by Alex Pattupara
After having a hot cup of coffee enjoying the scenery in Suzhou from the hotel lobby, we headed over to Hangzhou at 07.30 AM by bus. After a 3 hour bus drive we finally reached the beautiful town named Hangzhou and drove directly to the High Fashion Group’s Campus. Although we arrived with a little bit of delay due to the traffic, Mr. Philip Tang and his employees welcomed us heartily.
During a brief presentation by Mr. Tang, he gave us an insight into the history, present and future of the High Fashion Group. He started off the presentation by explaining why the HF Group chose Hangzhou, also known as China’s prefecture of Silk, as their location in China. Furthermore he also explained us the different activities of HF group China like for example the Incubator Facility, where they encourage Start Ups to collaborate with them and help them take off. Moreover Mr. Tang mentioned the state of the art Research and Development facility of the HF Group which introduced innovative products like washable silk. The fact that HF Group initiates collaborative efforts with local institutes to profit from each other and that with help of Chinese government was very fascinating for me.
After the presentation we moved on to the much anticipated production tour where the delegation had the fantastic opportunity to interact with the employees and take a look at the impressive production of the silk clothes. To be able to take a close peek at the various procedures such as the digital printing using the ink jet printers and dying the silk clothes to create different patterns was really delightful. High Fashion Group invited the whole delegation to a delicious lunch at the campus canteen where each and every one of us had a chance again to mingle with the employees and to get to know them better.
Insight China Delegation parted ways with the High Fashion Group after the wonderful meal and headed over to the West Lake in Hangzhou where we had the pleasure to explore one of the most scenic spots in China. The day wounded up for the most delegation members by a tiring but joyful three hour bus drive back to Shanghai.
Welcome speech in the High Fashion Group meeting room
High-quality silk processed into fashionable clothes
Designers working on tailored designs
Sketches from designers
The delegation inspecting the process of printing patterns on the material
A little break for the Project Team at the scenic West Lake Hangzhou
Delegation member, Seraina Benz, drawing live at the West Lake Hangzhou
