Fashion set for era of 'high-quality' growth

Yang said preliminary data from this year's June 18 shopping festival indicate that China's fashion consumption has been recovering gradually, and certain categories, such as sportswear and womenswear, have rebounded strongly.

"Leading fashion brands have all seen double-digit growth in sales during the first quarter," she said.

"With the overall improvement in China's economy, the domestic fashion consumption market will continue to recover this year, and the consumption scale will steadily increase," said Chen Dapeng, vice-president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council.

"Standing at the starting point of a new cycle of resilient growth of the industry, the fashion industry has entered a new track of sustained acceleration in industrial recovery and upgrade," said Chen, who is also president of the China National Garment Association.

Yang said that for China's fashion consumption market to grow, luxury brands should pay attention to marketing and digital omnichannel operations. She said mid- to high-end brands should focus on image building and market education, while mass-market brands should enhance efficiency, make more distribution channels available and provide a complete set of services.

"Thanks to the rise of new-generation consumers and the promotion of e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, JD and Douyin, mid- to low-end clothing brands will show steady growth, and the growth rate is estimated to be higher than 3 percent to 4 percent," said Wu Daiqi, CEO of Keythink Culture Communication Co Ltd, a market research company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

"Luxury brands will witness even higher growth owing to the rise of the middle-income group. Fashion accessories will also experience rapid growth, as consumers' pursuit of beauty grows," she said.