Peasant Streetwear?
December 26 2006 (05:54:00) US/Pacific
The question of what constitutes style in China is a perrenial one. Does style have to be deliberate? Does the wearer have to be at all aware of fashions? Does style need to be unique? Is the wearer more important or what is being worn? I suppose the answer to the final question is both and how the wearer wears things. There is also a question as to how the great income disparity figure into these questions.
Below is a typical middle aged migrant labourer wearing a typically oversized hat. These hats are probably the most stylish item that peasants and soldiers wear. I applaud them for being among the few people who wear hats through the cold winters in Beijing.
Peasants, beggars, and laborers can be the most stylish people, since often fashionistas and hipsters look too brand-laden and contrived. Of course, the real point here may be the expression that has been captured.
I would like to thank my friend and close associate Colin MacLennan for taking the great shot. I’m for more contributions from Colin as Stylites develops and expands. I look forward to his becoming a key articulator of the Stylites voice and lifestyle.
The common folk deserve their place at Stylites, if only because I love them for what they are not. They are not members of the Chuppy bourgeoisie, the global corporate meritocracy or the plutocracy of pigheads and vulgarians running the world’s two most powerful countries.
Comments
‘They are not members of the Chuppy bourgeoisie, the global corporate meritocracy or the plutocracy of pigheads and vulgarians running the world’s two most powerful countries.’ – well said. There was an interesting article in the WSJ Asia the other day about construction workers, how they make 3 dollars a day and are working all-out to finish all the construction in Beijing before sometime in ’07 so that the dust can clear for the olympics and then they are just expected to go somewhere else and not get in the way.
Posted by Pescatore on 12/29/2006 01:47:11 AM
Happy Holidays! Lovely things to come!
December 26 2006 (01:32:00) US/Pacific
Merry Christmas to All!
Over the Christmas weekend I met two young designers working in Beijing, whose photos and profiles I will be posting over the next week or so. I’m very excited about this. I think you will find that one of the designers in particular, surnamed Huang, has really figured out how to blend Chinese and Western styles to great effect. You will love his designs for both men and women!
So keep checking back and don’t drink too little over the holiday season!
Also, not to be overly narcissistic (I’ve never been that way), but below are some photos from over the holidays.
We both wore similar-colored herringbone tweed coats. On mine, the herringbone pattern is bigger, appropropriate for my status as a male. This overcoat is also a custom-made piece. We were posing by the restroom in Bed Bar. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce my closest associate, eternal partner in good works, and charming muse, Yuanyuan. We do everything together and she always makes me happy.
I have been getting a lot of use out of my blue cord jacket recently. I will do a little post on it to show all of the special features. Here I am with my good friend Colin’s girlfriend, Marie, a Japanese baroness from Michigan.
Dapper Dragon Robe
December 22 2006 (02:38:00) US/Pacific
Born at his family’s summer villa in a hilltop village near Lake Van, Barak Bessarian is a Sephardic Armenian who grew up in Beirut, and spent his adolescence in Haifa, Novosibirsk and Yokohama. His father was an amber and fur merchant, and work took him frequently to Yakutia. Barak has many fond memories of summers on the family yacht cruising through Lake Baikal, right after the fall of the Soviet Union. The yacht was later confiscated by a local magnate/governor, but the Bessarians purchased a new one, which they sailed mainly in the South China Sea. This yacht was sold to a Singapore developer when amber prices plunged around the turn of the century.
At fifteen, Barak was sent to New York to live with an uncle and reap the benefits of an American education. His nickname growing up was “silver bolt†– referring to lightning rather than the metal object.
That gives you a bit of an introduction to Barak. I would love to continue telling his story, but I have to write some steps companies can take to protect IPR.
Let’s come up to the present.
Barak is an antler merchant currently, though he also smuggles champagne. Demand for the latter product is skyrocketing in China. Antlers have been hot since the Zhou Dynasty.
Barak is also an accomplished scholar of Naiman (a tribe in northern Mongolia) burial rites. There is even a Naiman mating dance named after him.
Barak is THE man about town in many towns throughout Asia.
Barak recently bought a Blackberry to replace the little Inuit man that did his scheduling.
Here he is checking on a delivery of ground reindeer collarbones coming in from Omsk.
He smokes the cigarettes officially designated for use in bribery, Zhonghua.
It is a Chinese style tux, smoking jacket or emblem of elegance, but Barak calls this product of his imagination “seduction with a passion liningâ€. Imagine him saying this in a smoky Southern Caucasus accent while gently moving his many-ringed hand.
The poppable collar is like the spoiler on an Aston Martin Lagonda that rises to stabilize the vehicle at high velocity. Barak raises the collar not to show-off his chicness, but because he must…it’s just safer for everybody. He is not only successful and a true sybarite, he also has a sense of civic responsibility.
Perhaps I should mention that this jacket is made of the finest silk, both the shell and the lining. It is thicker silk, perfect for use in odd jackets like this. Adaptations of traditional Chinese fabrics in modern dress rarely conform to current taste. Forget Tom Ford. This is a rare example of total success that works off the runway, too. The perfect fit and quality of the craftsmanship are what do it. Do you dare to don the Barak Bessarian Seduction with a Passion Lining?
Feline Print out for a Wild Night
December 21 2006 (14:52:00) US/Pacific
Here is a typical late twentyish Chinese society girl. She was crossing Stadium Rd. on her way to go play at a bar or nightclub. She seemed proud of her plans for the evening. She was more than willing to pose for me after I told her she had wonderful taste and looked very nice. I expanded her ego.
She could be your life, but you will have to take her shopping for more prints that belong on a Masai chieftain’s wife.
Her manner was forward – confident, which is not so common here. She smiled and gazed enrapturingly.
Note the bus in back. I quickly boarded a similar one after this shot, afraid to walk in the same direction as her.
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Stella! Coming to a paw near you!
December 21 2006 (09:39:00) US/Pacific
Footwear maker wears own shoes
China’s largest leather shoemaker has put the shoes on its own feet, deciding to sell footwear under its own brand after being a supplier to famous brands such as Prada and Timberland for more than a decade.
Hong Kong-based Stella International Ltd, which exported 5 billion yuan (US$621 million) worth of shoes last year, plans to open 100 stores across China under the Stella Luna brand in three years.
“We plan to invest 1 billion yuan to open the stores in China’s major cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing,” said Jimmy Chen, the firm’s chairman, who opened its first store on Shanghai’s Huaihai Road.
He added that the firm plans to have 30 stores this year alone.
The company, which is the original design manufacturer for LVMH Group, Paul Smith and other top luxury brands, said it also signed an agency deal with American fashion brand Guess pending its entry to the US market.
“The partner will help us open stores in New York and San Francisco in two years,” said Chen. “We will later expand our brand to Europe and other Asian markets including Japan.”
Apparently, Stella International Ltd (hereafter: Stella) even designs the shoes for Paul Smith. The fakes or factory “overstock” selling everywhere must be the work of Stella. I wonder if any other brands besides Stella design and produce Paul Smith. Stella probably designed my pair of “Paul Smith” trainers.
Stella’s other major newsworthy item is considered a landmark legal in the history of the modern labour movement in China. Several workers were jailed after protesting sub-human working conditions at one of Stella’s sweatshops and then released following a concerted effort by concerned Mainland lawyers and international labor rights groups.
The full story:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501050131-1019909,00.html
http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/newsletter19-15.htm
It’s hard to find anything else about Stella on google.
Once Stella becomes a well-known shoe brand, all of its production facilities will come under increasing scrutiny. The more people that know about Stella’s past misdeeds, the better. Stella will no longer be able to force workers to slave over the leather 15 hours a day while failing to provide proper ventilation, a sanitary work environment, and food fit for human consumption. Stella, I’ll be watching you!
Comments
i have seen their shoes and they are beautiful. i contemplated buying a pair at RMB1,300. interestingly, at both outlets i visited in Shanghai, the staff told me the brand’s from Italy…
Posted by LHS on 02/05/2007 02:55:13 PM
The Oldest Profession and My Favorite Topic
December 21 2006 (06:43:00) US/Pacific
I heard there are a few prostitutes in China, and here is an article from the International Herald Tribune that proves it:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/news/letter.php
Chinese economist, Yang Fan, has estimated there are 20 million sex workers in the country, accounting for fully 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
There is no mention of ducks here, but the Guardian did a piece on them earlier this year:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1769387,00.html
One of my first posts on this blog is on Chinese street fashion. I describe some duck fashion:
Celebrate!
December 19 2006 (04:31:00) US/Pacific
Google “Nels Frye”! My blog now comes up. At last.
Try to ignore the hookah article.
Yahooing me works as well. In fact, the yahoo image search turns up this image:
This is from an Assyrian demonstration outside the UN.
The Google image search yields this image:
Naturally.
Comments
Where would you find the wettest place on earth? What is the world’s largest desert? If you walked the whole Appalachian Trail, from start to finish, what states would you start and end in? These are just a few examples of the questions Geograbee winner Andi Zhou ’09 (day student representative) and other cluster finalists faced at Andover’s ninth annual geography contest. In a quiz-show format, Chair of the History Department Peter Drench read the questions, while students buzzed in to answer. Students were awarded three points for every correct answer, while they were penalized one point for each incorrect answer. Chair of the Biology Department Marc Koolen kept score. The other finalists were Peter McCarthy (WQS), David Mauskop (WQN), Oliver Bloom (PKN), Hugh Edmundson (FLG), and Ben Elder (ABB). The competition began with a few “warm-up†questions for the audience, including where was the wettest place on earth: Hawaii. After the contests completed the warm-up round, the bee started. Zhou buzzed in first to answer correctly that the world’s largest desert is the Sahara. After Edmundson answered the second question incorrectly, Elder gave the right answer: Georgia and Maine frame the Appalachian Trail. The rest of the questions from this year’s bee ranged from the most sparsely populated country, Australia, to the name of the United States’ first national monument, the Devil’s Monument in Wyoming. Zhou took a commanding lead in the beginning of the round with 13 right answers, but by the end of the competition Elder had caught up to him. Elder nearly won, but Zhou answered the final question to win the initial round: Hundreds of wooden churches with Christian and Viking ties were built in what country? Norway. Unlike previous years, this year’s Geograbee went into overtime, which consisted of a sudden death following a round of five questions. Zhou answered the first question correctly: The Queen Elizabeth Islands are part of which Canadian province? Nunavut. However, Elder won the second point, naming Cote d’Ivoire as the site of one of the largest churches in the world, The Basilica of Our Lady. By the fifth and final question of overtime, Zhou was losing, but would win if he answered the last question correctly. The final question asked what Dutch-named group in South Africa had once been described with the word “trek.†After giving an older name of the group, Zhou said the correct name, Afrikaans – giving him not only the lead but also the win. Zhou received $100 and a world map with his name engraved on it, which he plans to hang in the day student locker area. Elder, who placed a very close second, received $50. In third place was Edmundson, who received $25. When a student asked Zhou where he had learned so much world geography he replied, “My dad kind of started me when I was three and after that he me started me with maps. Then I just went along with it.†When asked how he felt about winning the bee Zhou said, “Relieved.†Every year the Community and Multicultural Development Office (CAMD) organizes the bee with Instructor of Biology Raj Mundra. Mr. Mundra said, “I thought i t went really well. There was a pretty sizable crowd. Each of the finalists was well qualified.†He continued, “It’s a fun competition because the whole school gets involved…It’s a different type of knowledge [than what’s taught here] and it’s nice for students to be able to showcase it.†Mr. Drench said, “I think that the Geograbee is one of the best events of the year at PA, combining fun and competition, and because it was started as a collaboration between students and faculty.†Mr. Drench, Cluster Dean of Pine Knoll Ms. Murata, and Mr. Mundra handpicked the questions for the bee. The Geograbee was founded in 1997 by a former Instructor of Spanish Nels Frye ’99 and former International Student Coordinator Hal McCann. Obviously the last paragraph was what caught my attention. “Andover: Training journalistic standards from a young age.”
Posted by Pescatore on 12/19/2006 07:53:06 AM
Yes, they gave me some real Mianzi there. Did they mean that I was an Instructor of Spanish prior to graduating in ’99 – perhaps even before I enrolled as a student? Still, I get the credit I deserve for founding “one of the best events of the year” at such an elite high school.
Posted by stylites on 12/19/2006 08:49:43 AM
Yes, they gave me some real Mianzi there. Did they mean that I was an Instructor of Spanish prior to graduating in ’99 – perhaps even before I enrolled as a student? Still, I get the credit I deserve for founding “one of the best events of the year” at such an elite high school.
Posted by stylites on 12/19/2006 08:49:43 AM
Yes, they gave me some real Mianzi there. Did they mean that I was an Instructor of Spanish prior to graduating in ’99 – perhaps even before I enrolled as a student? Still, I get the credit I deserve for founding “one of the best events of the year” at such an elite high school.
Posted by stylites on 12/19/2006 08:49:45 AM
Yes, they gave me some real Mianzi there. Did they mean that I was an Instructor of Spanish prior to graduating in ’99 – perhaps even before I enrolled as a student? Still, I get the credit I deserve for founding “one of the best events of the year” at such an elite high school.
Posted by stylites on 12/19/2006 08:49:45 AM
Xidan Fakes: Talk to the Hand
December 18 2006 (06:12:00) US/Pacific
At Xidan, there are cartloads of fake streetwear. They fake limited-edition sweatshirts designed and made in Tokyo and worn only by obscure rappers living in the Bronx. It is difficult to take photos.
This shop stocks this Japanese streetwear brand called “A Bathing Ape”, also refered to as “Bape”. Apparently these hoodies sell for USD 300+ at one store on the Lower East Side – maybe more than just there, but that is the most visible example. Here they are for under RMB 300, probably in more styles than the original.
If you want the product of local talent, Xidan has much to offer:
Enticing…But even at this shop selling its own branded dross – not fakes – they won’t let you take pictures.
It would be too embarassing if people outside the caverns of Xidan got an idea of what passes for fashion inside.
Comments
Mwahah, Ape must never fight Ape.
Posted by Pescatore on 12/18/2006 09:14:32 AM
I was trying to take photos of that too. But just got some hands back~lol… It is true,that many fakes in Xidan. But it’s always fashion and cheap,so many young people buy them. It’s just common in China,don’t be surprised anymore.
Posted by Lori on 12/19/2006 09:22:15 AM
Hehehe, how practical! Must one drain the freshness out of everything? I adore being surprised whenever possible. Granted, I must pretend some of the time, but it’s worth it!
Posted by stylites on 12/19/2006 10:17:17 AM
Velvet Jacket and Hoodie
December 14 2006 (02:11:00) US/Pacific
It was Riel’s last weekend in Beijing before heading back to Toronto for Christmas. He wore the jacket from the stunning velvet suit just completed by Senli and Frye. The color is a smoky java with a tint of aubergine.
Riel is kind and gentle but has a titilating sense of humor. He is a good listener, but also clever. A free spirit, he is also very committed to his friends and family. I like him a lot, so he must be a swell sort of fellow. He also boasts an excellent background and education. This month he will turn 24.
He enjoys the company of charming, stylish, and witty but calm females. If you would like to arrange a meeting, please send me and email. The fee for an introduction is 100 euros, which can be sent to my paypal account.
Most Stylish Movies
December 11 2006 (05:24:00) US/Pacific
A men.style.com feature on the 25 most stylish movies of all time:
http://men.style.com/gq/features/slideshow/v/10122006FILM?loop=0&event=&designer=&trend=&slideshowId=slideshow37667&iphoto=0&play=false
Sybarites Anonymous
December 08 2006 (06:45:00) US/Pacific
Here is an advertisement I placed for Stylites in Beijing in That’s Beijing, the main expat mag in the city.
1. Be a Eurotrash Construction Worker
December 08 2006 (02:02:00) US/Pacific
Here’s a kwik rheed on how to dress to impress women:
http://men.msn.com/articlees.aspx?cp-documentid=702600>1=8883
Many sartorialists are against this practice, believing women have bad taste, but I see nothing wrong with trying to look good for them.
They are the fairer sex and all, and all they think about is making us happy (and competing with each other) through looking good.
Premium Denim
December 07 2006 (09:19:00) US/Pacific
True Religion is an old one, but it’s still interesting that there is far more of it on Taobao than US ebay:
http://search1.taobao.com/browse/3035/t-g,orzhkzjaojswy2lhnfxw4—————-40-list-commend-0-all-3035.htm
Rogan may not be the most obscure brand in the world, but as I understand, it does take pride in being “made in the USA”. They should also be proud of being “Made in China”:
http://search1.taobao.com/browse/0/t-95—————–g,ojxwoylo—————-40-list-commend-0-all-0.htm
Rogan jeans and outerwear can be found at the fourth floor of the 3.3 market in Sanlitun.
We all know A.P.C. is the trendiest thing at the moment. New Yorkers always want to seem French. So do Beijingers:
http://search1.taobao.com/browse/3035/t-g,mexca4boebrs4—————-40-list-commend-0-all-3035.htm
To be fair, perhaps BJ is still behind the fashion curve. For this one, there is very little and the prices are in that high bracket where one starts to wonder if the product is real. I have to examine more closely.
Shockingly, there are only 1945 entries for Evisu. Hmmm, 1945 for Evisu.
http://search1.taobao.com/browse/3035/t-g,mv3gs43v—————-40-list-commend-0-all-3035.htm
I’m sure it’s all from Japanes looms.
We are now up to 104 entries for Dior Homme jeans. We should keep in mind that most of these entries has several pairs available in different sizes.
What about Rock and Republic – a totally mainstream brand? I’ve actually never seen the originals, since it’s a relatively new brand, but I have seen some in Xidan.
Taobao has 41 entries, starting at around 15 dollars in price.
http://search1.taobao.com/browse/3035/t-g,ojxwg2zaojsxa5lcnruwg—————-40-list-commend-0-all-3035.htm
Rock and Republic is all being made in Guangzhou. Cantonese people are fashion forward.
Let me note in passing that two US designer brands, John Varvatos and Theory, are entirely absent from the Chinese market. It’s strange because most Theory is produced in China. Come to think of it, I have seen Theory here, in shops.
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Two Weeks in Posh One-bedroom in Central Beijing
December 07 2006 (06:35:00) US/Pacific
Spend winter in the capital of the next hyperpower!
Hack up phlegm before it becomes illegal!
Will you brave the firecrackers and myriad Volkswagens?
Can you stomach lardburgers and no oxygen?
Buy a plane ticket to BJ and you’ve got a place to say for the two last weeks of February!
February 18 – March 3, babysit my flat.
You must be stylish, sophisticated, silly, and a sailor.
Please send a photo, statement enumerating prejudices and vital sentiments, and a commitment to wear and take with you my Bollywood-style leather jacket.
All female applicants must agree to (1) buy plastic white boots and (2) tuck their jeans into the boots.
I shall be in the city of light…
Comments
i enjoy reading this blog a lot. and i sure would like to come. 🙂 haven´t been to china for quite a while. although i´m not so sure about the bollywood-leatherjacket. have any photos of it online?
Posted by peripherique on 12/07/2006 07:32:36 PM
Well, thank you for your interest. It’s a perfect location and it is quite comfortable. As for the leather jacket, it’s also very Detroit – a cross between detroit and bollywood. Waist length, vintage 1960s, it is on my girlfriend’s list for incineration. It’s not that bad though.
Posted by stylites on 12/08/2006 01:34:31 AM
beyond caps and commas
December 06 2006 (13:50:00) US/Pacific
My dear friend Mark sent me this email message:
“i will think for you and i love you enjoy man miss you lots”
I’m moved. It’s too bad he left.
More Tweed Jackets
December 06 2006 (01:53:00) US/Pacific
Another picture of the tweed jackets. I’m wearing trousers that are also a tweed with a very subtle check and Colin is wearing jeans that he distressed himself. Colin and I were at Hatsune that night.
Some comments made by members of styleforum.net after seeing photos of our custom tweed jackets.
“I agree, I love the tweed jacket and hat combo. It works so perfectly and gives that that great “fish out of water” look while still being fashionable.â€
“Dude, I’d love to find a jacket like that. If you ever plan on having one made like that again, count me in.â€
“By the way BGS, I love the tweed blazer/jacket with the ticket pocket on your blog. Is this made by you?â€(I am BSG)
We are trying to locate more of this fabric. Despite being a very classic herringbone, it was a limited run.
Trousers in boots to reign for several more generations
December 04 2006 (06:12:00) US/Pacific
These two models are on their way to the agency on floor 25 of my building.These tall women have achieved the winter style goals of many Beijing girls – the white coat, sunglasses, permed hair, and tall boots. Jeans tucked into boots is, thankfully, not quite as common this winter as last, but still captures the imagination of the most fashionable young ladies. These girls do have the proportions to wear this style.
It is very unremarkable that they are both wearing the same outfit. The scary fact is that they probably did not plan this. Note that one girl added a green scarf as a statement of individual style and perhaps, in keeping with the shades, rebellion.
In my hutong, starting the next generation early:
The trousers make it work.
So why do Chinese girls like this style so much?
Comments
Posted by Morbid-Calendar on 01/13/2007 03:58:56 AM
A visitor
December 04 2006 (04:16:00) US/Pacific
I had a guest over the weekend, and I had to take him sightseeing.
Here I am welcoming him to Paris:
I got this blue corduroy suit made without a lapel button hole, so I had to use the chest pocket for my orchids.
Please start checking again regularly this week, as there will be frequent updates coming once again.
Pocket Squares
December 01 2006 (09:36:00) US/Pacific
Can’t really buy ’em here, so gotta make ’em. My next project.
The press takes notice…
December 01 2006 (09:09:00) US/Pacific
I’m extremely ecstatic that my blog was mentioned at the top of the Links of the Week section in the That’s Beijing “That’s Seven Days in Beijing, Weekly Newsletter”:
Stylites in Beijing, which appears to model itself on New York’s The Sartorialist, is keeping a critical eye on fashion – and pollution – in the capital.
This mention is well-deserved; I have worked hard for it. How might one even imagine what could come next?
I don’t know how much like The Sartorialist my site really is, but it is a flattering comparison. I think my blog is going in a different direction, due to the nature of the content that is available. I have certain ideas about that direction, and it will be an exciting one. We could end up with a coffee table book. Obviously, my blog functions as a promotional tool for Senli and Frye, temporarily, until we get the website up and running.
It is proving difficult for me to find interesting street style to post, I must confess. The Beijing street fashion scene is more repetitive than I had anticipated. Does one focus on ugly chuppies, punks and hipsters, wannabe hip-hopsters or the “real people” -workers, bums, and farmers? The groups are too defined. People are too obsessed with looking like the group that they aspire to enter. They rarely break free in their style, and I rarely break free of the office. Maybe I am just not noticing things. Any suggestions?
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What is the correct path on fakes?
December 01 2006 (04:05:00) US/Pacific
I don’t really want to support buying fakes. I don’t want to give advice about which ones are good and where to buy them.
So, as Westerners, should we be coming up with solutions for this problem? That is, should citizens of the countries in which the brands are produced not buy fakes? Is it unpatriotic? Are we supporting China’s rise and the West’s demise when we buy their fakes of our stuff?
The problem for the established brands may not be as great as they themselves make it out to be. Clearly Hedi Slimane and Paul Smith aren’t about to starve on the streets because of IP theft. The companies they design for or own also have a loyal base of consumers who derive great spiritual value from buying the real thing – even in lands where fakes are available. However, I should caution that brand loyalty is not fully developed in China, their fastest expanding market.
The new affluent classes hanker after luxury brands for the status they can provide. A percentage of these people are not price sensitive, but highly face sensitive. This group might only buy the real thing.
There is another large slice of the wealthy who are happy to have the status at a lower price tag, and who don’t really give a damn about the illustrious history of LV.If they can find a fake that looks just as good as the real thing to be their new toy, they are happy to take advantage of a discount.
Paul Smith just entered the Beijing market this year. He had a store in Shanghai for a year or more before that. There is Paul Smith EVERYWHERE now. This was not the case a year ago. Can you imagine “Paul Smith” appearing with the same frequency as GAP and Banana Republic combined in the US? It’s almost like that. The quality difference is apparent for SF types, but not for everyone. I met a very stylish Dutch fellow yesterday, wearing a real Paul Smith scarf, perusing the mall of fake Paul Smith shops. He said that he was happy to buy the fakes selling there, since they were just as good as the real thing. Perhaps this is not a problem, since Paul Smith will continue to be a successful company.
You don’t think this has a negative effect on his brand image? Maybe not, but it seems hard to believe. I want to analyze this further when I have the chance.
As for rising brands, designers and creative types, this is a terrible problem. You can say that their niche consumers will carry them through, but this is imbuing dissimilar consumer groups with attributes of ones with which we are more familiar. Chinese consumers prefer anything foreign and established, particularly when it comes to fashion. A fake Dior Homme sweater will always sell better than that of a local brand, because it still has that aura of style, of Paris, of something elite. Also, please keep in mind that you cannot even rise to any level of fame and profitability when your brand is ripped off immediately. There are exceptions, things will change, but for now the situation is getting worse.
“D&G” is sold in boutiques that seem glamorous and foreign. The sales assistants will state they are a registered seller of D&G. It is very hard to compete with stylish, decent-quality, “D&G” selling at a lower price than you could possibly hope to offer if you wanted a profit.
Keep in mind that “D&G” is not necessarily just copies of the real D&G. Anyone hoping to sell a stylish clothing item would be advised to slap on the tag D&G, Dior Homme, or True Religion, or Rogan (I see this in increasing quantities).
You can either pay to market a brand that will promptly be copied, or slap D&G onto your product. Which one is more profitable? When you make 100 dollars a month, the choice is not hard.
I can only defer to those who are really facing that problem. Local designers all list IP theft as the main problem preventing their rise.
So, will production ever go back to the first world because of this?
Or will the market that best protects IP be the one that succeeds in the long-run or atracts foreign producers?
It would seem as though the problem of IP theft is not as big for the big companies as I am making it out to be. They obviously all keep their production here in spite of being copied.
Are the “fakes” and “overstock” sometimes actually allowed by the parent companies so they can secretly make a profit off people who do not normally have the means to buy the originals? A kind of price selection.
Perhaps this is a secret stategy on the part of the big brands to curtail the development of local competitors, while making money off lower income members of the production…Probably not, but it seems to be a benefit that comes out of an othe rwise bleak situation.
Maybe IP theft offers the West the chance to retain its ascendancy, since brands and marketing are the only real advantages we still possess.
Well, I guess they still make better wool in England.
Comments are closed.