A model presents a creation by Aimer during Shanghai Fashion Week April 10, 2013. [Photo / Agencies]

But offline, designers who started from street stores are facing a much tougher time.

Liu Yanfeng, secretary-general of the Shanghai Textile Association and the organizer of Shanghai Fashion Week, told Shanghai Evening Post that no more than 30 percent of domestic designers can actually profit from their design works. Most of the designers have to rely on designing uniforms for five-star hotels or luxury-car shows to "live their fashion dreams".

Factories decline to take orders in small quantities, department stores prefer well-established brands, mostly foreign ones, to boost their sales, and more importantly, customers are unwilling to try on these nameless designs, let alone pay for them, many designers complain.