The 20th IFFAIR set sail in transition

by+Yi+Fang

The 20th Ningbo International Fashion Fair （IFFAIR）， co-organized by China National Textile and Apparel Council， China National Garment Association， and Ningbo Municipal Peoples Government was successfully held from October 19th to 23rd， 2016. The 40，000-square-meter exhibition hall brought together 283 enterprises， 264 brands， 6 commercial trade forums and 23 fashion releases from 13 countries and regions including China， Britain， Italy， France， the United States， Sweden， Poland， Germany， Russia， Japan， South Korea， Chinese Hong Kong， and Chinese Taiwan， attracting more than 10，000 domestic and foreign professional businessmen and over 100 important trade delegations from more than 30 countries and regions.

Intelligent manufacturing， personality， and customization lead the industry trend

The custom-made services， previously only costly provided in the hand workshops or designer studios， are gradually coming into the lives of ordinary consumers.

Youngor， as a leading clothing brand of Ningbo， stands in the forefront of Chinas apparel industry. During the Fair， Youngor announced the cooperation with Europes five major international fabric businesses to jointly create the domestic private custom-made top clothing brand MAYOR. Hu Ganggao， General Manager of Youngor， introduced that the cooperation was characterized by “global quality， made in China， and the Chinese price”. The excellent fabric quality from the five fabric brands， combined with Youngor excellent workmanship， enables domestic consumers to enjoy the quality of international brands with only half of foreign brands of the similar quality.

Romon launched the concept of mass customization which aims to develop professional customization for different body types based on the cumulative collection of more than 10 million sample data of human body types by use of exclusive large database， and the technology has won the national patent. Romons group customization model not only meets the multiple needs of consumers， but also makes the production of the factory operable， while reducing the cost of customization.

The “Cloud Customization” platform， codeveloped by Dankeyun and Cixing， makes the customization work accomplished at a stretch from size measurement， DIY design and placing orders to the background data transmission， and then to automated garment processing by industrial robots， which can be completed within one day now instead of the original seven days.

Scientific research for garment bursts into bloom

In face of the smart tide in the apparel industry， to strengthen scientific and technological research and development and to explore the new perspectives of technological innovation have become a common topic for the enterprises. During the Fair， the garment enterprises as well as their related upstream and downstream businesses presented a large number of examples with their latest technologies.

The one-time forming clothing equipment exhibited by Cixing was quite compelling. It can achieve the fully automated manufacturing， “a thread in， a dress out”. “As long as the raw materials can be made into filamentous， no matter what material it is， it can weave， while the cloth-ing style， pattern， and size are all controlled by the computer at the side.” According to the staff at the Fair， at present， only one Japanese company in the world has the ability to manufacture such equipment which however has not yet put on the market. Cixing is the only company in the world to sell such product at a price of about 400，000 yuan.

The ironing machine that Zhiteng Technology showcased， which had received a number of national invention patents， is the first one in China integrating ironing， drying， and folding， filling the blank in this field.

High-end & high-quality manufacturing came to the stage

The garments made of of high-end， healthy， and environmentally friendly fabrics were greatly favored， while the vicugna coat worthy of 198，000 yuan from the high-end brand MAYOR became the upstart of this Fair. Pan Lijuan from MAYOR told the reporters that vicugna is known as “the Andes gold”， and the vicuna wool is capable of automatically adjusting the temperature according to climate and temperature changes so as to always maintain a comfortable body temperature.

80% raw materials for the baby clothing brand“ORIGINAL” of Guangyuan apparel are the US PIMA cotton and Xinjiang long-staple cotton， while the remaining fabrics of silk， linen， wool， and bamboo fiber are also natural. Dyeing materials are taken out from such natural raw materials as gardenia， orange peel， walnut shell， madder， and coffee， which are pink， light blue， and natural yellow-based.

In MAXWIN exhibition hall， its developed warm coffee carbon fabric was used in the light down jacket， which can make the thick viscose fiber absorb moisture from the skin surface， and the kinetic energy generated by water molecules is retained and converted into heat， and stored in the small airbags formed by extremely fine acrylic， providing heat for human body.

Achievements flourished at the venue

Yaoqin cheongsam customization captured a lot of foreigners with its traditional Chinese style and high quality， and on the spot， two professional traders respectively from the United States and Chinese Taiwan intended to be agents of the products. Hanyi Womens Wear started business from womens cashmere sweater customization， followed by silk， cotton， and hemp clothing. Its unique design styles have attracted a large number of alliance business. According to Zeng Liping， “We had to look for suppliers before， but now we have to select the suppliers.” The womens wear brand Mudoliy made its debut at the Fair， focusing on cotton and linen garments. Li Jiangfeng， Deputy General Manager of the company， introduced that at present Medoliy flagship store in TMALL has been top 20 among the cotton and linen womens wear. It has enjoyed more than 40 alliance businesses with clear intention at the venue. Steve & Vivian， a frequenter of the Fair， signed two alliance businesses respectively from Quzhou and Wenzhou on the spot， while ESBACK received 19 alliance business intentions.

In addition， smart devices are popular and much favored. Ningbo Carv Technology Co.， Ltd. sold two machines at the venue， while Cixing， Jingwei Numerical Control， Zhiteng Technology， and Sunrise also enjoyed good results.