The second edition of the ASEM Silk Road Fashion Festival, held at the capital city of Urumqi in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang Uyghur, attracted participation of 107 local exhibitors from the region, which is double compared to its previous edition. 

 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Couget West, Regional Vice President of the Autonomous Region Party Committee, said Xinjiang is the largest producer of high-quality cotton in China, and majority of the people in the region are employed in the textile and garment industries.

 

The festival is aimed at attracting foreign investors towards the textile and garment enterprises in Xinjiang, in order to promote the domestic textiles sector and provide employment to millions of people in the region, he added.

 

The five-day fashion festival held under the theme ‘Colorful Ethnic Fashion’ included 9 events such as the ‘Eurasian Silk Clothing & Accessories Fair’, ‘Eurasian Fashion Week’, ‘Textile Industry Cooperation Symposium of Yuanjiang and Xinjiang provinces’, ‘Ethnic Clothing Culture Exhibition’ and more.

 

The ‘Textile Industry Cooperation Symposium of Yuanjiang and Xinjiang provinces’ seminar saw participation from various representatives of textile and garment industries from the provinces, who discussed on topics such as active use of raw material, energy resources, land resources and human resources in order to develop the textile and garment sector in the regions.

 

At the seminar, Mr. Xu Ying, vice president of the China Textile Industry Association, said that it was important to break away from the traditional development ideas to ensure a more labor-intensive textile and clothing sector in the regions.  

 

The Eurasian Fashion Week 2013 turned out to be the biggest highlight of the fashion festival where 25 fashion designers from 21 different countries including Russia, Turkey and Spain, showcased their collections.