Shanghai Fashion Week is going digital. This week, about 150 brands will showcase their upcoming collections online via Alibaba-owned luxury e-commerce player Tmall’s online platform.
Since the event was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in early February, the number of new infections in China — the first country to be hit by an outbreak — has declined, but citizens and businesses have been urged by the authorities to remain cautious.
During the event’s six-day span, brands will livestream their new collections — some in the traditional runway format, others more casually in their studios — to an online audience. The roster includes local labels Icicle, Yuhan Wang, Private Policy and global names including shoe brands Rothy’s and Converse. Meanwhile, retailers Lane Crawford and Net-a-Porter will also host their own sessions in a bid to reach consumers tuning into the shows.
Organisers have arranged for brands to access green screens and AR technology to bring their runway shows online, while designers will also have opportunities to introduce viewers to their collections and interact with them through the platform — a move that could make this season Shanghai Fashion Week’s the most consumer-facing one yet.
“Tmall has great online capabilities, and we’ve worked together to bring offline shows online,” said Shanghai Fashion Week’s Vice Secretary General Lv Xiaolei. “Ultimately, our goal is first to raise brand awareness among consumers and secondly to give brands the tools to make the most of it.”
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