Emerging Taiwanese designers such as Seivson’s Jill Shen believes that clothing should go back to functionality, its ability to connect with daily life and maximize possibilities of styling. Shen started her brand in 2017 and has also been invited to participate in Tokyo Fashion Week. Her FW21 collection is called ‘2062 Morn’ and asks the question, “what is the message in 2062 you’d want to tell yourself now in 2021?”
C Jean FW21 Lost Birds (left), Dleet FW21 Time-pausing (center), Douchanglee FW21 (right)
#Damur FW21 #kiosk, downtown Taipei crosswalk concert featuring Taiwanese American rapper Øzi
The full list of designers that presented their FW21 brand collection during TPEFW included Allenko3, Bob Jian, C Jean, Dleet, Douchanglee, Gioia Pan, INF, Isabelle Wen, Seivson, Shiatzy Chen, Silzence men, Uuin, #Damur.
Inaugural Taipei Sustainable Collection
On March 11, TPEFW launched its first Taipei Sustainable Collection show featuring 6 sustainable labels consisting of #Damur, Claudia Wang, Dycteam, Just In XX, oqLiq and Weavism. According to Metabolic, a Dutch consulting company that tackles major sustainability challenges, Taiwan’s textile industry has a long history of specialization in performance fabric made from waste-based products (PET bottles, coffee ground) and are pioneering circularity and sustainability efforts in this region. As a leading hub of sustainable textiles, the Taipei Sustainable Collection represented the strong link between the local fashion designers and the Taiwanese textile industry.
The Vice Minister of Culture, Lee Lien-chuan, announced at the TPEFW press conference: “The inaugural Taipei Sustainable Collection shows the strong collaboration between culture and the Taiwanese economy. Mostly, it presents the five pillars we uphold: Reuse, reduce, recycle, redesign and repurpose. We are not only concerned about the clothing itself, but the broader industrial ecosystem. Through the integration of the Taiwanese fashion industry in the upper, middle and lower reaches, we hope to achieve a circular economy ecosystem from the industrial supply end, brand design end to the consumer end-to where textile factories producing from raw materials are ‘reduced’. Clothing brands reuse existing resources and reduce production energy consumption to achieve ‘recycling’. Finally, consumers buy and ‘reuse’ products to improve resource efficiency.”
Through the integration of the Taiwanese fashion industry in the upper, middle and lower reaches-we hope to achieve a circular economy ecosystem from the industrial supply end, brand design end to the consumer end.
Lee Lien-chuan, Vice Minister of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Rin Lin, Executive Assistant to the Director of Condé Nast Taiwan/CNX (who were participating partners of TPEFW FW21) told FashionUnited, “TPEFW will also take ‘sustainability’ as the long-term core target. The scale will continue to expand in the future, and non-fashion week curated exhibitions will also be held to reach more people.”
#Damur FW21 #Travelwear 2.0: washable protective fashion that helps to reduce the waste of medical equipment. This collection utilizes Taiwan’s latest metallic membrane and lamination technology in functional textiles.
Sustainable Taiwanese designers and their mission to combat greenwashing
After the shows, FashionUnited sat down with Berlin-based Taiwanese streetwear designer Shih-Shun Huang, founder and Creative Director of #Damur, who held an unconventional crosswalk concert to present his FW21 collection #kiosk and #Travelwear 2.0. Huang shared, “I do believe instead of endless greenwashing, customers need to pay more attention to the understanding of what is sustainability, what’s the metric behind the know-how and concept. To use or shop for organic cotton or recycle fiber products doesn’t mean that you are a sustainable customer.” He added that the challenge for designers now is being able to read the metric and understand the science and math of sustainable researches.
Just In XX (left), Weavism (center), Claudia Wang (right)
Justin Chou, the designer of Just In XX created a sustainable collection for Taiwanese Olympic athletes to wear during the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics using fabrics from domestic functional textile manufacturers derived from plastic bottles, industrial waste and non-toxic repurposed fabrics. Chou envisions each piece of his clothing telling its own story of sustainability.
Weavism, a streetwear label started by Tony Chen, the grandson of the founder of HerMin Textile, a Taiwanese functional fabric company established in 1976 that calls companies such as Coach and Tommy Hilfiger clients. Sourcing from his family business’ decades long industry knowledge, Weavism’s FW21 collection was designed with sustainable fabrics developed using only natural materials such as fish protein and entirely biodegradable with the goal of reducing microplastic pollution-usually resulting from the manufacturing of petroleum-based fabrics.
Young Talent-student Show FW21
Government support cultivating young talent for an international platform
Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture (MOC), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and Ministry of Education (MOE) along with the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) as participating partners all joined forces to organize Taipei Fashion Week FW21. This was also the first time the MOE and TPEFW presented 2 days of ‘Young Talent-student’ shows which featured 97 designers from four universities. 3 winners will be chosen by March 25 via online popularity and industry votes. TTF and numerous major Taiwanese textile companies such as Singtex and Far Eastern New Century Corporation (FENC) are all affiliated with TPEFW to directly source the next generation of designers. “TPEFW FW21 provided students with professional runways, models, show directors, media public relations and other resources. This industry-university exchange helps young talent to gain more exposure and actual experience,” CNX TW’s Lin explained.
Business Matchmaking, TPEFW showroom, livestreaming to foreign buyers
Even as a completely physical fashion week, virtual presence was just as important for TPEFW FW21. All the shows were livestreamed and currently on YouTube, influencers were seen live chatting with their followers on the front row. There was also a Business Matchmaking section organized by the MOEA to connect local businesses with global partners. In addition, an ongoing TPEFW FW21 showroom at Bellavita (a 9 level high-end mall near the Taipei 101) is spotlighting 42 brands until March 31-where collections are presented via livestreams for international buyers from France (Merci, Capsule), Hong Kong (Lane Crawford) to Japan (Baycrew’s Group, Isetan).
Photos: courtesy of Taipei Fashion Week, screenshot from TPEFW Instagram, courtesy of AOA Entertainment Lab
Reference: FASHIONUNITED