After being approached by Kerry Yu in the Spring of '09, I made the decision to help produce this event. Taking with us 12 Portland designer lines, we left for Beijing at the end of March for China Fashion Week, press conference, designer meeting, and first ever international runway showcasing ONLY Portland design. With China as a global production power, and Portland as a mecca for emerging and established designers, we soon discovered how much we could learn from each other and how necessary an ongoing relationship would be. Photography by Leah Nash.