HONGZHOU -- New Chinese-style clothing stores in China are seeing a surge in orders for customized stylish clothes on the occasion of the Spring Festival marking the start of the Chinese New Year, as the emerging fashion trend keeps attracting influx of fans who would like to extend their best festive wishes to family members and relatives while wearing Chinese New Year clothes.

New Chinese-style clothing is typically defined as attire that seamlessly integrates traditional Chinese elements with contemporary styling.
Around this year's Spring Festival, which fell on Wednesday, the rising sales of new Chinese-style clothing were aided by a millennium-old Chinese tradition of buying new clothes for the New Year.
The custom is symbolically in line with many other traditions associated with the festival that emphasize the idea of change and an auspicious beginning.
In Hangzhou City, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Spring Festival customers were seen busy trying stylish new Chinese-style clothing in made-to-order stores with many young shoppers saying they come with a clear purpose to buy themselves fashion clothing for the New Year.
"About 60 to 70 percent of our customers are young people, an unexpected change to us," said Li Yun, manager of a made-to-order new Chinese-style clothing boutique.
Online sales have also been growing on the occasion of the Spring Festival as clothing stores actively market their products on websites.
"Recently, we have received online orders for over 20 Spring Festival suits. The orders were placed by customers from Beijing, Guangzhou, Hainan and Kunming. The sales of this month were 30 to 40 percent higher than last month," said Jia Qin, manager of a clothing store in Zhengzhou City, capital of central China's Henan Province.
Some new Chinese-style clothing stores were also creative enough to add novel accents into their New Year designs and to promote their products by livestreaming.
"We designed two suits with snake-shaped patterns for customers to wear when paying a Chinese New Year house visit. We also designed another seven to eight everyday suits, and they consist of a long outer garment and a horse-face skirt," said Yao Chixing, manager of a traditional Han Chinese clothing store in Heze City, east China's Shandong Province.
As an increasing number of Chinese choose to wear traditional clothes on a New Year tour, clothing business operators are also seeing numerous business opportunities in the emerging new Chinese-style clothing market.
"Because my store is next to a scenic area, this clothing store is an inspiration to me. I plan to purchase more of traditional Han Chinese clothes for tourists who wish to wear them on their tour of the scenic area," said Zhang Lianke, a clothing business operator.