Made in Italy by Chinese: fashionability and transnational Chinese entrepreneurs

Abstract

This article delves into China’s role within global capitalism through the stories of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in the Italian fashion industry. Moving beyond the state-centrism and methodological nationalism prevalent in Chinese communication studies and fashion studies, this research underscores the intertwined development paths of the Italian and Chinese fashion industries. Probing into the operations of Chinese apparel manufacturers in Prato, Italy, the article indicates how they strategically sourced from both nations and built original brands to upgrade their position within global value chains. Their position straddling two countries, however, also exposes them to a distinct set of vulnerabilities, including national and racial discrimination and a dearth of substantial external financial support. Through the lens of grassroots immigrant entrepreneurs, the article challenges the cultural essentialism tied to country-of-origin labels and presents a fresh viewpoint to scrutinize and complicate the existing narrative about global China. Situating the Chinese apparel industry in Prato in the ongoing transformation of the world economy, the article reveals how the international frictions concerning China’s rise often reflect the deep-seated global economic hierarchies and the shared tribulations of late-developing countries.

Keywords:

• fashion
• country of origin
• industrial upgrading
• global value chains
• immigrant entrepreneurship
• transnationalism
• global China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tu Lan

Tu Lan is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of New Hampshire. His academic expertise lies in transnational entrepreneurship, global production networks, and political economy, with a specific emphasis on China and Italy. His current research explores industrial upgrading and technological innovations within the apparel, renewable energy, and agricultural sectors.

Lin Zhang

Lin Zhang is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire. Her research centers on critical innovation studies, platform studies, and intersectionality, focusing on China and ethnic Asian people in a global and comparative context. A communication scholar by training, her interdisciplinary research engages Asian/Asian American studies, science and technology studies, economic geography, and anthropology. She is the author of The Labor of Reinvention: Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy (Columbia University Press, 2023). Currently, she is working on a new monograph about China’s biotech industry and US-China transnational linkages in biotech and bioscience (https://linzhangweb.org/).