Jennifer Chang Chernick landed what many women dream of: a top job at Chanel. After graduating from Columbia University in 1997, the multilingual Chernick — she is fluent in Mandarin, French and English — quickly climbed her way up the corporate ladder and in 2000 found herself overseeing the fashion giant's Taiwan and China markets.
But just when Chernick was at the pinnacle of her career she traded it all in and staked her future on an obscure Chinese brocade whose history dates back thousands of years.
Known as Shu Brocade (蜀錦), Chernick says she immediately fell in love with the fabric's variety of patterns, weaving and embroidery. She was also captivated by the quality of the silk and the intricately sewn pagodas and weeping willows that are emblems of Chengdu, the city of the brocade's origin.
"I was astounded by it because I had never seen any fabric of this quality and, in a way, this antique," she said.
"Brocades elsewhere [are] much more loose and you can't see the patterns as clearly. I find the technology combined with the silk makes this much a more versatile and durable brocade compared with others in China."
Her fascination with the brocade led her to a large factory located in the western part of the city, a sprawling complex of buildings where most of Chengdu's Shu Brocade had been produced for over a century. However, though the city celebrated its name — Chengdu is also known as Brocade City (錦城) — Chernick's inquiries soon led her to realize that the factory's days were numbered.
"The factory was just a dinosaur [and] the government wasn't interested in keeping it up anymore," she said.
Due to poor management — and by extension poor quality products — and a global fashion culture obsessed with minimalist design, only a handful of the original 2000 workers remained employed.
"When I went to the factory I discovered there were only a few workers and the government was planning on shutting it down and using the real estate … to pay debts and the workers."
News of the factory's imminent closure caused a media frenzy in Chengdu. The unpaid workers looted the factory and sold what they could on the black market. With the aim of saving the remaining fabric from the same fate, Chernick went to the factory's managers and pleaded with them to allow her to purchase the remaining inventory, less than 15,000m.
The management relented and with a huge store of the elegant fabric, Chernick quit her job at Chanel and started her own label, Persimmon Lane (www.persimmonlane.com).
Though Chernick was responsible for Chanel's Asia office, the frenetic work schedule coupled with an increasing interest in Asia left her feeling that she wanted to move in a different direction.
"I went to all these cities, I went to department stores then to hotels, to meetings and then hotels. I never really got a chance to travel and enjoy the culture and enjoy my heritage," she said.
Breathing new life into an ancient art
Recognizing that Japanese consumers are no longer interested in kimonos and silk jackets have gone out of style in China, Chernick decided to take her designs in a different direction.
"Basically my inspiration comes not only from the designs of the textiles themselves but also from a practical standpoint for modern living," she said.
She added, "Most of the designs are vibrantly colored and very bold [whereas] most homes are more minimalist and you just want an accent of this kind of [design]. So, I've decided to make cushions and shawls and handbags, with their accents in contrasting blacks and golds."
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