• Successful debut: More than 42,300 visitors at the first GREATER BAY AREAINTERNATIONAL TEXTILE & APPAREL EXPO including CHIC SHENZHEN

• China's economy: Recovery and a growth forecast of 3.2 percent in the second quarter

• Core topics of trade and industry:"Sustainable fashion", "Creative design", "Supply chain construction"

• Service provider CHIC: CHIC ONLINE applet parallel to CHIC's first offline trade fair this   year

A total of 42.374 visitors took the opportunity to see the collections of the more than 2.000 companies at the “Greater Bay Area International Textile and Apparel Expo”, which took place from July 15 to 17, 2020 in Asia's most modern exhibition center, Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. The fair was organized in compliance with all necessary safety and hygiene measures to prevent any infection. For example, visitors had to register with their ID number, were only allowed to enter with their "green code" app and a travel record and visitors from risky areas had to show evidence of a negative RNA test.

Greater  Bay  Area  International  Textile  and  Apparel  Expo took  place  on  over 80,000  square  meters of  exhibition  space for CHIC  Shenzhen, Intertextile,  Yarn Expo  and  PH  Value.  A  total  of  more  than 2,000  exhibitors presented  the  entire supply  chain  and  comprehensively  showed  the  most  modern  innovations  in  the textile and fashion industry.

Economic activity in China is normalizing again, China's foreign trade grew by 1.5% in June, experts believe growth of more than three percent is possible in the second quarter of the year. Consumer demand is increasing, industrial production and the service sector are gaining momentum again.

"CHIC   Shenzhen exceeded   our   expectations,   especially   under   the   difficult conditions  for  the  preparation  and  implementation  of  the  fair. We  are  very  happy that  we  were  able  to  welcome twice as  many  visitors  as  expected at CHIC. Our buyers  even  came  from Switzerland,  USA,  Germany,  Italy,  UK  and  Russia. Sending  their  representatives  who  are  already  located  in  China  they  managed to keep up their business despite current travel restrictions. The market participants unanimously confirmed how extremely important the meeting on this platform was for the resumption of their business. The need for personal meetings is great, the match making events were used intensively and the workshops and summits were heavily  frequented.  The  market  development  is  positive,  consumer  demand  is increasing, things are going up again. We are confident about the upcoming CHIC events and the market development." Chen Dapeng, President of CHIC and China National Garment Association.

Exhibitors

The collections at CHIC Shenzhen were presented in 13 trade fair segments, including URBAN VIEW (menswear), DENIM WORLD, NEW LOOK (womenswear), HERITAGE (leather & fur), CHIC TAILORING (bespoke),

IMPULSES (designercollections), BAGS & SHOES, SECRETSTARS (accessories), YOUNG BLOOD (young streetwear labels), CHIC KIDZ, FUTURE LINK (new technologies), etc.

In the IMPULSES area, the booth of Chinese luxury lingerie brand MERRIGE, which caused a sensation last year with the eLSi Fashion bridal collection at Milan Fashion Week, was just as much a visitor magnet as the charming collection by designer Cherry Zhuang, who skilfully innovates Western and Eastern aesthetics, connecting these two directions with each other, and who has developed a unique style.

Internationally, at HERITAGE Kopenhagen Fur and Saga Fur were represented and reported successful order activities at CHIC. In the SECRET STARS area, Asiya International Trade presented Indian cashmere scarves and shawls. iGarment, HongKong Fur Factory, Win Seng/VICACCI from Hong Kong were present with their Chinese branches.

Well-known Chinese brands showed in URBAN VIEW like Zhuangchen, Paishi or Nuohua; bespoke companies such as Fashion Dream Works, Oriental International Group or Weidu Textile presented their craftsmanship in the area of CHIC TAILORING; NEW LOOK welcomed companies like Meirenji and Lyn Fong. SIIJII used YOUNG BLOOD again as a platform. In the FUTURE LINK area, i.a. the latest technology for recycled denim fibershas been presented: REPREVE, which can collect whole body data within 20 seconds.

The designerbrand RICOCAO exhibited at CHIC for the first time in the IMPULSES area. RICOCAO is a young brand which was founded by the former head of design of the well known Chinese ladies wear brand Ochirly. “Our aim wasto promote the brand, expand our business channel, and to see if ourproduct is welcomed by the market. CHIC is the platform to meet some front-line franchising buyer's shopsand we have met some promising potential clients. We received a very positive market response and we gained important info for our product development through our talks at CHIC.”(Mrs. Cao Aixia, founder).

SEAGULLVVO, a fashion casual brand, used CHIC to promote their online shop and ODM at the same time. They also already have offline shops in Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan and other first tier cities. “At CHIC we were able to meet buyers from Northern China.” (Mr. Luo Zheng, General Manager).