China Fashion Week highlights eco-friendly materials, technology

The ongoing China Fashion Week held in Beijing is showcasing a slew of fashion works made with eco-friendly materials and technologies, with designers racing to present the country's intangible cultural heritages in fashion making through innovation.

At the 2025 edition of China Fashion Week, which opened on March 20 and which will run until Friday, designers showcased their works, modeled after ancient crafts such as ethnic minority Miao embroidery, batik, and lacquer painting.

As the show increasingly pursues rising trends like eco-friendliness and technology, fashion industry insiders are also actively integrating traditional Chinese designs with innovation and the notion of sustainable development.

A session of the fashion week held Tuesday showcased works of Yang Chunshan, who takes inspiration from the dragon, bird, and butterfly patterns of the Miao ethnic minority group's Bainiaoyi, a national intangible cultural heritage in China, and the images of Xing Shi, or literally the awakening lion.   

The designers have also incorporated the idea of environmental protection and sustainable development into dyeing, using natural dyes from fruits like apple, pitaya, and mulberry instead of chemical dyes.

Xie Fangming, vice chairman of China Fashion Association, said the designers at the fashion week have been making innovations in areas like materials and dyeing techniques, reflecting the rising trend of promoting the development of fashion industry with state-of-the-art technology and embracing eco-friendliness.

"We've adopted a great number of technologies, including using new materials like soft, glossy, and more lightweight fabrics to develop new products. In addition, we've made lots of efforts to pursue sustainable development, like using recycled materials, recyclable materials, and plant-based dyes," he said.

The fashion week also features robot models sharing the runway with their human counterparts and also robot dogs running in lion dance costumes.

China Fashion Week highlights eco-friendly materials, technology

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have completed negotiations on their free trade area version 3.0, with the formal signing to take place before the end of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

The two sides announced the agreement at a special ASEAN Economic Ministers consultation session with China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao Tuesday.

The FTA 3.0 contains nine new chapters, including digital economy, green economy, supply chain interconnection, competition and consumer protection, small, medium and micro enterprises, and economic and technical cooperation.

It is conducive to promoting broader and deeper regional economic integration under the new situation, and will vigorously promote the deep integration of the production and supply chains of the two sides, the ministry said.

The upgraded version, as a priority for economic and trade cooperation between the two sides, is a landmark achievement in jointly maintaining and deepening free trade, demonstrating the strong vitality of free trade and open cooperation, according to the ministry.

It will inject greater certainty into regional and global trade, and play a leading and exemplary role for countries to adhere to openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, and will effectively promote the building of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, the ministry said.

Negotiations began in November 2022 and were concluded substantially in October 2024 after nine rounds spanning nearly two years.

The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area was first signed in 2002 and came into force on January 1, 2010.

ASEAN, made up of 10 Southeast Asian countries, is China's largest trading partner. In 2024, bilateral trade increased amounted to 6.99 trillion yuan (968 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 15.9 percent of China's foreign trade, according to official statistics.

China, ASEAN complete negotiations on free trade area 3.0