Using the traditional drift-lacquer technique, Zhengdaming custom-made workwear for the 13th Silk Road International Film Festival. The pattern on the hem of every piece is unique, turning Festival staff into 'moving Eastern calling cards'.

At the 13th Silk Road International Film Festival, the black workwear worn by staff looked simple from a distance — but up close it revealed a striking detail: the hem carries a starry, iridescent flow of pattern, a completely new expression of China's thousand-year-old 'drift-lacquer' technique on contemporary clothing.

Drift-Lacquer: Painting with Lacquer on Liquid

Drift-lacquer is one of the most poetic techniques in the lacquer craft. The artisan drops lacquer onto a water or special liquid surface and, using surface tension, flow and colour layering, stirs, breathes or touches the surface to form natural patterns, then dips the object or fabric to transfer them. Because the pattern on the liquid changes from second to second, no two transfers can ever be identical — every drift-lacquer piece is inherently unique.

To bring this traditional technique to workwear, Zhengdaming first had to solve the problems of bonding lacquer to fabric, fixing colour and withstanding daily wear. Drawing on its in-house lacquer materials team and its intangible cultural heritage workshop, the team repeatedly tested raw lacquer refining, the drift-lacquer formulation, transfer timing and post-fixation, so that the lacquer pattern could show the deep lustre characteristic of lacquer while meeting the practical demands of everyday clothing.

Drift-lacquer workwear, front and back
Drift-lacquer workwear, front and back; the hem pattern flows like a starry river
Service team in drift-lacquer workwear
The service team in drift-lacquer workwear at the Festival
Professional team photograph in the orange hall
Professional team photograph in the orange hall

Every Piece a One-off, Every Person a Brand

Unlike industrially printed patterns, the hem pattern on each of these garments is unique. Some pour down like a starry river, some wind like the Silk Road, some read like a band of film light — together they formed a moving scene across the Festival. Wearing one was not simply an identity marker; it made each staff member a bearer of Eastern aesthetics.

The black base stands for the stillness and gravity of the cinema screen, the gold logos present the official visual identity of Zhengdaming and the Festival, and the drift-lacquer pattern at the hem is the garment's high point — it means intangible cultural heritage is no longer only an exhibit in a museum, but a contemporary language that can be worn, walked among crowds and taken onto the international stage.

What a Uniform Says About Industrialising Intangible Heritage

A uniform, too, can carry the living transmission of intangible cultural heritage. Through this Festival commission, Zhengdaming verified the potential of traditional lacquer technique in the field of clothing: it can serve high-profile international events, and it can also enter everyday wear, cultural-creative gifts and corporate customisation. This is another step in what Zhengdaming calls the modern practice of a traditional industry.