China is only the 38th client for French clothing manufacturers with “a market share that was less than 1% in 2007” declared Franck Delpal, an economist at the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM), during a seminar dedicated to the potential of the Chinese market. These figures places China well behind the big world markets (Europe, the U.S.), but also behind the United Arab Emirates, Andorra or Luxembourg! But China, between now and 2012, represents “the best opportunity” for the French clothing textile sector. From 2010, China “will be number three in the world in clothing market terms” ahead of Japan according to Franck Delpal, speaking during the seminar organised in Paris on November 18th 2008 by the Fédération française du prêt-à-porter féminin and the Union française des industries de l'habillement (UFIH). In addition to the IFM’s expert, other participants in the seminar that brought together 200 professionals included Karine Xie, from Beijing‘s economic mission, Eric Bompard, CEO of E.Bompard, Frédéric Béraha, consultant in Beijing in addition to many other experts. .