Denim Talks: Finding Insight, Innovation and Inspiration at Kingpins China-Hangzhou
We took a different approach to the Denim Talks seminar series at Kingpins China-Hangzhou, held May 23-24 at ADM More in Hangzhou. This year, we tried out some new ideas and topics and divided each day of the show into an overarching theme.
Innovation Day
Day one was very focused on innovation and we kicked off with an interesting panel discussion titled “Advancing Circularity in Denim: New Business Models and Regulatory Frameworks.” Drawing speakers from from very different areas of the industry, panelists included Philippe Li from The Mills Fabrica; Vincent Hu, representing TENCEL™ by Lenzing; and KK Chan from The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, who gave us some great insights into the groundbreaking research they do at HKRITA, with a strong focus on circularity and recycling. Representing the “useDEM” brand was Xenia Sidorenko, who leads a team creating upcycled denim products at scale in Shanghai and gave us a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities that doing this in China brings.
“Innovative Materials – From Lab to Loom” was moderated by Ada Huang from Asian Denim Magazine, with a panel made up of Lily Zhang Naia, from Eastman, who are experts in sustainable textiles and believe these products should be available to everyone; Janey Lee, from Yibin Grace/Canopy, which has just opened China’s first recycled textile dissolving pulp facility; and the amazing Amy Wang, from Advance Denim, who has done so much to promote sustainability and innovation in China and globally. We had a lot of audience participation using QR-coded questions such as “What are the major barriers to adopting new materials in your production process” and “How much of your team’s time is dedicated to innovation?” These questions provoked a long and interesting discussion.
In the afternoon, we kicked off with “Denim Disruption: Meet The Innovators Merging Denim with Innovation.” Moderator Vincent Qin, from Panther Textiles, got us started with a provocative opening question: “Tell us what your superhero name would be that’s linked to their job role. For example, [Kingpins CEO] Vivian Wang is definitely Wonder Woman. So, what would your superhero name be?” Panelists included Leo Gu, from Prosperity Textile; Philippe Li, from The Mills Fabrica; and Ryan Shao, from The LYCRA Company. Over the course of the conversation, Li shared how Mills Fabrica invests in innovative and disruptive companies and how they define what is innovative and disruptive. He highlighted a couple of the brands they invest in such as CIRC.
We finished off opening day discussing “Denim in the Digital Age: Building a Future-Ready Industry.” The panel included Professor Calvin Wong, from AiDLab where they do some amazing work with generative Ai; Anika Visser, the brand lead from UNSPUN, a super innovative brand that is creating a 3D weaving machine; and Jessica Lau, from Jeanologia. The conversation included a discussion of the benefits of collecting data and what you can measure with that data.
Inspiration Day
On day two, we switched gears with a focus on Inspiration.
Our opening panel was a completely new one and very relevant, given that we are all experiencing tremendous changes from global tariffs to sustainability, as well as the impact of a new generation of consumers and employees. We brought together four of our industry’s top leaders to discuss how they strategically deal with all of this. “Meet The Leaders: a Round Table with Denim Industry Leaders” included Janet Lui, from Crystal International Group; Wang DeSheng-Dickson, from GuangDong ShunDe NewLigao Garments; Amy Wang, from Advance Denim; and Cao Yunfeng, from JNBY FINERY, one of China’s leading fashion brands.
In “Key Pieces From Inspiring Wardrobes, a Collector’s Perspective,” focused on Hong Kong-based denim collectors David Cheng and Patrick Siu, from Vintage Style Research. They recently released a book called “The Golden Age of Hong Kong Vintage Collectors.” The Vintage Showroom’s Doug Gunn joined Cheng and Siu on stage to discuss the book and the importance of collecting vintage. They also brought along some very cool and inspiring pieces from the Vintage Style Research collection.
We examined market trends in “The Future of Denim: Industry Trends & the Rise of Upcycling.” Ada Huang, from Asian Denim Magazine, discussed the latest denim wash trends, followed by useDEM’s Xenia Sidorenko, who talked about upcycling denim and other fibers and the work that she and her team are doing in China.
Finishing off day two was “Meet the Creator,” a new project to highlight a top creator in our industry, learning about their work and important moments in their career and then digging into how these moments shaped their creativity and what we can all learn from this.
Cone Denim’s Kelvin Sin spoke with Wing, the designer of China’s Jingqiu Made brand, who talked about everything from his favorite pair of jeans to upcycling denim into cool hats. The entire conversation was a non-stop rollercoaster ride of inspiration, but Wing’s moving story about living in his studio during the COVID lockdown and finding inspiration in those difficult times inspired us to connect with Wing after the show and ask him to share that experience with the Kingpins newsletter audience (see our interview below).
