In 1993, US president Bill Clinton tried to bring trade talks back on track by inviting the heads of the APEC member economies to personally attend what had until then been a ministerial conference.
He requested leaders' clothes remain informal and presented each with a leather bomber jacket bearing the APEC logo as a memento.
The next year, Indonesia followed suit and presented batik shirts; the world leaders then humored Suharto's request that they wear them for a group photo.
The tradition developed that the summits' hosts would present traditional and representative clothes from their cultures, and the leaders would wear them on the last day of the conference as a show of solidarity.

Ahead of the first occasion of China's hosting the summit in 2001, state-run media acquainted the Chinese with the custom, prompting speculation as to what China's "traditional clothes" might be: Mao suits had been displaced by western-style suits; minority groups often had recognizable ethnic costumes but styles of Han clothing (hànfú) had varied from dynasty to dynasty, with the most recent Qing forms heavily influenced by the Manchus and their oppressive dress codes.
Although these designs were among the 40 presented to the Chinese government over the span of a year, their foreign origin or political connotations led officials to select an "ambiguously traditional" design by Shanghainese clothiers Li Jianqin (李建秦, Lǐ Jiànqín) and Yu Ying (t 余鶯, s 余莺, Yú Yīng) and by five others at Qinyi (t 秦藝服飾, s 秦艺服饰, Qínyì Fúshì) and the Shanghai Garment Group (t 上海服裝集團, s 上海服装集团, Shànghǎi Fúzhuāng Jítuán).

The jackets given to the APEC leaders were a blend of Chinese motifs and western design, made from silk supposedly artificially enhanced to be stronger, softer, more wrinkle-resistant, more water-absorbent, and better ventilated, with longer-lasting and brighter colors.
They featured cotton knotwork instead of buttons and a design of peonies surrounding the letters "APEC".
The jackets were handmade but not personally sized; instead, they were fitted using stand-ins and body doubles, with a partially-completed backup available in case those measurements were mistaken.
The leaders had a choice among scarlet, azure, green, brown, maroon, and black versions; each came in a matching silk bag adorned with the APEC logo and each had an off-white silk shirt to wear beneath it.
The 20 attendees—the leaders of all the APEC member economies except "Chinese Taipei"—mostly opted for the red-and-black or blue-and-gold design and wore the jackets to their meetings at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum on 21 October 2001 and for the "Leaders' Family Portrait" afterwards that closed the event.
In 1993, US president Bill Clinton tried to bring trade talks back on track by inviting the heads of the APEC member economies to personally attend what had until then been a ministerial conference. He requested leaders' clothes remain informal and presented each with a leather bomber jacket bearing the APEC logo as a memento. The next year, Indonesia followed suit and presented batik shirts; the world leaders then humored Suharto's request that they wear them for a group photo. The tradition developed that the summits' hosts would present traditional and representative clothes from their cultures, and the leaders would wear them on the last day of the conference as a show of solidarity.
Ahead of the first occasion of China's hosting the summit in 2001, state-run media acquainted the Chinese with the custom, prompting speculation as to what China's "traditional clothes" might be: Mao suits had been displaced by western-style suits; minority groups often had recognizable ethnic costumes but styles of Han clothing (hànfú) had varied from dynasty to dynasty, with the most recent Qing forms heavily influenced by the Manchus and their oppressive dress codes. Although these designs were among the 40 presented to the Chinese government over the span of a year, their foreign origin or political connotations led officials to select an "ambiguously traditional" design by Shanghainese clothiers Li Jianqin (李建秦, Lǐ Jiànqín) and Yu Ying (t 余鶯, s 余莺, Yú Yīng) and by five others at Qinyi (t 秦藝服飾, s 秦艺服饰, Qínyì Fúshì) and the Shanghai Garment Group (t 上海服裝集團, s 上海服装集团, Shànghǎi Fúzhuāng Jítuán). 
The jackets given to the APEC leaders were a blend of Chinese motifs and western design, made from silk supposedly artificially enhanced to be stronger, softer, more wrinkle-resistant, more water-absorbent, and better ventilated, with longer-lasting and brighter colors. They featured cotton knotwork instead of buttons and a design of peonies surrounding the letters "APEC". The jackets were handmade but not personally sized; instead, they were fitted using stand-ins and body doubles, with a partially-completed backup available in case those measurements were mistaken. The leaders had a choice among scarlet, azure, green, brown, maroon, and black versions; each came in a matching silk bag adorned with the APEC logo and each had an off-white silk shirt to wear beneath it. The 20 attendees—the leaders of all the APEC member economies except "Chinese Taipei"—mostly opted for the red-and-black or blue-and-gold design and wore the jackets to their meetings at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum on 21 October 2001 and for the "Leaders' Family Portrait" afterwards that closed the event.
Tangzhuang