Alibaba to sell FIT Grads' work

Alibaba has launched an initiative to support emerging designers. The online market platform will be selling the work of Fashion Institute of Technology graduates and other emerging designers as they announced yesterday, August 20, 2015, on their Taobao marketplace. Beginning yesterday and continuing until August 26, Taobao will hold an online campaign titled "New Wave Week" where designers will make their debut on the Chinese e-commerce platform.

Ten emerging designers, five of whom will be FIT graduates, will have their work featured on Taobao. Alibaba's support won't just stop with featuring their designs, they will also be helping the designers market their products online, raising money via pre-orders, and finding garment manufacturers to help with mass production. Alibaba is looking at their "New Wave Week" to essentially be a digital fashion week for emerging designers to showcase their work.

It's almost like an online version of New York's "Made Fashion Week", which also showcases emerging designers. Taobao had their first fashion week in March, and Alibaba has said that it will become a bi-annual event. “Young Chinese consumers nowadays favor unique products that reflect their individuality and personal beliefs,” Xia Ji, Taobao’s Marketing Director, said in a statement.