As the dust settles on the 12^th Season of Ontimeshow, we can happily report that over the past two months, we have been able to once again see friends and family, return to work, and hold our AW2020 event. We reflect on what was a successful event amidst difficult circumstances, the completion of which gives us hope that the fashion industry across the world will recover with renewed vigour.

NUMBERS

The Preview event from 8^th-15^th April and the main exhibition 26^th-30^th April lasted a total of 13 days. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the brands participating in this exhibition were almost exclusively designer brands from China and around Asia; these included ANGEL CHEN, ALPHASTYLE, YES BY YESIR, CONCISE-WHITE, WAN YI FANG, HAIZHEN WANG and others. Brands like MUZKIN, ZESH, and GE 3.21 also held order fairs through Ontimeshow at separate venues.

A total of 2765 people attended this season’s exhibitions, including 1082 buyers, 548 brands, and 185 retailers; these three key demographics made up close to 70% of attendees. The number of brands and visitors this season was, as expected, lower than in recent seasons, but one positive of this was that we were able to get more detailed and specific feedback from our attendees.

PERSPECTIVES

"The Cloud"

The most obvious change the crisis has accelerated is digitisation. From digital runway shows and live cloud-based shopping exhibitions, designers across the industry have gone through great lengths to ensure that they can show their season’s collections. These shifts have created new opportunities, and brands paying close attention to market trends and customer needs have seen success when exploring new online channels.

 

Ontimeshow has also worked to move to the cloud through live broadcasts and Vlog-style content. In addition, we have taken the initiative to develop Ontimeorder, a digital wholesale order platform, in anticipation of growing future demand for online wholesale ordering.

"Designer brands are no longer merely niche brands"

Consumer-facing livestream sales have also become far more common in recent months. An increasing number of boutiques are using live streams to showcase products to their customers, and through this, they and their brands have succeeded in reaching wider audiences. For example, Yu Xiaoyue’s brand CONCISE-WHITE has expanded beyond its original niche customer demographic of arty young people.

"Designer brands must not sacrifice creativity when growing commercially”

With the growing spending power of Gen Z consumers and the emergence of new, highly creative designer brands, the creativity we are seeing has not been limited to clothing design, but extends to unique cultural references, innovative product displays, and playful ways to interact with the collection; all things that Gen Z customers love.

 

Charles Yaoyu Wang of Dongliang told us that they update their brand selection every season. In selecting new brands, they consider not just style, quality, and price, but also the cultural characteristics and overall creativity of the brand.

During the pandemic, consumers have become more conservative with their spending, and in this environment, the designer’s originality can have a greater impact on whether a customer ultimately purchases a piece; Wang noted that Dongliang’s customers will not buy brands that seem too plain or commercialised.

Originality and creativity are what motivate designers to establish their own brands in the first place, and this should also be the basis for how designer brands approach expanding commercially. For LOCAT, a Hangzhou-based buyer store, the originality of the product is a key factor for their buyers. Their customers are particularly averse to pieces that look like imitations of other brands. They believe there is a lot of room for original designers in the future, and consumers also prefer clothes that are made with a design-minded aesthetic.

The curtain has closed on the 12^th Season of Ontimeshow, but we continually strive to explore and serve the fashion industry. We hope to continue discussing these topics further with people across the fashion industry, even after the pandemic subsides.