Case study of ShuShu Tong

designers to develop, and some new designers have created their brands (SJFZXM, 2019). Thanks to the rise of digital retail, Chinese independent designers can finally gain a foothold in the fashion market (Daxue Consulting, 2021). While most of them are still in their infancy, there is no denying that independent Chinese designers are on the rise (Jing Daily, 2016).

In recent years, the number of Chinese fashion and art students studying abroad has exploded. Most of them are a new generation born in the 1990s, studying in leading fashion schools in the United Kingdom or the United States, and these designers represent a certain young force emerging in China (Hu, 2021). Designer Ji Cheng said that in fashion design, youth is an advantage. As she mentioned, in the era of rapid development, young designers and their teams are usually closer to the age of the target consumers, which makes them connected more naturally (RIA, 2021). As millennials are no longer dominated by traditional luxury brands, China's young design talents are catching up with a growing appetite for alternative and fresh brands (Smith, 2018).

3.3 Representative Chinese Independent Designers In the past decade, a large number of young Chinese fashion talents have received their degree or training overseas, and then returned to China to develop their brands. Some of them have left their imprints in the global fashion world (Wu et al., 2020). Three representative designers are introduced below.

 Uma Wang Before launching her brands in London in 2005, Uma Wang has studied fashion design at Central Saint Martin's College in London and has served as an interior designer of multiple Chinese brands. She is known as the "Vogue" Italian version of the show, her works have a show in London, Paris, and Milan (Dawdy, 2017). Most of her designs come from her personal experience (Wendy, 2020). Her design style does not have obvious Chinese elements but integrates Chinese and western. She attaches importance to the reconstruction and treatment of fabrics, such as wear, aging, dying, and wrinkle treatment, and prefers to find more layers in gray and black (Helene, 2019)