Alibaba, NYFW reach deal to bring US designers to Chinese market

Alibaba-owned online e-commerce platform Tmall confirmed its new partnership with New York Fashion Week (NYFW) on Wednesday. 

China's largest e-commerce platform Tmall [File Photo: meldingcloud.com]

Tmall, China’s largest e-commerce platform, will bring unmatched scale and technology to help US designers and brands reach the Chinese market for the first time. 

As part of the partnership, Alibaba has selected several US brands, including Opening Ceremony and Robert Geller, to feature in their second annual “See Now-Buy Now” fashion show hosted by Tmall in October. The show will be held in the run-up to the so-called "Single's Day" on November 11 – one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Alibaba said the US designers will gain exposure to "the more than 500 million consumers visiting Alibaba’s platform."

Selected Chinese designers from 2017's "See Now-Buy Now" show will subsequently be highlighted in New York Fashion Week in September 2018. Alibaba has not yet revealed details about the "NYFW: China Day" and the relevant designers.

Models present creations of LANYU Spring/Summer 2018 collection during the New York Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 11, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

New York has become a key international platform for Chinese designers. For instance, Wang Tao, Shanghai-based designer also known as "China’s Queen of the Suit", made her namesake label Taoray Wang a frequenter on the NYFW.

Wang, whose exclusive designs attracted a range of fashion elites including China’s deputy consul general for New York Zhang Meifang and Tiffany Trump, said that Chinese designers have more of a chance to explore international markets and New York is "very attractive" commercially.

In February, the Chinese fashion agency Suntchi signed an agreement, also part of an Alibaba deal, with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to facilitate fashion exchanges between the two countries.

Models present creations of LANYU Spring/Summer 2018 collection during the New York Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 11, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

There are also an increasing number of Chinese design students flocking to Parsons School of Design, one of the world top fashion schools, each year. 

The new Alibaba deal came at a time when US fashion brands are striving to capture Chinese consumers’ growing appetite for fashion.