More than fabric suppliers: Taiwan’s fashion scene seeks international stage
In the fashion industry, Taiwan is primarily known as a manufacturer of functional and synthetic fabrics. The country ranks ninth globally for textile exports, yet only 41st for apparel, as most garment manufacturing takes place in Southeast Asia. However, the fabric business is also faltering. According to the industry association Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF), textile and apparel exports fell by 7.6 percent to 6.22 billion dollars in 2025, with the decline continuing into 2026. Even TTF considers local brand and design expertise to have room for improvement.
This is precisely where the local fashion scene aims to step in. At Taipei Fashion Week, Taiwanese designers courted the audience with denim craftsmanship and theatrical performances.
Momentum is growing. For its first edition at the cultural site inside the former Air Force headquarters, the event recorded over 29,000 visitors, representing an increase of around 43 percent compared to the same season last year. The figures were announced on Monday by the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI), a state-backed design institute that has organised the fashion week since last season. Alongside the domestic audience, the event also aims to win over international media and retail buyers. According to the organiser, the more than 70 buyers from nine countries included European retailers Andreas Murkudis, Henrik Vibskov Boutique and Afura Store.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, which sponsors the fashion week alongside the Ministry of Economic Affairs, views this growth as a sign that the strategic realignment is taking hold. The aim is to broaden the perspective and embed support more deeply, ranging from building brand profiles and encouraging corporate and public procurement to fostering international exchange. Alongside the designers, the goal is to showcase Taiwan’s entire industrial strength – from design and fabrics to functional technology, manufacturing and flexible supply chains.
London calling
To date, very few Taiwanese brands have broken into the European retail market. Among them is streetwear label Goopimade, which currently offers a collaboration with UK fashion retailer End Clothing. Another example is Story Wear. Specialising in denim, the upcycling label is available on the UK marketplace Wolf & Badger and presents its collections during New York Fashion Week. To move closer to the European market, the brand also participated in the 109th edition of the menswear trade fair Pitti Uomo in Florence. In Taipei, the sustainability-focused company featured both a runway presentation and its own booth in the fashion week's trade show area.
For several of the brands presenting their collections in Taipei, London appears to be the common denominator. Wang Tzu-Hsin is one of them. Depending on the season, the designer behind the Claudia Wang label, founded in 2019, presents her collections in either the Taiwanese or the UK capital. According to the show notes, her current spring/summer 2027 collection was inspired by spring days spent in the UK and Virginia Woolf’s essay “A Room of One’s Own”. Floral motifs meet patterns such as polka dots, stripes and childlike drawings. Shades of mint green, butter yellow and soft pink reinforce the flower meadow theme, while lightweight fabrics, pleats and bandana tops are layered with outerwear and workwear elements.
Born in Paris into a family of artists, the designer navigates between the virtual and physical worlds for her creations. Her paintings are digitised and transferred onto the garments, while avatars simultaneously showcase the collection in the background.
Ray Chu also arrived in Taipei following his show in London. He presented his latest collection, “Fans Only Club”, in a dedicated space within the fashion week’s trade show, where more than 50 fashion, accessories, footwear and lifestyle brands exhibited. The playful looks incorporate kitsch elements such as rhinestones and oversized bows worked into traditional tailoring. These are contrasted with sportier pieces like muscle shirts and swimsuits reminiscent of merchandise, spotlighting local flora alongside the recurring “Taiwan Banana Club” motif. The designer also turns to plant-based materials, including shirting fabrics made from mint fibre and quick-drying jersey crafted from so-called “Icy Grass”. Several ready-to-wear pieces consist of 40 percent cotton, 40 percent modal and 20 percent of this botanical material, which is designed to provide a cooling effect in heat and fluctuating temperatures.
Ray Chu is among the few brands already represented in international wholesale. Alongside its domestic market, neighbouring Asian markets such as China, Japan and Thailand play a key role. Its stockists also include North American retailers such as arts-focused online marketplace Ap0ence, Openair Boutique in Los Angeles and 017/Shop in Vancouver. In Europe, the brand took its first steps through Storehouse, a pop-up concept for independent designers in London and Paris curated by agency Dyelog.
Tales from crypts
Infdark also presented its SS27 collection at London Fashion Week in September before designer Kuo Wei returned to Taipei one month later. Founded in 2011, the brand specialises in structure, cut and patternmaking. According to the brand’s website, its clientele is rebellious, “sociopathic” and interested in fetish aesthetics. In Taipei, the label treated its audience to a performance somewhere between Dracula and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video. These influences are echoed in the dark collection, which is punctuated by details such as lacing, ruching and eyelets. Asymmetric cuts, cut-outs, layering and a marble-veined print underscore this approach. The print was developed in collaboration with Taiwanese natural stone specialist Gaode Stone (高得石材).
The eerie mood continued at Jenn Lee, who also showed in London in September. The designer merges traditional qipao craftsmanship with a gothic aesthetic. Signature elements such as mandarin collars and frog buttons on silk dresses meet radically flared shoulders, cut-outs, lacing and leather pieces. Models wore dark eye make-up. Showcased in an underground club in Taipei, the collection’s colour palette moves between black and traditional red.
Iris Yang shares a penchant for dark romance. Her designs pair lightweight, sheer tulle with corsetry and fetish-inspired latex, united by sharp tailoring and an eye for detail. Ruching, lacing and cross motifs complete the looks. A graduate of London fashion school Central Saint Martins, Yang brought her fledgling label Nocturne Key Archive from her adopted home of London back to her roots in Taiwan for the first time. She presented her latest designs off-schedule at a pop-up inside Rec Taipei, the concept store of Taiwanese jewellery label Recovery Design.
Centre stage
Infdark’s performance also featured cheerleading squad Power Me, for whom the brand designed a new uniform. Cheerleaders made another appearance at Inmories, performing routines beneath a basketball hoop and between the rows of seated guests. According to a statement from the fashion week, the streetwear brand collaborated with the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL), translating the body dynamics and movements of professional basketball players into garment silhouettes. Alongside various sports jerseys, the presentation included outerwear pieces and relaxed two-piece sets that combined athletic elements with more classic silhouettes.
Many brands seized the opportunity to stage their collections with live entertainment. At Daniel Wong’s opening show, Taiwanese pop-rock band 831 inaugurated the runway, appearing first as models before performing a mini-concert.
Under the title “Dress Code”, Wong played with the conventions of uniforms and formalwear. The line-up featured classic suits reimagined through prints, ruffles, deconstruction and playful silhouettes. Furthermore, scarves bearing monogram logos, lettering of the collection’s title and equestrian prints were integrated into various looks or formed the basis for fluid dresses, skirts and tops.
Second-hand denim
When it came to material selection, denim played a particularly prominent role, albeit rarely as virgin fabric. Story Wear used artificial intelligence to sort jeans donated by 1,200 individuals and process them into new jacquard denim. Womenswear brand Aish, founded by Jean Hsia, assembled various denim washes into patchwork wide-leg jeans. Claudia Wang, meanwhile, integrated the fabric purely visually as a trompe-l’œil print.
New fabric was used in the collaboration between Oqliq, a performance-driven fashion label founded by Lin Chia-Hao and Chi Hung, and functional apparel brand Wisdom. The partnership paired denim with what Taiwan is best known for: technical textiles. Mannequins were displayed inside glass cases, swathed in multiple layers of dark denim that evoked a cross between a warrior and a mummy.
Whether the theatrical performances and denim experiments will translate into orders remains to be seen. Enthusiasm among international buyers was somewhat muted. When asked, several noted that while they had seen a number of appealing pieces, the designs did not necessarily fit their own assortments.
Nevertheless, the foundational elements are in place, from functional fabrics and manufacturing expertise to a design scene that already commutes between Taipei and London. The next opportunity to showcase local talent will come in March, when Taipei Fashion Week returns to the cultural venue for the autumn/winter 2027 season.
FashionUnited was invited to Taipei by TDRI.