In the beginning of human existence, in the early days of human civilization, every society believed in culture, we all had one form of art and culture that was peculiar to us, it was our identity it was seen in our fashion and all aspect our lives. We all have our craft skills as a society and they part of our shared heritage.

We cannot ague the fact that rapid industrialization has result to our culture and tradition going extinct. Our grandparents and aged custodians in our rural communities continue to be the real flag bearers of our heritage traditions also the developing and under-served rural population is actually at the fore front of still practicing the ancient cultures of the world. We fear that when these aged beautiful souls passing will mean our culture and tradition will pass on with them.

nardio-zhong-ms-yang-candy-chen-and-henry-zheng-10collect-china                                                 from left: Nardio Zhong, Ms Yang, Candy Chen and Henry Zheng

I have always believed in using fashion as a vehicle for driving socio economic change, and I truly believe that the fashion industry has a lot to do in helping us safe our cultural and traditional heritage.

It is heart warming to come across companies whose mission is to use fashion as a vehicle for shinning a spot light on fashion brands who have kept their tradition and culture heritage. We had a seat down with the Henry Zheng, the owner of 10COLLECT.

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Spy News Magazine: It is nice to be in a conversation with you. So tell us what you do?

Henry Zheng: 10COLLECT is an internet platform, what we do is put the past culture and tradition into fashion. We realize that a lot of our culture is dying off, for example the Chinese stitching is has lost a lot of years and so what we do is to bring these entire element into our today fashion. We are not focusing on just China; on our platform we have Japanese, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia. We are open to other countries like Italy and other countries.

Spy News Magazine: So basically 10COLLECT tries to shine a spot light on fashion brand who appreciate their cultural heritage, so how do you select brand that comes on your platform?

Henry Zheng: We allow all our brands to bring their own element, like I said we don’t concentrate on one brand, we realize each designer have their style that they want to bring into fashion.

Spy News Magazine: We realize that the fashion industry tradition and culture is dying off, and I applaud your effort in helping these brands to stay true to their cultural heritage. Please let me know what exactly you are giving these brands to stay on their track?

Henry Zheng: Like you said culture is dying off and so what we try to do recognize these heritages and let the people know about it.

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Spy News Magazine: Okay, so name some of the brands you have here today?

Henry Zheng: What we have here today are most Chinese brands. For example some of these pieces are a mixture of the modern or a crossover of the Chinese traditional outfit. Like look at this jacket design it is an infusion of tradition and modern design. One thing I want to mention is this prestigious silk, it is light like water and very comfortable and it have been lost or have not being in the market for more than 20 years, so what we do with these types of materials is that we bring back to life, into the market.

fk9b4801Nardio Zhong, Laura Salsi (ELLE ITALY) and Henry Zheng

Spy News Magazine: So how can we reach you, what is your website address?

Henry Zheng: Our website is 10collect.com; you will find all the information about us on the website.

 

Find out more about 10collect here images

By Anderson Azugbene