by stylites_admin -

Factory Creative

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Alexander Chu represents the new generation of movers in the Chinese fashion world. I mean the real movers, not editors, bloggers, and independent designers. His family owns a factory in Zhejiang specializing in fur and leather that has done very well commercially by producing OEM for large foreign brands. Now Alexander is using this strong base to create a label of his own. Chinese factories often have the production capacity but lack the creative spirit needed to make the jump to offering their own label. But I’m sure we will be seeing more and more factory labels like Natural Gift. Once they become better at both design and branding, some will be a potent force in the fashion world that presents a different kind of model to the sort of Western brand that just controls the name and image while outsourcing the production to factories in China. I wonder if this sort of vertical integration will work.

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AnyShopStyle Pop-up

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AnyShopStyle is one of more distinctive and coherently-curated of the huge crop of online fashion retail start-ups that have been the talk of the town for the last two years. Founded by long-time Beijing fashion writer Alice McInerney among others, the site focused initially just on quirky designs of young Chinese designers but has now opened up to include some foreign talents as well.

This Sunday from four to eight, AnyShopStyle will be hosting a pop-up shop right in Beijing’s Opposite House. Work of designers from the website will be available for the public to touch, feel and try on. Fashion brands include LUVON by Liu Lu, Sara Yun, NEEMIC, Mandarin & General, TwS, funky, animalistic Yang Du, Elysee Yang, Madeleine Thompson, and Candy & Caviar. For Hong Kong designer Erbert Chong this is the exclusive Mainland launch. His designs will only be available at the event and on AnyShopStyle.com the week after. Accessory brands will include Carmen Chan , French Sole , DSata, Everard & Wang and Rfactory. See you there!

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Stylites and P1

It turns out that I am going to be one of the two non-p1 street style photographers featured at “The Great Style Leap” a large exhibit that will be at the Orange, in Sanlitun, from Dec. 13 to 19. This notice on Business of Fashion even uses some of my photos.  The question for me is what the them of my wall at this exhibition should be.  P1 has taken over six-million street style photos, mostly in Beijing and Shanghai, over the last 5-6 years.  It is the biggest, best funded, street style project in the world.  

P1 was able to reach such a scale because it was membership-driven.  All of the people they photographed should be part of their social network, and they are collecting the data.  They really do deserve praise for making the connection between street style and social networks and then building up the business in China.  I am not sure how well it is doing as a social network right now – they were a bit late in going mobile – but the idea remains a brilliant standout from the age of street style.  Their exhibition, much like Stylites, will be celebrating the birth individuality in China.

So P1 has a good deal of material from which to select.  They are using technology to scan through the images to find the trends that have emerged over the years.  I have to find a way to fit into this.  I think since their work will be almost entirely visual, my approach may be to provide written introductions to some of the interesting personalities around Beijing.  I’ve always hoped that Stylites would be more about the actual people than fashion.  Still, I am looking for any ideas in terms of the theme for my section of the exhibit.

by stylites_admin -

Gucci is Out

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I love this quote by Svante Jerling, P1’s marketing director: “Gucci is out, fixed-gear bikes are in”. He added that “People are building on their own ideas of what’s cool rather than relying on prototype built by brands.” More quotes from Svante in this WSJ article.

Stylites is well-known for street style in Beijing, but p1 is the mega-whale in this category. They have built a massive social network around it. Their retrospective, called “The Great Style Leap” will be at the Orange, in Sanlitun, from Dec. 13 to 19. Here is more from Vocativ on this event and how it blends data analysis and photography.

by stylites_admin -

The HUB Forum and Party

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Independent stores are crucibles of creativity. Young designers rarely get their wares into major department stores and, for new players, opening one’s own store is too great an investment both in rent and marketing. The promoters and distributors of small brands are thus the independent boutique, from lofty concept stores like Colette and Corso Como 10 to the select shops that dot soho, Brick lane, Prenzlauer Berg and other hip neighborhoods around the world.

Hipper customers in Chinese cities like Beijing and shanghai are moving out of the phase when they just crave the big names. A new class of designers is rising in these cities too. Still absent is an adequate density of multi brand shops for them to sell their wares. As an editor in Beijing, I’ve seen the fashion Xander Zhou, Simon Gao and other designers but I rarely encounter their wares on the shelves.

To address this issue, Hong Hong’s the HUB fashion show and Chic Young Blood, a Beijing-based trade fair recently staged a forum in Beijing. Pioneering shop founders like Jiang Mingming of Waterstone joined independent designers like Victor Zhu of V Major and media giant Li Mengxia to discuss the question of multi brand stores on the mainland. Impediments include the super high rents in shopping malls – high-end street side shopping has been slow to develop. Other issues include the import taxes and difficulty of operating on a consignment model with foreign brands.

Moving forward, together with its Mainland partners, the HUB will be making a particular commitment to promoting quality multi-brand stores in the Mainland. The main HUB event in Hong Kong is all about bringing niche foreign brands to Asian markets, so they have a particular interest in achieving these goals on behalf of their exhibitors.

Here are some images of the Forum, which I moderated, and the party after at Wuhao.