Silk Culture Revival, Silk Fashion Innovation
High Fashion International Limited Well Lam on Vietnam-Asia Silk Culture Festival
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon! I’m Well Lam, the executive director of High Fashion International Limited in Hong Kong.
First of all, I would like to thank the organizer Quang Nam Silk Joint Stock Company and International Silk Union to invite me to participate in Vietnam – Asia Silk Culture Festival 2016 at Hoi An Silk Village. It’s really grateful to have this rare opportunity to exchange experience with the experts of Silk Industry from all over the world. Today, gathering here, with all the important players in the silk industry, I can visualize the good old map of “Maritime Silk Road” and foresee the path future 21st century silk road.
The Silk Road is the intersection of world civilization, it brings not only the silk, but also the interwoven of Culture and Economy. The Silk Road has a rich history and still continues its glory. Speaking of the silk culture representative, I have to mention the Chinese and Vietnamese traditional national clothes, “Qi Pao” and “Ao Dai”. If “Qi Pao” is the most beautiful symbol of Chinese women’s etiquette, I see “Ao Dai” is a cultural symbol of Vietnamese unique history and transformed them into silk. I think it’s the Silk Road that gives Silk its intrinsic property to hold one’s culture, thus now, we need to revive the new silk civilization, and to innovate the silk industry!
As the cradle of silk culture, China knows well her great responsibility to revitalize the new silk civilization, so Chinese president Xi Jinping raised the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter referred to as the Belt and Road), and a broad consensus from the Eurasian countries was achieved. I truly believed that Silk Industry are now in an once in a lifetime opportunity for metamorphosing into representing the new world, and new fashion, as it is so on trend now.
But how should we develop the Silk Industry with the aid of “The Belt and Road”? Today I would like to exchange my own experiences and views.
If the silk industry is like a tree, the sericulture is its root, silk manufacturing sector is its trunk, silk products are its branches and leaves, silk brands are its flowers and fruits. You have to see that there is a sequence and causality. As a representative of silk manufacturing sector, I believe firmly that the industrialization of sericulture and manufacturing evolution to Industrie 4.0 are the basis for the silk industry sustainability.
I.The Silk Industry Development Bottleneck
Mulberry planting and Silkworm rearing are the source of the Silk Industry, which it is called sericulture. At present, the sericulture is done almost by manpower. Oversupply, low tech is the situation of silk manufacturing sector. No matter sericulture or manufacturing, they both have a low level of automation, lack of lean management and data integration, and silk supply chain results in lots of deadly wastes, which we called the 7 muda or 7 deadly wastes. Lack of innovation, low investment and poor performance and so on, led to a slow development in silk industry, which precisely where the bottleneck of the silk industry is.
II.Silk Industry Development Opportunities
The world is getting flat and smaller. Globalization, science and technology revolution, industrial evolution and economic model innovation are undergoing. In order to conform to the rapid changing world, the Silk Industry, although historical and cultural, needs inevitably to face changes.
III.Silk Industry Development Direction
A lot of saying that the revolution of the Silk Industry relies on creating silk brands, thus getting more value added in the chain. I agree partially, but this is not solution. The Silk Industry requires a synergetic development of entire silk supply chain, the lagging behind of any part of this chain will be the bottleneck and prevent the Silk Industry from moving forward. (remember the tree?) As a silk manufacturing company, I think the industry evolution of sericulture and manufacturing sector (the root and trunk) is the top priority.
IV.Silk Industry Revolution by Innovation
1.Silk Agriculture Innovation
From the point of view of supply and demand, if the price of silk raw material is high, it will result low demands and vice versa. In a way, the silk industry development depends on the silk raw material price. At present, the traditional sericulture cost and quality rely completely on mercy of the natural elements and people. The price and quality highly correlated to the weather and labor cost. And historically, sericulture was transferred into from all of Europe to Italy, then to Japan, to China. Now it is moving from China East to China West due to the labor cost, so far as to Cambodia. All these movements are not the approaches to the problem. When cotton and linen material can be obtained already through the industrial farming, it’s time to study how to realize the silk industrial farming and automatic silkworm rearing, to disconnect the relation from the cost and quality to weather and labor, to achieve a stable supply system with a reasonable price level, to realize the sustainable development of Silk Industry.
2.Silk Manufacturing Sector Innovation
“Made in China 2025” plan layout the strategic direction of the low-tech manufacturing sector by means of changing from production-driven to innovation-driven, high integration of digitization and automation, and environmental friendly production. This also applies to our silk industry, meaning breakthroughs are needed in the manufacturing sector of the silk industry. Today, rarely there is investment done in silk specialized facilities or technology, so the significant achievement in silk industry is yet to be found. For example, we should be really appreciated that what Miele Guilio has done to create new technology in silk manufacturing, where he has created the electronic yarn inspection machine and after a decade of test and trial, it is now adopted by the CIQ. I have been hearing crazy thing like extracting fibroin directly from silkworm and so on. We need something like that and these will be the breakthrough in silk industry and will be protected by patent laws. This is we call real industrial innovation.
3.Silk Industry Structure Innovation
The initiative of “The Belt and Road” calls for synergetic cooperation among different industries, different sectors, different countries. The independent development of each self in the silk industry will not have enough momentum to bring industry evolution. To realize the real development, we need cross-sector cooperation, such as the cooperation between silk and academy, the silk culture can be educated and inhered to the next generation; the cooperation between silk and scientific research institute, the silk can get technological innovation (MIT has done lots of researches in silk too); the cooperation between silk and medical or pharmaceutical sector, the silk can be biotech as well; the cooperation between silk and financial institution, the silk development can be accelerated with the help of funds; the cooperation between silk and real estate, the silk can be developed with leverage. All above, any cross-sector cooperation will be a new business opportunity, a new energy, a new world that traditional silk has never been explored.
We should take advantages of “The Belt and Road” and realize win-win co-operation and cross-border cooperation in Silk Industry.
I want to conclude what I have said by telling you what I have not said. I truly don’t think investing in brands will help to innovative silk, put the money you invested in brands to the true silk innovation and it help the silk industry to be sustainable.
Finally, I’d like to thank again the organizer and International Silk Union. I believe that Silk Industry between China, Vietnam and other countries will have a wider space of cooperation development, and also wish Vietnam-Asia Silk Culture Festival 2016 a complete success!
Thank you!
High Fashion International Limited
Well Lam
