The "new Chinese style" fashion trend has ignited a resurgence of Song brocade, a traditional Chinese silk craft renowned for its luxurious colors and resilient texture.
Encouraged by the surging need, manufacturers of the material also enhanced their production capacity.
"From the beginning of 2022 to the first half of 2024, at least 1,000 machines had been added in the Song brocade industry in China," said Wu Jianhua, president of Saint Joy, a silk factory in Suzhou, a city known as the capital of Song brocade.
The factory in east China's Jiangsu Province witnessed a boom of business in 2024, as weaving machines roared in the factory and hundreds of looms worked overtime to fulfill orders.
"With the rise of the new Chinese style over recent years, we start mass-producing ready-to-wear garments, and production peaked in 2024, with our Song brocade fabrics in short supply. We've also done a lot of online promotions. Sometimes, hundreds of meters of Song brocade were sold out seconds after it was released," said Wu.
Another producer in the city recalled the booming business, saying their looms now is more than ten times the past.
"Two years ago, we had 12 looms. By this year, we have expanded to 150 looms, with a maximum daily production capacity of around 1,600 meters. Due to a significant manpower shortage, we rehired experienced craftsmen who promptly joined the production line," said Bao Qiaomei, general manager of Dingsheng Silk.
Like many intangible cultural heritages, Song brocade went through ups and downs. Due to its high cost and limited clients, traditional Song brocade once nearly disappeared from the market, and few knew its weaving techniques.
However, it revived in 2003, when Qian Xiaoping, the only national inheritor of Song brocade weaving techniques, and her team restored many Song brocade works based on remnants and duplicated a loom to produce Song brocade.
Following its revival, Song brocade underwent industrialized development. In 2012, an electronic jacquard was developed, boosting production efficiency by 200 times and significantly cutting the costs compared to traditional manual weaving.
"After the patterns are created, they are transformed into an electronic format and inputted into the design software. Within a few days, I can produce clothes for many people. In the future, we may use smart factories for production," said Wu.
Revitalized ancient Song brocade techniques have brought beautiful garments into households nationwide.
As the sales growth of new Chinese-style clothing continues, the market of new Chinese-style clothing is expected to reach 19.11 billion yuan (about 2.62 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, data showed.
New Chinese fashion fuels comeback of traditional clothing material
