On Christmas Eve, four hundred of Taiwan's Beautiful People, decked out in their holiday haute couture, each paid US$300 for an evening of glamour at the Grand Hyatt Taipei. Twelve of the island's foremost fashion designers brought ten of their latest evening gowns to a gala fashion show. Each then donated one creation for an auction that raised more than US$37,000 for a local charity.
The holiday extravaganza was the first fund-raising event organized by the Taiwan Taipei Fashion Designers Association, founded in August 1993. Before this, the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) had long been the only industry association. For many designers, the new organization represents a measure of independence from the textile industry and a strengthened ability to address their own specific needs.
Fashion design in Taiwan got its start in the 1950s and has experienced rocky going throughout its history. Lin Ni-na (林妮娜), a professor of fashion design at Taipei's Shih Chien College, explains that the big money-making era for local designers was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During these years, the domestic market suddenly expanded with increased consumer wealth, and shoppers began showing interest in pricier designer wear. But the boom did not last. "Local designers suffered a tremendous blow in the mid-1980s, when reduced import tariffs brought in a flood of foreign labels," Lin says. Today, fashion houses still fight a consumer preference for foreign-made clothing, but many are succeeding in making a name for themselves. "Business may have declined noticeably, but there is definitely increased name recognition for local designers nowadays," Lin says.
Chic department stores such as Japanese-owned SOGO draw upscale shoppers, but display space can cost designers US$800 a month per square foot.
In Taipei's trendy five-story Sunrise Department Store, Taiwan designer lines compete alongside clothing bearing well-known foreign labels such as Kenzo, Katherine Hammet, Karl Lagerfeld, and Versus. Local creations are comparable to the imports in artistry, quality, and price, but the market for Taiwan designers is almost 100 percent local. "The European designers' market is mostly export-oriented," says Lee Guann-yih (李冠毅), one of the island's best-known designers. Lee, who has been designing since the 1970s, says local designers are just beginning to take their labels overseas.
To gain international recognition, Lee says designers must grab some attention in the major fashion centers—a venture that requires vast financial resources. "Take Paris for instance," Lee says. "You can't just go there and open a store. To really break into the market you need a lot of capital. Just doing one show isn't enough to build a reputation. You need continuous exposure to make a name known, and putting together each show takes a lot of money. Just look at the kind of money internationally recognized models charge per show." Western models charge around US$7,500 for a single fashion show.
As an alternative to breaking into the European market, some designers are eyeing mainland China, where they can take advantage of language and cultural similarities in a society with growing consumer power. But launching an international label in the mainland can be tricky. "Imports are preferred there, but even though we are all Chinese, there are differences in aesthetics from region to region," Lee says. "It can be unpredictable."
Fabric frustrations—Taiwan is the world's sixth largest exporter of textiles, but many designers cannot buy fabric locally because manufacturers refuse their small-scale orders.
And selling in international markets means weathering fluctuations in foreign economies. With consumer spending depressed in the West since the mid-1980s, it is not the best time to send an upscale clothing line abroad. Lee says international designers have recently added clothing lines to attract money-conscious consumers. "In this year's major fashion shows, there was a trend toward recycling—designers are doing new pieces to go with last year's items in order to promote sales," he says. "People are spending, but they are spending less."
Even in Taiwan, where the economy remains strong, designers have seen cutbacks in consumer spending. Small economic fluctuations can have a major impact on the fashion industry because the market is so limited. Veteran designer Lu Fong-chih (呂芳智) has built his career on styles that are not geared toward the mass market. Although his label is well known on the island, he explains that few people actually buy his creations. "My designs are aimed at the more daring career women," he says. "The clothes are very expensive and many of my customers have to wait for sales before they can afford them." But Lu is now considering broadening his scope to include a lower-priced line.
Fashion houses face an even more basic problem, stemming paradoxically from the success of Taiwan's textile industry. Although these two industries seem complimentary, designers have long complained that textile manufacturers are unwilling to work with them. The textile export business began flourishing in the 1970s, when overseas fashion houses discovered that the island could mass-produce fabrics to meet their specifications. The industry remains strong today. Although textile manufacturers face increasing competition from low-cost producers elsewhere in Asia, they have retained a secure niche, especially with U.S. buyers, by offering higher quality products than Southeast Asian competitors and by producing larger volumes than the top-of-the line textile manufacturers in Japan and Europe. Overseas sales grew from US$10 billion in 1988 to US$12 billion in 1993. Taiwan is currently the world's sixth largest textile exporter.
Local variations on world trends—With better access to fashion information, local designers can stay on top of the latest design twists.
But local designers are often left on the outside looking in. Many fabric makers, busy with massive orders from big name foreign buyers, refuse to fill the relatively small orders of local fashion houses. Instead, designers must either choose from a limited range of mass-produced, made-for-export textile designs or use more expensive, less accessible imports from overseas.
Designer Nadia Lin (林臣英) calls the cooperation between designers and textile manufacturers "one sided." While she and her peers often go out of their way to use locally made fabrics, she says the limited options available hinders their ability to create. The lack of variety in textiles also makes it easy for others to produce copy-cat fashions. Designers who use local fabrics risk losing money to low-cost reproductions—another reason to shop for imported fabrics.
These complaints are not new, but designers say little has changed despite years of protest. "Taiwan's textile manufacturers always talk about improvement, but none has made the necessary investments in terms of personnel or money," says Lee Guann-yih.
Designers point out that, unlike in European fashion centers such as Italy and France, manufacturers in Taiwan have been reluctant to invest in building the local fashion design industry. "They have made a lot of money in the past, so they should reinvest some of it into this difficult transitional period," says Lu Fong-chih. But he charges that most manufacturers are too short-sighted. He is particularly upset by manufacturers who give up producing in Taiwan and move to Southeast Asia rather than upgrading and adapting to the new economic situation.
Individual style—Isabelle Wen says whether Taiwan designers break into foreign markets depends on developing a sense of identity. "It is important to fully tap our own potential before worrying about the market."
The new Taiwan Taipei Fashion Designers Association has brought a sense of optimism and power to the business. Lee Guann-yih says it will allow designers to gain a voice by pooling resources and addressing common concerns. In the past, all local fashion shows and events have been planned by the Taiwan Textile Federation. As independents, he points out, designers are able to plan and fund promotional activities without seeking approval from the TTF. "By separating the two groups," he says, "designers have more freedom to implement their ideas."
The government also has several programs to promote local designers, but fashion houses say this is not enough. Each year, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the TTF grant a number of partial scholarships to design students for study abroad. In 1993, thirty-one students received scholarships to study in New York or Europe for periods from one month to one year.
Last year, the IDB and TTF also began sponsoring a biannual Taipei Collection fashion show each April and November. In May, TTF and CETRA (the China External Trade Development Council) brought the Taipei Collection show to Paris to add glamour to the opening of the Taipei Design Center, Paris. This liaison office serves as a link between fashion exporters and importers in Taiwan and France. For example, the staff can introduce French apparel importers to Taiwan's top designers, or assist local department stores in finding European clothing exporters. The office also helps local design houses stay abreast of European fashion trends. It will be funded by IDB, along with TTF, for the first three to five years, then will be privately funded. Back in Taipei, the textile federation is scheduled to open Taiwan's only fashion design library, stocked with industry books and periodicals, and slides and videotapes of the latest international fashion shows.
Despite these impressive projects, many designers complain that their counterparts in Europe and Japan receive more substantial and more regular assistance from the government and textile industry. Using Japanese designer Issey Miyake as an example, Lee Guann-yih points out that even the most talented designers work with the government and manufacturers before launching internationally. "In other countries, designers are supported by industry," he says.
A lack of educational opportunities in the field of fashion poses another stumbling block. Only one four-year college, Shih Chien College, offers a fashion design department. Fu Jen Catholic University and the Chinese Culture University, both in Taipei, offer classes in fashion design, but only as part of a different major. The only other option is to take fashion design at a vocational high school or junior college. As a result, Shih Chien staff must meet the demands of interested students island wide. In addition, Hsiao Mei-lin (蕭美鈴), chairwoman of Shih Chien's Department of Fashion Design, says interest in the field has been growing, but that the college cannot increase its enrollment because the government restricts the number of full-time fashion design students at Shih Chien to one hundred per year.
The college entrance exam system also makes it difficult for students to enter the program because applicants are chosen solely on the basis of their scores on the highly competitive college entrance exam. Only a handful of students with special circumstances, such as fashion scholarship winners and students with disabilities, can enter Shih Chien's fashion design program without passing the test. The only alternative for would-be designers is to major in a related subject such as art or design at one of a handful of colleges offering these departments.
Hsiao says the growing popularity of local designers is one of the reasons students are gaining interest in the field. But she warns that some young people are driven by unrealistic dreams of fame and fortune. Shih Chien professors have a running joke about misperceptions of their field. Hsiao says students often assume that, "If you can draw, you can be a fashion designer; if you have a pretty face, you can be a model."
Lu Fong-chih agrees that people tend to come to the field with false impressions. "In the fashion shows, they see the glamour but not the hard work behind it," he says. "But at least the shows are getting them interested." Lu entered the fashion field after receiving an art degree from the Chinese Culture University. He believes local design education should stress art more. For me, making the jump from art to design was easy because all I needed to learn was the practical side, like sewing, he says. "Taiwan's fashion education is fine on the practical side, but lacks artistic training, for example, in color and proportions."
But designer Nadia Lin, who graduated from Shih Chien, argues that the practical emphasis in Taiwan's education system is necessary. "We want students to have the hands-on skills to start working right after graduation," she says.
Fashion design education in Taiwan ends at the undergraduate level. Although Shih Chien has begun a series of postgraduate night classes, participants cannot receive an advanced degree. Students who want to continue their education must go overseas.
Internship programs are one of the most important educational opportunities for aspiring designers, but the idea has not caught on in Taiwan. Professor Lin Ni-na explains that Shih Chien has implemented an internship program in which students can work in various sectors of the field, from clothing manufacturing to marketing. But she says the program is not adequately supported by the fashion industry. "We have summer internships for students, but we need to increase the hands-on time they spend on the job," she says. "The industries have not been very enthusiastic because they must take time out to train the interns. They don't realize that students have to gain practical experience after they graduate anyway."
Even graduates with solid fashion training often find that starting in the business is tough. Funding sources for young entrepreneurs are extremely limited. Each year, the TTF and the Min Sheng Pao newspaper hold a Young Designer Awards competition, in which three winners receive cash prizes. This year's first-place winner took home NT$90,000 (US$3,300). Each fall, TTF also chooses ten designers under the age of thirty to compete in the International Young Fashion Designers Competition in Paris. In addition, a few local rookies have been given lucky breaks by attracting the attention of European designers. The winner of the Asian Young Designer Award (a one-time competition sponsored by TTF in 1991) was invited to work under Pierre Cardin for a three-month stint. A handful of other grants are available to local designers from overseas fashion houses or private companies.
With few chances for outside funding, professors Hsiao and Lin say most designers must rely on their own financial resources. "The whole structure of retail in Taiwan, which requires designers to rent space or pay a commission on sales, means you need a lot of capital to get into the industry," Lin says. One month's rent on a department store sales counter can cost US$820 per square foot. The upshot? "A lot of the younger designers are kids from rich families," she says.
Can Taiwan overcome these difficulties and make a name for itself in world fashion? Lee Guann-yih thinks so, explaining that local Taiwan fashion houses now have better access to international information. "Designers must look at other people's work to stay in touch with overall trends," he says. At the same time, he stresses that the image of local designers as copycats of foreign labels is no longer valid.
A domino effect has recently brought new recognition to Taiwan within the fashion world. In 1993, for example, Emporio Armani and Joyce both opened their largest Asian boutiques in Taipei. This exposure in turn helped attract superstar designers such as Romeo Gigli, who spoke in Taipei last year, and Pierre Cardin, who hosted a fashion show.
Lu Fong-chih is optimistic about the formation of the Taiwan Taipei Fashion Designers Association, and the launch of the Taipei Collection show. Lu says the show boosts the credibility of local fashion design, pointing out that all major fashion centers host spring and fall shows. "It will keep in step with the shows in Paris and Milan," he says.
Lee Guann-yih stresses that the opening of the Taipei Design Center, Paris, will give Taiwan designers a year-round presence overseas. "With this new center, Taiwan's textile manufacturers will be able to stay in touch with the trends in France," he says. "And people in France will have a place where they can find out more about trends in Taiwan." Organizers hope that the office will eventually help Taiwan to reach markets throughout Europe.
Lee says Taiwan designers already have the potential to become leaders in Asia. In the meantime, he is concentrating on the new efforts of the designers association and, of course, on his own work. "All I can say is, I am working hard," Lee says. "It is hard to say if anyone has the potential to become internationally known, but I believe in my ability."
Yvonne Kennedy is a freelance writer and feature reporter for the China News.