California Apparel News

HONG KONG—The mood was generally positive among buyers and exhibitors at the Jan. 16–19 run of Hong Kong Fashion Week held at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, despite signs of a flagging economy in Hong Kong and in the United States, the country’s largest export partner.

The number of exhibitors at Hong Kong Fashion Week increased over last year, but attendance was down at this run of the bi-annual show, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Fashion Week organizers.

The show drew 818 exhibitors, an increase over last year’s 782 exhibitors. The total number of visitors to attend this year’s show was tabbed at 15,302, compared to the 16,635 visitors who attended last year.

The majority of exhibitors and buyers said they anticipate business to improve this year over 2000, according to research done on the show floor during Fashion Week by market research firm AC Neilsen. However, most respondents—a mix of buyers and exhibitors—said they expect the improvements to be minimal. The Fashion Week market study found 57 percent of the buyers interviewed and 53 percent of the exhibitors interviewed expect 2001 to be “slightly better than 2000.” Those expecting solid growth in the coming year were significantly lower: 12 percent of buyers interviewed and 16 percent of exhibitors interviewed said they expect 2001 to be “better than 2000,” according to the study. Approximately one-quarter of the buyers and exhibitors interviewed said they expected this year to be on par with last year.

The general optimism comes as Hong Kong looks forward to a year of more-modest growth, according to several economists polled by Hong Kong iMail, a local daily English-language newspaper. The forecasters project Hong Kong’s economy to grow approximately 4 percent this year—a sizable decrease from the nearly 12 percent economic growth seen in the first nine months of 2000. Moreover, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s maneuvers to stave off recession in the U.S. by adjusting interest rates have done little to quell the signs of a weakening U.S. economy.

A tightened economy both here and in the U.S. could spur Hong Kong apparel manufacturers to seek more U.S. business, and U.S. apparel companies to consider moving domestic production offshore in search of lower production costs.

The U.S. brought in more than $4.3 billion in apparel during 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textile and Apparel (OTEXA), which gathered import data from Hong Kong through November 2000, the most recent data available. This marked a 7.7 percent increase over the same 11-month period the year before. But the most recent data available for 2000 has not yet climbed back to the $4.6 billion mark recorded for 1998.

One-Stop Shopping forManufacturers

Hong Kong Fashion Week is split into two sections—a fashion exhibition, which included 12 fashion shows featuring 78 designers (see pages 10 and 11 for highlights from the fashion shows). The trade show also has an apparel manufacturing sourcing section.The exhibition hall is divided into two sections with apparel and accessory manufacturers from Asia exhibiting their collections on the first floor; and private label and package manufacturers, as well as related services and suppliers exhibiting on the second floor of the hall.

Hong Kong apparel manufacturing is comprised of Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM), Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) and Original Brand Manufacturing (OBM), according to HKTDC members.

OEM is similar to contract manufacturing. ODM is similar to package production in which a company provides original designs as well as manufacturing capabilities. OBM is manufacturing under a company’s own brand name. The first floor of the trade show was devoted to OBM—branded—manufacturers. The second floor included companies that provide OEM and ODM services.

The HKTDC’s efforts to promote the show have centered on polishing the overall presentation, according to Anthony Keung, a member of the Garment Advisory Committee of the HKTDC.

“We’ve worked hard to attract more buyers,” he said, adding, “It’s the chicken and the egg situation. In order to attract retailers, we must have a quality show.”

Keung said the trade organization rewards returning buyers by giving them access to the retailer lounge, which provides computers, Internet access, phones, refreshments and other resources and services.

Hong Kong is also in transition from a mass-production manufacturing center to more of afashion and marketing center, making it “critical” to internationally promote the region’s brand names, according to Christopher Chen, chairman of the HKTDC Garment Advisory Committee. However, the HKTDC is also working to develop the manufacturing side of the show as well, according to Chen, who addressed the topic during the opening ceremonies of the trade show.

“In addition to Fashion Week, the Trade Development Council and the fashion industry are working together to consolidate the image of Hong Kong as a quality supplier and sourcing hub,” he said. “By offering a one-stop solution, we are confident that the Hong Kong garment and fashion industry will continue to thrive in the years to come.”

Brand Building

Hong Kong Fashion Week attracted the attention of top Chinese officials such as Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China, an elected position Tung won in 1997. Tung was on hand at the opening ceremonies of Fashion Week. He used the opportunity to stress the need for Hong Kong to develop and export its own branded apparel lines.

Hong Kong’s apparel sector must prepare for changes in the industry, including the elimination of quotas on textile and apparel exports, and begin to develop itself as a center for branded fashion apparel, Tung said.

“The removal of the textile quota system in 2005 will present Hong Kong’s garment and fashion industry with a new challenge—and a new opportunity,” Tung explained. “Hong Kong’s apparel manufacturers are already extending their business to Mainland China and other countries in the region,” he said, adding that “Hong Kong’s garment and fashion industry must speed up their effort to go direct and compete in the world market and to do so, we must do more to develop our own Hong Kong brand names.”

The chief executive noted Hong Kong’s development as “an increasingly service-oriented economy,” but stressed the garment and fashion industry’s strength as “the largest manufacturing sector in Hong Kong, accounting for 24 percent of our manufacturing workforce.” He credited this strong position on Hong Kong garment manufacturers’ “dedication and enterprising spirit...and their determination to continue to enhance competitiveness through pricing, quality and creativity.”

Trends from the show—and from the streets of Hong KongLight on logos

There were not many large, prominent logos worn by the Hong Kong people—most turned up worn by visitors to popular tourist destinations such as Victoria Peak and Harbour City shopping mall. But the mall did include many well-known international brands including some particularly familiar-to-California names such as Quiksilver, Roxy, Esprit and Beverly Hills Polo Club.Always accessible

The four designers in the Hong Kong Fashion Flash Show each walked the runway with models wearing their designs, waved to the audience, then lined up on the stage for a final group bow. Kowloon-based designer Yuen Pui Chun—smartly accessorized with a tiny cell phone worn on a cord around her neck—answered a call while she was on stage waiting for the other designers to walk the runway and take their bows. She chatted briefly on stage, hanging up in time for the group bow. Inflationary fashion

Australian designer Bowie Wong used an oversized U.S. dollar print (Benjamin Franklin’s image from a $20 bill, to be exact) as trim for his streetwear line of womenswear. Fur, fur and more fur

Fur festooned the runways in Hong Kong. Some was faux but most was real, in both natural and supernatural shades. Styles ranged from subtle stoles to candy-colored cropped jackets. The freshest fur look was a cross between a sole and a shrug—a tube worn casually draped over one or both arms.Jumbo corsages

A supersized version of the Carrie flower turned up in the Asia-Pacific Designers Show and in the Hong Kong Fashion Flash Show. Designer Greenie Chau’s version was diaphanous and feminine and Tony Chow’s farcical version accessorized an 80s-inspired ensemble in black leather and turquoise knit. More popular than Elvis

A Marilyn Monroe impersonator made the rounds at a cocktail party that preceded the Hong Kong Fashion Extravaganza, the opening-night fashion show and party that drew notables from Asian fashion, television and film.