Wedding and evening dresses manufactured in Chaozhou, south China's Guangdong Province, are renowned worldwide for blending time-honored Chaozhou embroidery with international fashion elements.
Chaozhou has become the country's leading production base and export hub for wedding and evening dresses. Statistics show the city produces nearly 20 million wedding and evening gowns annually.
A model presents an exquisite Chaozhou embroidery wedding dress during a wedding dress show held in Chaozhou, south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo/Chen Hongwen)
Inside the workshop of Chaozhou Best Fashion Co., Ltd., embroiderer Ding Xiaoyun carefully compares bead placements with design drawings, delicately inserting crystals into pre-embroidered tulle pleats on the train of a mermaid evening gown. In the company's showroom, high-end custom designs are on display -- samples worn by actors, singers, and television hosts.
According to Chaozhou's commerce bureau, over 90 percent of the city's wedding gowns and evening dresses are exported, mainly to more than 20 countries and regions, including Europe and the U.S. The industry has also been steadily expanding into emerging markets such as South Africa and Southeast Asia in recent years.
Behind Chaozhou's thriving wedding and evening dress industry lies a millennium-old heritage of Chaozhou embroidery culture.
Zheng Jianbo, chairman of Chaozhou Best Fashion Co., Ltd., explained that Chaozhou embroiderers' bead embroidery techniques allow for combinations of sequins, crystals, and pearls, creating dynamic floral patterns unmatched by many other regions. This craftsmanship requires years -- sometimes decades -- of dedicated practice, forming the distinctive advantage of Chaozhou wedding and evening dresses. At its peak, the industry employed 200,000 people, with Chaozhou's exports of wedding and evening gowns accounting for 60 percent of the global total.
The industry's success also stems from enterprises' commitment to Chaozhou embroidery.
"Chaozhou's wedding and evening dresses embody unique innovation in both design and craftsmanship," said Wang Haotian, chairman of the Silk Road International Fashion Week's Organizing Committee and president of the Asian Model Association's China Committee.
Designers integrate modern aesthetics with traditional Chaozhou embroidery, creating more fashionable and personalized dresses. Local companies also focus on developing new materials and processes -- from updated silk threads to machine-assisted processes -- enhancing both efficiency and quality.
Han Yonghui, vice-president of the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, noted that wedding dresses are highly seasonal. From new design releases at U.S. bridal expos to the 60-90-day production and shipping cycle, China's supply chain aligns precisely with market demand -- an efficiency few other regions can match.
Wedding and evening dress craftsmanship is extremely intricate. Cai Biao, head of Guangdong J-Scarlett Fashion Co., Ltd., said Southeast Asian manufacturers often take twice as long for similar work, with significantly less refined results compared to Chaozhou.
Zheng Jianbo, chairman of Chaozhou Best Fashion Co., Ltd. in Chaozhou, south China's Guangdong Province, arranges an evening dress in the company's showroom. (Photo/Huang Chunsheng)
According to Xu Xixiang, president of the Chaozhou Garment Industry Association, Chaozhou also benefits from a complete raw material supply chain, with silk, base fabrics, lace, and beads readily available locally.
Lu Weixing, vice president of the Guangdong Association of Garment and Garment Article Industry and executive president of the Chaozhou Garment Industry Association, highlighted the city's competitive edge. Thanks to traditional techniques and a stable, efficient supply chain, Chaozhou's wedding and evening dresses have earned strong pricing power in global markets.
While the industry once relied heavily on OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) production, it is now shifting from "manufacturing" to "creation," and from "product export" to "cultural export."
Zheng acknowledged that OEM production once brought only thin profits through mass production. For sustainable growth, enterprises must cultivate proprietary brands and shift toward ODM (Original Design Manufacturing).
To support this transition, Chaozhou has introduced special funds to help enterprises upgrade, organized participation in fairs such as the Canton Fair and Fashion InStyle Hong Kong, and encouraged companies to explore cross-border e-commerce.
Enterprises are also embracing innovation. Chaozhou Best Fashion Co., Ltd. has developed its own brand through cross-border e-commerce and hired international designers to blend Chinese culture with Gothic and Baroque elements, grounded in Chaozhou bead embroidery. These efforts have significantly raised product quality.
In addition, the city's wedding dress companies are incorporating intangible cultural heritage techniques including Chaozhou embroidery into their designs, transforming wedding dresses into cultural carriers that share Chinese artistry with the world.