Chinese seek European markets

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 25

Chinese seek European markets

FELIX DEARDEN,

of Reuters Hamburg Marco Polo started something by sending sumptuous Chinese silks to the royal courts of Europe more than seven centuries ago. Madame Shi Xueling is a modern-day successor promoting Western-style fashion made from Chinese fabrics aimed at the upper end of the European market. Her team of State-em-ployed models from Shanghai and Peking have been making their European debut in Dusseldorf and Hamburg showing off a range of clothes that made European manufacturers sit up and watch. "We want to make Chinese

traditional garments in a Western way and create a new style,” said Madame Shi, managing director in West Germany of the China National Textiles Import and Export Corporation (Chinatex). Chinatex wants to launch a new, up-market generation of Chinese garments in West Germany, the biggest European Community textile importer. “The European Community’s import quotas are our biggest problem in this market. We could sell far more goods without them,” said Madame Shi. “China is considered a traditional supplier of inexpensive cotton and woollen garments, but we want to change the image

and export high quality goods here to increase profits while quantities remain limited.” Eight years after the French designer Pierre Cardin introduced fashion shows to Peking, Madame Shi is marshalling China’s first modelling troupe and a group of young designers for West meets East. Their show begins with five coy models wearing traditional, silk sheath dresses slit thigh-high in cream, midnight blue and fuchsia pink. They weave around a stage hung with scarlet Chinese lanterns accompanied by Oriental music. But the mood and music soon shift Westward and the models reappear to stalk the catwalk in jade green, red, and black jump-

suits and narrow black sun glasses. The collection includes a full-length, slinky' black velvet evening gown with a sweep of silver sequins across the front and just one long sleeve. Short leather skirts teamed with tightly-belted slate-grey cotton jackets are worn with a pointed, stylised version of a Chinese peasant hat made of black straw. Soft, sleeveless pastel pink and peppermint floral dresses with broad, padded shoulders and nipped waists contrast with flowing tiger and leopardskin patterned shirts over mid-calf length black trousers. Madame Shi, aged 51, a

- small, affable woman with two children who live in Peking, worked for two years in Hamburg promoting a range of Chinese exports before setting up a branch for Chinatex. European clothing buyers attending the fashion shows say the Chinese are a force to be reckoned with in Europe in the future. Although import quotas are strict, they only cover lower quality goods. Silk, for example, is not restricted. Chinese textile exports were worth $5.3 billion last year. The European market accounts for just $440 million, and ranks well behind Hong Kong, the United States and Japan. I 1 " 1 " ""