Starting Point: From Fabric Market to Designer
Chen Mubai's design career began in a small stall in Shaoxing Keqiao's textile city. Her father was a fabric trader; she learned to identify fabrics and negotiate prices from childhood. In 2018, she brought Shaoxing-produced fabric samples to Paris Première Vision — that exhibition changed her life trajectory.
"When French buyers first saw our bright satin and silk-like fabrics, their eyes lit up," she recalls. "But their first question was: Is this made in China? Implying concern about quality. When I put our samples in a blind test alongside genuine Italian fabrics, they couldn't tell the difference — I realized the gap was only in marketing, not in product."