Victor Zhu, who, along with Nicole Lin, is the brains behind Shenzhen-based fashion label Vmajor, talks about being a Woolmark Prize finalist and the challenges of working with Chinese factories.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and still feels like a dream come true. The design process was the most exciting part, especially trying different techniques with wool and seeing what new ideas would come as a result. The judges loved this and were surprised that we could produce such high-end garments in China."

"Shenzhen is a manufacturing base, which helps us to translate our ideas into actual products. The factory we've been working with used to produce goods for cheap, mass-production labels, but now they are starting to work with small companies like us. They are professional and experienced, which is great. We give them new ideas, too, so it's a win-win situation."

"One area is building a team as fast as possible, as both of us are attending to so many tasks, such as talking to the media. Finding good-quality manufacturing partners can be quite tough: we are not a super-famous brand, a factory's minimum order can be too high, and we have little power to negotiate price."