Song Brocade is a rapidly disappearing art form that is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to an innovative businessman, Wang Shanshan and Zhou Furong report Wang Shanshan/Zhou Furong

Willowy showgirls wearing brocade cheongsam dresses stole the spotlight when they appeared at the many ceremonies during the 53rd World Table Tennis Championships, which ended on May 3 in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.

Suzhou girls are famous for being "delicate", while the brocade, one of the "three celebrated brocades" in China, is called Song Brocade because it originated in the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) in Suzhou.

Chinese netizens took to Baidu Zhidao, the question and answer section on search engine Baidu, to ask: "The showgirls' clothes are so beautiful. Where can I get them?"

Song brocade has become a fashionable buzzword. At the welcome banquet of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in November 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders and their spouses all wore "new Chinese-style" coats and dresses made of the brocade.

Wu Jianhua, the Suzhou businessman credited with bringing Song Brocade out of museums and into the high street, has lived with silk all his life.

Wu was born in Shengze, a small town in suburban Suzhou that has been China's "silk capital" for a millennium. He grew up and established his business in the town. His family used to own a workshop producing silk products. Silk was a luxury when Wu was a child: He still remembers his grandfather's prized silk shirt and the soft feeling of the fabric against his skin when he was allowed to try it on.

Silk was still, a high-end product in the 1980s and '90s. "Some silk factories paid their workers better than banks did. Everybody wanted a job in the silk industry," says Wu.

Wu built his first silk factory in 2001. It mainly produced basic products in the silk industry that filled the "gap" between large State-owned and small private factories. "We produced goods that small factories were not able to produce, and large State-owned factories did not care to produce," said Wu. He was very successful.

China's silk industry, which catered more to the overseas market than to the domestic, witnessed a sharp decline after the global financial crisis of 2008. One of the country's largest silk factories, built in 1919, was put up for sale - Wu bought it.

After the purchase, Wu found himself in possession of a large team of silk experts and skilled workers. Two years later, in 2010, he had his first brand of silk products.

He wanted to develop a product that has a story to tell, and can be fashionable and of good use at the same time.

A senior curator at the Suzhou Silk Museum suggested he take a look at the Song Brocade. The brocade will die out when the current generation of artists, who are all very old, pass away, he said.

The brocade is tightly knit and won't wear out easily, which indicates that it is good for daily use. Its look is classic and graceful, but not overly luxurious, so it has the potential to become fashionable.

Wu came to the idea that the brocade can be made into handbags. He consulted experts and workers at the old factory he bought, and it turned out that Song Brocade was one of their specialties. The workers were very excited.

Wu's request was that the brocade had to be suitable for machine production, at least partially. Otherwise the price of a brocade handbag will be too high.

The experts and workers at the old factory were highly motivated at the prospect that their skills could be put into use again. The machines were developed within six months. Seven patents were received for the machines.

Wu's next decision was to invite designers in Suzhou, Beijing and other cities to use the brocade for designs. "Fashion and design has to be the priority here. It cannot be that traditional patterns are directly used because they are heritage and therefore sacred. The brocade products have to be liked by consumers," he said.

Going one step further, Wu had a workshop set up in Italy and invited European designers to join the process of designing on the basis of the ancient brocade and set up the brand Saint Joy.

His brocade handbags were an instant hit when they appeared at the Suzhou Silk Expo in 2012. Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose them as gifts for foreign leaders and their family members.

Wu further invited designers and silk experts to develop clothes and scarves made of the brocade. Their designs won the bid to dress the leaders at the APEC meetings.

Song Brocade designs also won the gold prize at Beijing International Design Week in 2013.

Encouraged by this success, Wu set up a subsidiary in the United Kingdom to explore the overseas market.

Stressing design and marketing, he worked on retaining the craftsmanship for Song Brocade. He recruited college graduates and young workers to learn the skills from senior masters, but the process proved to be challenging.

"It is difficult for people to calm down and sit before a loom for months and months, embarking on a complicated job that demands attention at all times. Many soon quit," he says.

"To make a brocade is a lonely job. It is also very frustrating. If your attention shifts away even for a few seconds, there will be an error and several meters of the brocade, which may have taken months to do, will have to be thrown away."

The success of the ancient brocade in the fashion industry should be attributed to the passing down of ancient skills, the development of technology for machinery production, the combination of art and marketing and the involvement of designers from home and abroad, says Wu.

His own achievement should be attributed to his passion and persistence, he says. "After all, the purpose of making brocades is not just about money. One has to instill emotion into the job to make it good."

Contact the writer at wangshanshan@chinadaily.com.cn