In 2015 Bethan Smith was announced as one of the winners of the Confucius Institute design competition. The brief was to design a dress that had influences from both Britain and China. Smith took inspiration for her location of study, Yorkshire and combined contemporary yorkshire tweed with a full digitally printed, Chinese inspired lining. The competition prize included an all expenses paid trip to China where Bethan met with Chinese design houses to present her designs and give a talk on her take on British fashion.