city’s largest showrooms, Mode Shanghai, taking place at Hongqiao United Centre in Changning District, attracted more than 200 brands from 34 countries, with international brands accounting for 57 per cent. Notably, this season brought the debut of ‘Africa Reimagined’, the first African collective to join SFW, featuring 22 brands showcasing handcrafted weaving, natural dyeing and eco-conscious processes. South Korea’s MIK Fashion presented 12 brands pushing sustainable innovation and high-tech aesthetics. Meanwhile, 16 Thai fashion and lifestyle brands, brought in through partnerships with Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion and Consulate General, debuted in Shanghai under the ‘Bangkok Showroom’ banner. Designers from more than 30 countries, including France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Vietnam, India and Japan, also gathered to explore opportunities in China’s lucrative fashion market. Besides fashion trade shows, SFW also partnered with Notes Shanghai for the first time to bring about 200 local and international fine-fragrance exhibitors to China, including Byard, Documents and Melt Season. “The trade business ecology of the trade exhibition and showroom is the key for Shanghai Fashion Week to create the largest ordering season in China,” Lv said. “The Mode exhibition and dozens of cooperative exhibitions and showrooms have given nearly 1000 domestic and international brands the opportunity to integrate and connect with China’s retail resources.” “I think my role was about bringing together the right partners at the right time – such as Ontimeshow, Labelhood and many other organizations – to join and contribute to the SFW. That’s why what you see today – the many runway shows, trade shows, showrooms and events – has developed step by step over time.” This year’s fashion week also embraced future-facing innovation. On day two, Unitree Robotics introduced the G1 humanoid robot. Alongside a robotic dog, G1 walked the runway in fashion brand NMTG’s cyberpunk-themed show, set against a dramatic horse installation. Inspired by the nomadic Evenki people and Tibetan Nine-Eye rope braiding, the collection fused ethnic high fashion with futuristic tech. Another standout was BillionDevon’s “The 25th Hour of Billie,” a vibrant, AI- and VR-enhanced show inspired by an interstellar girl and her space cat. Layered yet sleek, the Y3K-infused collection captured a blend of edginess and everyday wearability. Beyond these avant-garde presentations, the fashion week also embraced more mainstream cultural collaborations, demonstrating its ability to bridge cutting-edge innovation with popular entertainment. SFW partnered with Disney China and 10 local brands to introduce a themed show titled ‘Toy Story: 30 Years and Beyond’. The collaboration featured nearly 200 pieces, including 64 fashion looks and nine jewelry designs, marking the first-ever fashion presentation inspired by ‘Toy Story’. SFW closed with a high-energy showcase by Nike titled ‘Victory Lap’, which turned the runway into a glowing racetrack. Chinese athletes Xu Huiqin, Zhang Deshun, Ge Manqi and Lin Yuwei took centre stage, joined by J-pop girl group XG, blending sportswear with style. “I hope to create a very strong fashion ecosystem, where creative talents can thrive, where China has its own brands and where the entire industry has well-developed segments, including areas like fashion show production, show direction, music and many other aspects,” Lv said. “It should be a place where creative talents from various fields come together. At the same time, we hope that in the future, more entrepreneurs in the fashion industry will come to Shanghai to start their businesses and initiatives.” “With a broader consumer base, it can lead the trends in the industry. I think this is what we hope for – to further perfect and improve Shanghai Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Designers Association.” Supporting independent designers For much of the 2000s and early 2010s, China was the last frontier for Western luxury. Brands from Burberry to Balenciaga scrambled to open flagships and woo the Chinese middle class. But in recent years, the pendulum has swung. Domestic designers are asserting their vision, and the local market has grown more confident, more nationalistic even, in its embrace of homegrown talent. While previous seasons were marked by the participation of prominent Western names such as Moncler and Vivienne Westwood, the latest edition brought a noticeable decline in international headliners. In their place emerged a new wave of regional and independent labels, from Oude Waag, Le Ngok and Mark Gong to Vietnam’s LSoul, reflecting Shanghai Fashion Week’s shift from Western validation to a more diverse and independent fashion dialogue. Yeli Gu, founder of Ontimeshow, shared that Shanghai’s growing fashion clout is powered by a new wave of independent designers, many of whom studied abroad before returning to launch labels at home. After a decade of nurturing talent, China now boasts a generation of creatives eager to balance artistry with business. Platforms like Labelhood play a central role in this ecosystem. Home to the annual Pioneer Fashion & Art Festival and a tightly curated designer boutique, Labelhood is focused on the avant-garde. Its dual presence reflects SFW’s hybrid identity: a venue for both selling and storytelling. “The ecology of Shanghai Fashion Week is helping more young Chinese design brands from the creative level to the commercial level,” Lv said. “Especially in China’s highly competitive market environment, our designer brands are making their own efforts to balance creativity and business, so that their own brands can survive commercially. “In addition to the two seasons of Shanghai Fashion Week annually, we will make full use of the resources of the SFDA [Shanghai Fashion Designers Association] to better incubate the development of creative talents in China,” Lv added. Founded in 2009, the SFDA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Shanghai, operating with the Shanghai Fashion Week Organising Committee as its core team. Focused on constructive development, the SFDA actively collaborates on industry innovation, resource aggregation, talent development, commercial expansion, cultural heritage and international communication. It aims to amplify the global influence, voice and commercial value of Chinese fashion. “Other workshops and training, including professional skills, government policy and supply-chain resources, will be organized every month. Also we are planning an overseas program this year,” Lv said.  National pride, global barriers  But just as Chinese designers have begun gaining international traction, the macroeconomic tides have begun to shift. Slowing GDP growth at home, cautious consumer sentiment and now escalating tariffs from the US have created a new set of obstacles for young labels with global ambitions. Shushu/Tong, Jacques Wei and Mark Gong are a few of the brands with a growing overseas presence that are now facing complications from trade barriers. In April, the US government introduced a sweeping 145 per cent tariff on Chinese fashion imports. For designers like Liushu Lei, co-founder of Shushu/Tong, the impact was immediate. The reaction from Chinese designers has been swift and pragmatic. Many are relocating production, seeking out factories in Korea, Vietnam or Italy to bypass the levies. “For AW25, we are going to work with overseas factories for international orders, which is cheaper than the 145 per cent tariff,” Lei told Vogue Business. “That’s [the only thing I can] do to avoid them.” Meanwhile, Mark Gong said US retailers are requesting discounts to offset the tariffs, directly affecting brands’ profit margins. The designer is now exploring alternatives to remain viable. Taking Chinese brands global As a result, the narrative of ‘going global’ is changing. Chinese designers and organizers are increasingly exploring friendlier terrain. SFW, together with Labelhood, partnered with Harrods in London earlier this year to showcase more than 20 emerging Chinese artists and brands, including Uma Wang, Tangxindan, Samuel Gui Yang and Clot, under the theme of Spirit Homeland. SFW has launched promotional initiatives in Osaka, and talks are under way with Bangkok as Chinese brands look to bypass more hostile Western markets. “All of the association’s member organizations will have various forms of collaboration with us,” Lv said. “Assisting brands in going international is actually a later-stage process for us,” Lv said. “Our focus is more on the start-up and development phases. For international brands to independently enter overseas markets, what they really need is market presence and commercial value.” The desert where Lv once planted a seed is now a garden of talent, tech and tectonic change. What blooms next will depend not just on creativity, but on the industry’s ability to navigate a world increasingly defined by politics as much as aesthetics. This story first appeared in the May 2025 issue of Inside Retail Asia magazine.