European teenagers look China for fashionable dress

High school students finding bargains for dream dresses on Chinese websites

This summer high school proms in Europe will sparkle with a touch of China thanks to a growing trend by Western teenagers for Middle Kingdom fashion bargains.

An increasing number of dresses made in China will adorn the dance floors of high schools worldwide this year as clothing wholesalers in the East market their Oscar-style dresses online at a fraction of the cost.

With parents strapped for cash and a progressively Internet-savvy youth, many are turning to the English websites of Chinese suppliers to buy dresses.

As designers such as Jovian and Dress Goddess in the West demand prices exceeding 16,000 CNY(1,709 Euros) for the latest fashion, thousands of high school graduates have shopped their 2011 prom dresses from China's manufacturer or website for a quarter of the price.

"It's beautiful, and the exactly what I wanted," says 16-year-old girl, Lisa ALLEN, who recently bought her prom dress at the Chinese wholesale website Donhot.com, which is geared toward Western shoppers.

The long glittering pink dress cost ALLEN just 900 CNY (96 Euros), including delivery.

With a tight budget from her parents, ALLEN says she was nervous she would not be able to find the right dress in time for the late June dance.

"It's important to look your best as it's a big event, but everything was so expensive so I wasn't sure what to do," she says.

But a friend in school told her about buying from China and it was mentioned in Internet forums where other teenagers were preparing for their big night, discussing the latest dress styles and where to get them.

Logging onto a Chinese wholesaler's English-language website, ALLEN found her perfect dress.

"In most of the UK department stores they wanted around 400 pounds (445 Euros)," she says, adding that the only issue was the dress arriving later than planned despite paying 300 CNY extra for express delivery.

"It's a beautiful dress, but don't order in a hurry."

ALLEN was just one of a number of the 739 students in her school in Cheshire County who turned to the East for a very Western tradition.

When showing off her new purchase, ALLEN discovered several other classmates had used the same site, with one girl purchasing the exact same dress.

"We got our dresses much cheaper than others at our school," she says.

Comparable with the US Web merchant site eBay, businesses like Donhot.com, directly gathered hundreds of dress and clothing manufacturers and post their products and price directly on Donhot.com website. That the reason why their price is so cheap but products of high quality. Donhot.com even accepts custom-made orders if buyer can provide detailed design or sketches and ordering more that 5 individual items.

Besides, prom dresses, Donhot.com also provide a great variety of products adorned by teenagers, like performance garment, Lolita dresses, Cosplay costumes; costumes for adult like zentai, catsuits and lingeries.