LONDON — The postponed Shanghai Fashion Week is now partnering with Alibaba’s Tmall to create an online platform for Chinese designers and commercial brands to showcase their fall 2020 collection from March 24 to 30 as an alternative solution amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The schedule is expected to be revealed mid-March as the application for the online fashion week has just begun. Brands will be showcasing their fall 2020 collections as well as selling items from the current season via live-streaming.
Lv Xiaolei, vice secretary of the Shanghai Fashion Week Committee, told WWD that Shanghai Fashion Week would miss a big opportunity, if it doesn’t embrace new technology.
“Tmall promises to direct millions of traffic [views] to our designers. This means brands will be able to generate more sales, and many of them can be saved from bankruptcy amid this difficult time,” she said.
She also revealed that if the online fashion week goes well, it will continue to be included as part of Shanghai Fashion Week in the future.
Showrooms and trade shows, key components of Shanghai Fashion Week, will need to figure out a time slot of their own.
Yeli Gu, owner of Ontimeshow, the biggest trade show during Shanghai Fashion Week, said it won’t participate in the online fashion week, but will aim to introduce an online ordering system, in partnership with Secoo around the same time for designers and buyers.
Coronavirus has greatly disrupted the fashion system. Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul have all postponed or canceled their fashion weeks as the virus continues to spread. With a recent outbreak in Northern Italy, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks have also been impacted.
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