China’s link with ‘Manchester Fashion City’

Meet Dr Zhimin Chen of the Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester is one of the UK’s most popular fashion cities, which makes it very appealing to many young Chinese to be part of the industry. Each year a number of Chinese study at the Department of Clothing Design and Technology in the Hollings Faculty of the Manchester Metropolitan University. It is the place to learn about the aesthetics, manufacturing technology and the business aspects of today’s fashion, a large part of which is produced in China!

Dr Zhimin Chen, Senior Lecturer at the Department, observes the development of this new trend: “In the 1960s and 70s, Chinese immigrants would arrive intending to open a restaurant or a supermarket, now they come to Manchester to set up a textile and fashion business or international trading businesses; take up a post in a government body or educational organization such as a college or university; or to study fashion at university. During the industrial revolution, Manchester developed both as the centre for the cotton trade and the base for cotton fabric design and manufacture. Fashion still feels at home here, but most manufacturing has moved elsewhere.”

Enormous growth

A large proportion of the fashion clothing sold in Manchester’s retail stores comes from China. China’s textile clothing regions such as Shanxi Province, Henan Province and Shandong Province have seen enormous growth in recent years. Because of the lower cost of labour in these inland regions, China can compete on price much better from there than from more developed regions like Guangdong province, which used to be strong in textiles clothing production twenty years ago.
Dr Chen underlines that China’s strength is not only low pricing, as many people seem to think, but also the quality and reliability that manufacturers offer. “I think competitive prices and good quality are what distinguish Chinese clothing production nowadays. The perceived disadvantage of distance to the western markets is overrated. I think China can compete well in terms of lead time by ship – roughly about 90 days on average – with producers in Turkey, Tunisia, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.”

Great connections

The Hollings Faculty is very well-known in the fashion, clothing and textile industry across the world. Dr Chen: ”It offers strong ties with universities in China, especially in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province, and of course in Hong Kong Special Administration Region.”
“There is a lot of interaction between these centres and our university. Chinese students often come to do part of their studies here. Every year we encourage our own fashion design students to enter some well-known and prestigious international fashion design competitions in China, like the Jeanswest Fashion Award held in Guangzhou and Beijing, the China Cup International Fashion Design Competition in Shanghai and the Humen Cup International Youth Design Competition held in Humen Town, Guangdong Province. These competitions offer a great way to get involved with the Chinese textiles, clothing and fashion industry. They are also a platform for Manchester’s students to show their skills to the world.”

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