On March 30, Lingdi Style3D 2024 China Garment Forum was successfully concluded in Beijing, and Chen Dapeng, vice president of China National Textile and Apparel Council and president of China Garment Association, delivered a closing speech at the conference. The full text of the speech is hereby published here for the benefit of readers.
Closing speech at Lingdi Style3D 2024 China Fashion Forum
Chen Dapeng, vice president of China National Textile and Apparel Council and president of China Garment Association
March 30, 2024
The 2024 China Fashion Forum is coming to an end, and in two days, a number of industry, cross-border experts, scholars, entrepreneurs, and designers gathered together to carry out ideological exchanges and innovative discussions around the theme of this year's forum - "A Good Era for Good Brands": focusing on the brand foundation, consolidating brand capabilities, towards the goal of high-quality development, and adapting to the development logic of different brands.
Because of thought, so profound, because of practice, so practice. Here, on behalf of the China Garment Association, the organizer of the forum, I would like to thank everyone present for their strong support and enthusiastic participation in the China Garment Forum!
Brand is an important carrier of quality, technology, reputation and culture, and is the core element to promote the high-quality development of the industry and enhance international competitiveness. Focusing on the theme of the forum of "Good Times of Good Brands", the exchanges between experts and entrepreneurs in two days also inspired me to think a lot, and I would like to share with you a brief time here:
First of all, "in the face of good times, believe to see": there is a good saying, "not because you see to believe, but because you believe to see". We live in a time when pressure and power, sea and fire. On the one hand, the uncertainty of the times remains. Between the ups and downs, the more confused, the more we must protect our determination, the more we are facing difficulties, the more we must be clear-minded; on the other hand, for Chinese clothing brands, the new opportunities and new dividends of the times are constantly generating, constantly changing, and constantly output. Only by choosing to believe in this era can we see it, and only by seeing it can we firmly grasp it.
A good era means that it is emerging with good "environmental variables" and "endogenous drives": we see that China's "demographic dividend" is improving to "talent dividend", the total amount of human resources, scientific and technological human resources, and the total number of R&D personnel rank first in the world, and the capital factors have also changed from shortage to abundance.
We see that at present, there are more than 400 million middle-income groups in China, and the demand for goods and services has changed from "whether it is available" to "whether it is good or not", and the momentum of consumption upgrading is strong.
We also see that artificial intelligence has become the standard of the fourth industrial revolution and is at the starting point of mass technological change, giving birth to a new quality of productivity in the fashion industry, and injecting new momentum and new paradigm into the development of fashion brands. Big data, large models, and large computing power go hand in hand, new materials, new technologies, and new manufacturing cross-penetrate, and the deep integration of digitalization, intelligence, and greening are effectively reshaping the value form, development boundary, innovation paradigm and competitive advantage of Chinese apparel brands.
Second, "to become a good brand, deep cultivation can be excellent": for a good brand, "deep cultivation" is related to an ultimate skill, a focused attitude, and a long-term doctrine. It is a powerful manifestation of brand value and the internal cultivation of brand character. A good brand in the new era must always maintain the uniqueness and innovation of the brand and continue to demonstrate the competitiveness and influence of the brand by taking "deep cultivation" as the essence, high-quality products with manufacturing and design synergy as the core, high-level governance with benefits and responsibilities as the support, and high-level culture combining tradition and modernity as the foundation.
We see that the good brand of Good Times is deeply engaged in the technological innovation of products - the innovative application of new materials, new processes and new technologies, the basic, cutting-edge and original technology research and development, intelligent manufacturing and lean management capabilities, giving birth to more and more super categories, and pushing the function, design and consumer experience of products to the extreme.
We see that the good brands of the good times are deeply cultivating the digital and intelligent integration of the market - more and more enterprises are adopting advanced and applicable technologies to carry out all-round and whole-process transformation and upgrading of the brand value chain, vigorously carry out the "data element ×" and "artificial intelligence +" actions, and accelerate the layout of new models and new formats such as live broadcast e-commerce, private domain traffic, and smart retail around the "consumer-centric" market value creation logic, and continue to explore the metaverse, 3D simulation, AIGC and other digital fashion creative frontiers, promote the integration and innovation of digital technology, application scenarios and business models.
We see that a good brand in a good era is deeply cultivating the time and space reconstruction of culture - the consumer's mind is the starting point and foothold of brand value creation, pointing to new values, new aesthetic interests, new emotional structures, and new lifestyles. With the rapid growth of the new generation of consumer groups and the continuous emergence of new lifestyles, facing the needs of consumers' minds, based on the keen perception and profound response to the beauty of life, the beauty of life and the beauty of ecology, deeply cultivating the time and space reconstruction of tradition and contemporary, the Orient and the world, providing new scenes and new imaginations for brand innovation and design creativity, and creating a more unique, more layered, and more Chinese style recognition, value experience and philosophical thinking.
We see that a good brand in a good era is deeply cultivating and developing moral values - yesterday Chairman Sun mentioned eight words in the report: "Clothes carry the way, wealth and righteousness." In fact, this is not only the brand "clothing as a medium", the development of low-carbon, resource efficiency and social inclusion as the characteristics of green productivity, the transmission of a green development values, to achieve the friendly environment, friendly with nature, and friendly with human society;
Third, local feelings, global vision. A good brand and a good era will complement each other. From a good Chinese brand to a world brand, the key is to resonate and complement each other with the context of the development of the global fashion industry. It is believed that the future of Chinese clothing brands will be able to base themselves on China, look at the world, have the courage and be good at allocating resources and developing markets on a global scale with local feelings and world vision, efficiently gather global innovation elements such as knowledge, technology, management, capital, brand, and talents, reach overseas consumers through multiple channels and at a deep level, and expand the market, establish style, and establish discourse in a higher level of opening up.
In short, a good brand comes from a great era, and a good era makes a great brand. What we want to do is to "choose one thing and do it for a lifetime" and live up to this great era. Take the brand as the sail, bear in mind the "great man of the country", anchor the "trend of ambition", run Hengye with perseverance, cast strength with hard work, jointly promote the resonance of brand strategy and national strategy at the same frequency, promote the organic interaction between brand image and national image, help the domestic market and the international market to connect efficiently, and move forward bravely and resolutely towards the bright future of brand power and fashion power!