PARTICIPATION OF THE CHINESE FASHION INDUSTRY IN THE GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN

China began to integrate into the global economic system in the late 1970s and made tremendous strides over the past forty years. However, the current challenges of instability and political confrontations once again pose the PRC with the task of finding new ways of development. The purpose of this article is to identify new directions for development of the fashion industry in China in terms of the global value chain (GVCs) and taking into account the current economic situation in the world. At the same time, such tasks were solved in the work as: a description of the features of the functioning of the GVCs to identify the most favorable links of participation in it; the identification of new trends in development of the Chinese economy; formulation of the main features of functioning of the GVCs in the fashion industry; determining the place of China in the GVCs of the fashion industry and substantiating recommendations for development of promising areas of the fashion industry. As a result of the study, the pre‑production (R&D and development of ideas, brand promotion and product design development) and post‑production steps (marketing, distribution, sales and after‑sales service) were named the most profitable stages of participation in the GVCs. In the early stages of integration into the GVCs, China sold the chain link that brought the least benefit due to the limited share of value added in the assembly processes of finished goods. However, developing science and technical potential, China today claims to be a leader in high technology. Moreover, a benchmark for creation of a “Scientific and Technical Power” with global influence is declared in the long‑term plans for development of the PRC. The fashion industry, being an important component of the Chinese economy, should also move towards the introduction of technology, both in the form of creating the Fashion Tech products and in the form of innovation in the very conduct of business processes and in the launch of the GVCs.

Fashion industry, fashion, global value chain (GVCS), China, technology, Chinese technology, economic slowdown, Fashion Tech, new generation fashion, scientific and technological power, development of the fashion industry.

Lyu Yameng, Vasilenko N. V. Participation of the chinese fashion industry in the global value chain. Business. Education. Law, 2019, no. 4, pp. 38–46. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2019.49.410.