AW25 M SPACE Co-Creation Forum Opens
From Original Intent to New Horizons: Launch Forum Explores Brand Breakthroughs
On March 25, riding the momentum of the opening of the 2025 Autumn/Winter Shanghai Fashion Week, the new season of the M SPACE Co-Creation Forum commenced warmly in front of over a hundred onsite guests and a vast online audience.
As a hub for deep industry insights, the M SPACE launch forum set a clear agenda, focusing on brand business sustainability and future industry development sustainability. Key figures such as Ma Kai (founder of M essential), Li Yushan (co-founder of PRONOUNCE), international fashion critic Angelo Flaccavento, Wang Yizhi (founder of Fabrique), Josh Perlman (EVP and Head of Greater China at Authentic Brands Group), Zhu Guangxian (VP of Belle Fashion Group), and Professor Du Huanzheng (Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy, Tongji University) were invited to share their perspectives. Guided by moderator Cui Dan (founder of canU参聿 and special advisor to M SPACE), they engaged in roundtable discussions and keynote sharing, looking back on their original intentions while envisioning the future, collectively sketching a “Quality Shapes New Horizons” roadmap.
A Decade of Refinement, Crafting the Future with Original Intent
In the first roundtable discussion, Cui Dan conversed with Ma Kai and Li Yushan—two creative forces who have each undergone a decade of growth in China’s design scene—and international critic Angelo Flaccavento. They analyzed how brands, especially Chinese designer brands, can achieve long-term relevance on domestic and global fashion stages.
Ma Kai, who describes himself as a “not-so-typical designer” with a background in commercial branding, shared the joy of finding balance between design and marketing, creator and operator, work and life. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a brand’s unique style:
“Building a brand is a long-term endeavor. The designer’s lived experiences are invaluable, but the key is unwavering persistence alongside continual self-development. Our brand was founded with the intention of serving sophisticated women who dress for themselves. Although trends change, our positioning has remained constant. Over time, the market has shifted from surface-level cultural confidence to a genuine appreciation for festive dressing during holidays like Chinese New Year, allowing us to benefit from this change and gain market recognition. Compared to large brands, we are smaller, more agile, and closer to consumers, allowing us to balance business, design, and growth even in challenging economic environments.”
Li Yushan reflected on his decade-long journey with PRONOUNCE:
“From our first modern Zhongshan suits being doubted, to working non-stop and sacrificing personal time to reach our 10-year milestone, we persevered because we truly believed in what we were doing.”
He emphasized that the integration of Eastern elements in Chinese brands is about deep creative paths, not superficial symbols. Drawing on examples like incorporating terracotta warrior motifs, he highlighted:
“The grander the theme, the harder it is to distill into a brand’s language. Our design process feels like ongoing research, and although we often hit walls, the breakthroughs are more exhilarating than the failures.”
He also shared how PRONOUNCE increased orders during the pandemic, showcasing the advantages of Chinese brands in adaptability, stability, and cultural resource depth, encouraging young designers to use diverse approaches to reimagine traditional culture.
Angelo Flaccavento remarked that blending design and tradition doesn’t require overt symbols but can be expressed through silhouette, fabric, and craftsmanship in more subtle, modern ways. He praised Shanghai Fashion Week’s rich content, diverse expressions, and distinctive brand voices:“Globally, large brands often lack fresh ideas despite vast resources. Independent brands may not be perfect, but they often have a clear DNA and flexible expression, offering fresh perspectives that the market increasingly appreciates.”
Cui Dan summarized the discussion with keywords like “persistence,” “differentiation,” and “anchoring style”:“The industry is at a turning point, shifting toward stability. To find the best path forward, we must remain committed to quality, our original intentions, and the essence of brand-building.”
Co-Creation Models: Building Collaborative Ecosystems
In an era where algorithms reshape cognition and AI drives development, the industry faces rapid transformation and evolving consumer demands. Only by continually fostering innovation, strengthening co-creation, and building collaborative ecosystems can brands thrive amid risks and challenges.
Wang Yizhi, founder of Fabrique—a brand known for its unique commercial model—shared how Fabrique emerged to address the challenges designers face in balancing creativity with scalability and efficiency. With a vision to “connect culture and creativity through fashion,” Fabrique collaborates with over 350 designers worldwide, prioritizing design-centered, consumer-connected experiences while using digital systems to efficiently translate creativity into products.
During the sharing, Wang Yizhi revealed: “At the beginning of establishing the brand, we found that many people were discussing niche brands and designer brands. Later, through research, we found that designer brands have strong growth, but the development of designers who can solve creative problems well is limited. Unable to solve scale and efficiency issues. Fabrique was born to solve problems for creators from end to end. We break traditional boundaries, put designers at the front desk, and provide all-round content presentation with people at the center, allowing them to face consumers and establish emotional links with consumers; and through the complex digital management system behind them, let creativity smoothly turn into products; And through the sustainability of the entire chain of enduring design and production, warehousing, and logistics, we can realize the long-termism of fashion.” In addition, Wang Yizhi also emphasized: “Although we are called future business disruptors, for us, we do not interfere with the designers' original brand ecology, but hope to provide continuous support and provide continuous support on the basis of respecting creative freedom. grow together.”
In the second roundtable meeting that followed, Josh Perlman, executive vice president of Authentic Brands Group and head of Greater China, and Zhu Guangxian, vice president of Belle Fashion Group, described the reasons and future plans for the two parties to work together. It is reported that last year, Authentic Brand Group acquired the classic fashion sports brand Champion. During this season's Shanghai Fashion Week, Authentic and China's leading fashion shoe and apparel company Belle Fashion officially announced their strategic cooperation on the Champion brand.
As a leading global brand management company, the Authentic Brands Group group owns more than 50 brands.“ For us, the core feature is a flexible business model. We often say that there is not one brand that fails, but that its business model may be problematic. When we acquire a brand, there will be an innovation in the business model, and in this process we need suitable partners. We have more than 1,700 partners around the world, and in the Chinese market, Belle Fashion's strong channels and successful experience are what we need. By joining forces with Belle Fashion, we can take the Champion brand to the next level. In the cooperation, what we have to do is, on the one hand, bring the brand's global popularity to China. At the same time, we will fully empower Belle Fashion, leverage its local advantages, and adapt to the Chinese local market faster.” Josh Perlman stated.
Zhu Guangxian emphasized the basis of cooperation between the two parties and their own unique advantages, and shared his experience in localizing the international classic brand Champion: “**, we have made many brands, respected the brand DNA, and knew how to cooperate with different brands; second, We have been deeply involved in the local market for more than 30 years and know that the century-old genes of global brands need to grow in Chinese soil. Localization is not a simple replication, but a common growth. We chose “Hand in Hand”—— both to respect brand genes and to incorporate local insights. Third, we have more than 20 brand management experiences, more than 8,000 offline direct stores and an online omni-channel retail network, backed by the group's strong supply chain capabilities, plus our deep understanding of Chinese consumers through digitalization. Insight can allow us to continue to deepen our efforts in 『classic reengineering』 and 『classic creation』 While "better expressing the spirit of brand culture, it also injects new impetus into Champion, drives the brand out of the circle, realizes brand upgrading, allows Chinese consumers to obtain more high-quality brand experiences, and allows innovative products in Champion's Chinese market to feed back to the global market." market.”
As the focus of continuous attention since the launch of the M SPACE project, “green sustainable development issues” are the finale. Professor Du Huanzheng, Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy at Tongji University and Dean of the Yangtze River Delta Institute of Circular Economy Technology, shared the practical results of circular economy technology in the field of textiles and clothing from the dimension of industry-university-research cooperation to create a win-win situation.
“More and more people are calling for the removal of coal and oil. The fashion industry is accelerating into a new era of bio-based materials and recycled materials. This not only requires the efforts of fashion companies, but also requires in-depth research from the academic community to use scientific and technological power. Solve the performance problems of recycled materials, lead consumers to make green consumption choices, and change their understanding of recycled materials.” Professor Du, who has ridiculed himself for having been associated with garbage for many years, introduced at the beginning the in-depth cooperation between the technical team he led and the NIKE brand “old shoe rebirth” project to help the brand establish a demonstration case for green fashion dialogue with the younger generation. Sharing, expounding on brand, policy, industry chain, The different roles and responsibilities of consumers in promoting the sustainable development of the industry and their importance, and emphasized that “young people are the main force of sustainable green consumption, and brands adhering to the concept of sustainable development will be more likely to win the favor of the younger generation. Brands and academic research institutions should strengthen joint efforts and promote the guidance of consumers' sustainable consumption concepts, explore more sustainable development fashion trends, promote green consumption, and create a better green future.”
In addition, he also introduced that the “Yangtze River Delta Circular Economy Technology Research Institute” has reached a strategic cooperation with the “Shanghai Fashion Design Association”, using the Shanghai Fashion Design Association as the core carrier, with the academic support and technological innovation of the Yangtze River Delta Circular Economy Technology Research Institute as the core carrier. Support, connect and open up fashion creative industry chain resources, from the cultivation of creative talents to the exploration of future fabrics We will start from three aspects to build a green supply chain ecosystem and jointly explore more green fashion futures. At the end of the keynote speech, Wang Rong, president of the Shanghai Fashion Design Association, and Professor Du took the stage together to officially announce the conclusion of the strategic cooperation between the two parties.
Whether it is the shaping of the brand's worldview, the insistence and pursuit of aesthetics conveyed by Chinese designers and Chinese brands in the ten-year development path “creators”, or the risk game in the ten-year economic cycle On the road, domestic and foreign fashion companies and platforms have laid a solid foundation for industrial development through bridge construction, strategic collaboration, and progressive innovation of business models Or scholars and researchers “seeking from above and below”. . . . . What the M SPACE opening forum brings to us is a boost of energy, an affirmation of the original intention, and an insight and enlightenment of innovation. And as Cui Dan, founder of canU and special consultant of M SPACE Co-Creation Talk, said in his final concluding speech: “ In the fashion industry chain, Our ‘interlocking’ is more meaningful only when every link is working correctly, and those seemingly fragmented pluralities can also be condensed into a whole with a more calm attitude.”
Quality "shaping the state of mind·building something you have never seen before!" Because believe, we can see the infinite possibilities, because listen, we can go on a whole new journey. During this season's Shanghai Fashion Week MODE exhibition, M SPACE will also bring more innovative topics and forward-looking insights, leading us to find new opportunities, meet new challenges, and anchor a new future, so stay tuned!
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