Editorial

Fighting for a Place in the Fashion World

• Byline:
• Publication Date:06/01/2012

For all its glamour and allure, the fashion world can be a cutthroat place for doing business. Multinational corporations use their financial clout to extract deep discounts from suppliers, which helps them slash retail prices and undercut smaller rivals. The fashion behemoths also take a bare-knuckled approach to expanding overseas. Since just October 2010, for example, Japan’s UNIQLO Co. Ltd., a purveyor of mid-priced casual wear, has opened 13 stores in Taiwan, increasing competition in an already crowded market.

To enable Taiwan’s fashion industry to hold its own in this increasingly hostile environment, the Republic of China (ROC) government is helping designers and companies create distinctive products and brands. The impetus for the government’s recent fashion push comes from a 2010 policy targeting six emerging industries for development, with fashion design falling under the cultural and creative industry.

One concrete result of that policy was the opening of the Fashion Institute of Taipei (FIT) in May 2011. FIT was commissioned by the Industrial Development Bureau under the ROC’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and is run by the publicly and privately financed Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF). At FIT, five standout local designers commit fresh fashion concepts to paper and cloth. Their creations are handed off to a facility that produces sample garments, which then go into production at an apparel workshop that opened in April this year. Retailers and distributors view and purchase the garments in sales meetings at FIT.

The TTF’s assistance to the local fashion industry stretches back decades. To spur designer creativity, the federation has been organizing the annual Taiwan Fashion Design Awards since the mid-1980s. In 1997, the TTF launched a textile show to promote Taiwan’s fabrics and finished products, then spun off a separate show in 2006 focused exclusively on branded clothing. The federation also organizes and partially funds overseas trips to introduce Taiwanese designers to international buyers.

By tapping Taiwan’s cultural strengths, local fashion companies and designers are staking a claim in the international fashion market. Shiatzy Chen, for example, has become the country’s most recognizable fashion brand by relying on an aesthetic sense inspired by Chinese culture. The company opened in 1978 and now operates 61 stores worldwide. Sophie Hong (洪麗芬), who participated in a 1994 government-organized trip that took 11 Taiwanese designers to Paris to display their works, has also gained acclaim for her use of “mud silk” and now runs boutiques in Paris and Taipei.

Young designers also benefit from various government-sponsored runway shows, helping them draw the attention of overseas buyers.

As with many industries worldwide, a growing part of the battle for Taiwan’s fashion market now takes place online. Tokyo Fashion Co. is a Taiwan-based operator of three clothing brands. The company saw revenues of around NT$600 million (US$20 million) in 2010, with 90 percent of sales taking place online and the rest at four retail outlets in Taiwan. The company’s growing international presence can be seen in its reports of eager foreign shoppers who show up at its brick-and-mortar stores with printed product web pages in hand.

The global fashion market may be a rough place, but Taiwanese people are well known for their resilience. Local technology companies such as computer manufacturer Acer Inc. and smartphone maker HTC Corp. have relied on that steely determination to compete and thrive in markets littered with huge international rivals. With a bit of help from the government, Taiwan’s clothing designers and brands are working hard to claim a similar place in the fashion world. It is early yet, but if such efforts pay off, Taiwanese companies could be the ones causing foreign rivals like UNIQLO to look over their shoulders.