CANNES, France, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- WGSN, the global foresight business specialising in consumer, fashion and design trends and insights, today announced a joint venture with China Textile Information Center (CTIC) to drive business growth in the increasingly crucial Chinese market.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150622/749642)
The joint venture, WGSN China, was signed by the Chairman of WGSN Mr Duncan Painter, who is also the CEO of Top Right Group the owner of Cannes Lions, and Mr Sun Ruizhe, the Vice President of CNTAC (the National Textile Apparel Council of China) and Chairman of CTIC, which serves China's huge and growing fashion and textile industry of over 200,000 companies.
WGSN, a US-headquartered company owned by Top Right Group, has operated in China since 2005, and already has more than 500 companies as clients acquired in partnership with CTIC and offers the full suite of WGSN products, with trend services provided in Chinese. Clients include fabric manufacturers, retailers, consumer electronics firms and entertainment companies.
WGSN and CTIC shared the main stage at Cannes Lions on Sunday making a joint presentation on the future of colour. In this presentation they covered some unique solutions developed under CNTAC to accelerate and innovate the use of colour in the Fashion and Creative industries, which they expect to make available across the world in the coming year.
According to WGSN CEO, Jose Papa, the Joint Venture will enable the WGSN offering to become more tailored to the local market.
"China is a large and diverse market from its geography and culture, to its varied economic and business landscapes. It also has a unique position as both a significant supplier to international markets and a huge and rapidly growing domestic market that is leading innovation in manufacturing technologies, retail formats and logistics.
"With its distinct language and culture that connects with western fashion influence, but remains unique and true to itself, we believe that China requires highly specialised local expertise to maximise the value of WGSN's products and services.
"It goes without saying that from a business strategy perspective, China is crucial and we plan to drive significant growth and value for the WGSN business through our focus on the market. As long-term strategic partners, and excellent local insight providers, there is no better partner to help us do this than CTIC."
Part of the National Textile Apparel Council (CNTAC), CTIC is the key operational arm, established to develop and promote the Chinese domestic and international textile industry. The organisation includes the central associations for fashion and colour, fabrics and textile engineering and is carrying central responsibilities for quality testing, statistics, IT, publications and social compliance of China textile industries. It has also developed and continues to invest in several products, services and solutions, including a unique approach to colour and the biggest fabric library in the world. The Joint Venture will look to exploit WGSN's international sales and marketing expertise to jointly bring those innovations and market information to a global audience together with CTIC.
Mr Hu Song, Vice President and COO of CTIC, said: "CTIC has partnered with WGSN since 2011, and this joint venture represents a significant step forward - one that will not only be beneficial for our two businesses, but for the Chinese textile industry overall. Through this long-term commitment together, we will strengthen our support for this pivotal domestic market, which at the same time represents huge potential for the global fashion and textile industries. We are confident that CTIC's knowledge and contacts in China will add unique information and content to strengthen and support WGSN's services to its clients right across the world, for example providing global access to our unique fabric database and colour solutions."
About WGSN
WGSN is a global foresight business. Our experts provide deep insight and analysis of consumer, fashion and design trends. We inspire our clients to plan and trade their range with unparalleled confidence and accuracy. Together, we Create Tomorrow. http://www.wgsn.com
WGSN is the World's Global Style Network, comprising of market-leading products including WGSN Fashion Trend, WGSN Lifestyle & Interiors, WGSN INstock, WGSN StyleTrial, and WGSN Mindset bespoke consulting services.
For more information, please visit http://www.wgsn.com
About CTIC
As a result of reorganising central Fashion and Textile institutions in China, CTIC has built the roof to combine and house the key central functions for the China textile and fashion industry. CTIC is the key operating unit of CNTAC, serving 200,000 companies in this field. The organisation includes the central associations for fashion and colour, fabrics and textile engineering and is carrying central responsibilities for quality testing, statistics, IT, publications and social compliance of China textile industries. It has also developed and continues to invest in several products, services and solutions, including a unique approach to colour and the biggest fabric library in the world.
For more information, please visit http://www.ctic.org.cn
