Fashion Shishi City and Charming Maritime Silk Road witnessed win-win cooperation

By Dong Zheng

From April 18th to 22nd， the 4th China （Quanzhou） Maritime Silk Road International Brand Expo （MSREXPO2018）， 2018 China Shishi International Fashion Week and the 21st Straits Textile & Clothing Fair Casual Wear Expo （STCF2018） inaugurated grandly in Shishi， the famous Chinese casualwear city.

The year 2018 is the 40th anniversary of Chinas reform and opening up and the 30th anniversary of establishment of Shishi City. Quanzhou， as an important starting city along the Maritime Silk Road， is accelerating the construction of “Maritime Silk Road （MSR） pilot area” to serve the construction of “MSR core area” in Fujian and fully integrate itself into the Belt and Road Initiative. As an important city in Quanzhou， Shishi has made great effort to highlight its “goldlettered signboard” in recent years， such as the “Chinese Casualwear City”， “Chinas Casual Fabric Business and Trade City” and “National Civilized City”， and has launched the new development strategy for the new century that deepens its root in the local culture， accelerates the development with new opportunity， uses the sea as a medium and opens up for a win-win situation through its unremitting innovation in exhibition economy and profound understanding of open and win-win cooperation.

Integration development： Writing a new chapter of open and win-win cooperation

Quanzhou is one of Chinas important coastal open cities， with its GDP leading in Fujian province for 19 consecutive years. In recent years， Quanzhou has continued to improved urban development model through taking the opportunity of the “MSR pilot area”， “Made in China 2025” pilot project， and “innovative city” construction， especially with the help of Internet+， smart manufacturing， new materials， etc. to connect global resources and promote integration development. During the MSREXPO this year， Quanzhou once again launches“New Silk Road， New Cooperation， and New Integration” to create a platform for merchants from all over the world to promote civilized mutual recognition and cultural exchange. There are three floors in the exhibition area， covering a total area of 26，000 square meters. The highlights are the following：

Global promotion of civilization details of Quanzhou “MSR”. At the first floor of the exhibition hall， the special theme exhibitions， which are Anxi tea and rattan art work， Dehua porcelain， Yongchun fragrance road and Huian carving art， show the profound cultural background of Quanzhou as the starting point of the “Maritime Silk Road” to the guests at home and abroad.

Reappearance of “Quanzhou trademark brand exhibition hall”. This year， the Quanzhou trademark brand exhibition hall is promoted by drawing upon the experience gained on key points and shows through comprehensively introducing the Quanzhou industrial cluster and its representative corporate brand that Quanzhous corporate， industrial， and urban trademark brands have flourished from of old until in now.

The gathering of professional buyers from nearly 40 countries around the world. This year， a total of 318 exhibiting companies from nearly 40 countries along the Maritime Silk Road nearly 500 exhibitors have gathered at MSREXPO with nearly 500 exhibitors， exhibiting a comprehensive exhibition of trade promotion， investment services， tourism cooperation and cultural exchange.

Intelligent manufacturing fitting for the industrial orientation of Quanzhou. This year， the exhibition aims at the industrial outlet， and makes efforts to “artificial intelligence and industrial transformation and upgrading”， which is in line with Quanzhous position as the “Made in China 2025” pilot city. The organizers specially set up the “Intelligent Manufacturing Hall”exhibition area， and invite relevant institutions engaged in intelligent manufacturing， marine intelligent equipment companies， smart home companies， and Shishi Intelligent Industry Alliance to jointly exhibit， including industrial robots， underwater robots， MEMS sensors， and 3D printing， intelligent internet of things and smart home products and other intelligent industry with cutting-edge technologies and products， while working as an medium for conducting business cooperation.

In addition， through consultation and agreement between the Quanzhou Municipal Peoples government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council， the two sides signed a “Memorandum for the Joint Construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” at the clothing city on April 18， and also held the “Quanzhou and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Exchange Conference”.

Exhibition economy： Building a new engine for Shishi development

In 2017， Shishi achieved a total production value of 77.27 billion yuan， and the textile and clothing industry achieved a total output value of 56.6 billion yuan， with an increase of 9.5%. The development of the leading industry of textile and clothing has benefited from Shishi persistence and innovation of the exhibition economy. The large exhibition platforms， such as MSREXPO， STCF and Fashion Week， have built a strong bridge for Shishi to connect the domestic and foreign industrial elements and configure the global industrial resources.

The current STCF is held in Shishi International Textile City with an exhibition area of 65，000 square meters， which is divided into A， B and C exhibition areas. The service industry and service development are common purpose of the annual STCF. The exhibition in this year highlights the pulling effect on the local industry and economy and forms several major highlights：

The competition of domestic textile and clothing segment on the same stage. The enterprises that come to the exhibition includes not only local Shishi textile and clothing enterprises， but also companies from all over the country including spinning， weaving， bleaching and dyeing， clothing processing， clothing design， surface materials， machinery， and ecommerce from tens of provinces， such as Shanghai， Zhejiang， Jiangsu， and Jiangxi， Guangdong and Shenyang， and more than 600 textile and clothing enterprises across the country brings their unique exhibits， forming a grand occasion.

Highlighting the marketization and effectiveness of the exhibition. In order to highlight the marketization and effectiveness of the exhibition， the governments of Quanzhou and Shishi actively promote the market-oriented reform of the exhibition. This year， STCF has a different way of organization. It is a joint exhibition organized by professional markets and trade associations and is co-organized by Shishi Textile City Operation Company and Shishi Textile and Clothing Industry Alliance. Shishi Textile City Operation Company is the market operation agency in Shishi City established in 2017 to deepen the reform of the state-owned enterprises. Shishi Clothing City and Shishi International Textile City are the cores of Shishi industrial economy and two major professional markets， and it focuses on the merchant operation of them. Shishi Textile and Clothing Industry Alliance was established in 2017 during the STCF， with nearly 400 members， covering more than 4，000 small and medium textile and clothing enterprises， and having achieved the most complete and strongest integration of the Shishi textile and clothing industry. It is currently the first Textile and Clothing Industry Alliance at county and municipal level. The alliance has built a public service platform for Shishi textile and clothing industry chain and open a new “sharing” development model of information consultation， technical training， horizontal alliance， and communication promotion. This year， the professional market and industry associations jointly undertake the project， making STCF closer to the industrial market and the needs of the industry， and highlighting the effectiveness of the exhibition.

Centralizing the exhibition area and canceling the separate exhibition areas. This year， there is no separate exhibition zones outside the main exhibition area. Instead， and the exhibition area is concentrated on exhibition area of Shishi International Textile City， including clothing for boys and girls， fabric， accessories， machinery， electric business， industry， production and research， industrial cluster， technological innovation， OEM & ODM， Taiwan Museum and popular trend release area， to compress the area of the exhibition hall， condense the essence of the industry， and create a trade-based professional exhibition.

The organizers also have held many industry forums and exchanging conference such as industrial business conference for school uniform and professional wear， and industrial business conference for casual and man sports clothing to enhance the effect of promoting function of the economic growth by the exhibition.

The focus of forum on new retail and global markets. As an example of that， the Shishi e-commerce conference is held to create a 1，350-square-meter e-commerce experience hall in Shishi International Textile City. The exhibition area further deepens the concept of the offline e-commerce application scene in the new retail era and expresses the online core idea that “new e-commerce companies have brought new lifestyle”.

Fashion sharing： Building a new concept for local culture

In the process of reform and opening up， the development of Quanzhou enterprises is no longer only limited to the domestic market， and they have begun to think about how to play the power of brands and culture. At present， Chinese element has gradually become an important label in the global fashion industry market. Li Ning， Peacebird and Septwolves have appeared on the New York and Milan Fashion Weeks. Local designers such as Ji Wenbo， Mr. Cabbeen and Cai Meiyue and their works from Shishi have frequently appeared the stage of the worlds top fashion week. The persistence and concentration of original design have begun to strengthen the designers confidence in local culture. The stunning performance of nearly 20 shows on 2018 China Shishi International Fashion Week pushes local design forces to a new peak.