Tag: China Fashion News and Analysis 中国时装新闻及行业分析

Zhai Yanxin’s work incorporates custom tailoring and design. I have always said that this was a natural course for high-end fashion to take here in China. Why buy an Armani dress when a thousand other people have the same one (and aside from the final stitches done in Italy, the Armani was probably made in China anyway)? For the same price or lower, a stylish Chinese lady can have a completely unique piece tailored for her by Mr. Zhai, for example. More from Xinhua here and take a look at the designer’s blog.

Coach says China will be its #3 market after the US and Japan. This quote from Coach seems to sum up the attitude that most foreign luxury brands have toward China and the rest of the less-developed world: “In non-Japan Asia, consumers are at a different stage in the lifecyle of their experience with luxury goods. Luxury for them is much more about status. It’s a badge.”

In the West, is luxury an expression of personal style, a connection with traditions, or an celebration of beauty and quality?

Valentino Fashion Group S.p.A will be opening its first free standing Valentino boutique in Beijing this week. In the Peninsula Palace shopping arcade, this flagship boutique will carry the menswear and ladies wear collections as well as bags, shoes, sunglasses and watches. Despite a rather thin presence on the ground in China, the brand Valentino is already quite well-known and has been a frequent victim of trademark infringement. There are many clothing brands based in China that include the word “Valentino” in their name.

Few US brands are more associated with China in the minds of Americans than Nike. Thinking of sweat shop labor and prison labor in China, Nike immediately comes to mind. Even if Nike really is the worst violator, someone has done a bad job on PR if the perception I have is widely held. Of course the lost fingers, poor ventilation, and 16 hour work days are the fault of the contractors and not Nike itself and, to give credit where it is due, the efforts of Nike’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) officers toward creating better working conditions have won much praise for the company.

Regardless of any negative associations, Nike nearly always sees rising profits, of which China is now a major source. Nike is one of the most well-recognized foreign brands in China. Over the seven months leading up to the Olympics, Nike will be releasing new products that cement the stature of the brand here. One of the first examples is the new Air Max 90 that celebrates Team China’s success in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where it won 15 Gold medals. See the pics here.

Interestingly, even as Nike’s business improves in this market, much of its production is shifting out of China due to rising labor costs. The Chinese company that is one of Nike’s biggest suppliers, Yue Yuen Industrial, has shifted much of its production to Vietnam and Indonesia to cut costs. The new Chinese labor law, approved at the end of 2007, is expected to push even more producers out of the country.

A new UNCTAD report calls China the worlds largest exporter of “creative goods” with a total figure of USD 89.1 billion in 2005, including Hong Kong’s USD 27.7 billion. Italy was number two with USD 28 billion in 2005. This includes goods such as films, music, traditional crafts, design and architecture, but still is a rather surprising finding. Considering that China bemoans its deficit in cultural products and lack of creativity, this is not what I would expect. Also, China’s government constantly stresses development of innovation to address this deficit. I would have to research further into what categories they are using to come up with these figures. Doesn’t Hollywood export even more than USD 28 billion in one year? Perhaps it doesn’t count as creative. It’s frustrating to see a statistic that doesn’t make sense, but not have time to research why it came into being.

No one doubts the potential in China though. There may not be many well-known Chinese designer brands, but with this country’s love of fashion and the number of young people studying it, the country seems on track to become a source of creativity within the next few years. Reflecting the critical role of China in global fashion, France’s Fashion TV kicks off its global talent search for this Olympic year in China seeking to unlock all of the design genius that might not otherwise find a platform in this competitive industry.

Ted Baker is setting up its first shop in China, according to the FT, though the article does not say where. I suspect it will be in Shanghai and not Beijing. Ted Baker style is decidedly British, a bit lower end than Paul Smith, but quirky in a similar way. The Ted Baker man probably works in advertising, graphic design, journalism or possibly a trendier financial institution, perhaps venture capital. Are there enough Chinese men in these occupations with the funds needed to buy Ted Baker? The reason I ask this question is that I can’t imagine a guy in a more conventional multinational wearing Ted Baker or Paul Smith, not to mention a state-run company. Ted Baker men are creative and stylish, but have enough money to buy nice clothes. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there are more Ted Baker men in Shanghai than in Beijing. I still haven’t figured out why the Paul Smith boutique in Beijing closed.

Interestingly, I haven’t seen many Ted Baker fakes yet – nothing like the amount of Paul Smith stuff. Ted Baker does produce a lot in China though, so, as the brand gains in recognition, we can expect to see more fakes as well as “factory seconds”.

The China Daily interviewed me regarding Stylites and Senli and Frye tailoring this past Sunday. The full profile with photos should be appearing in the coming weekend’s China Daily. Even before that, yesterday, some of my comments on eco-fashion made it into an article in a piece on the subject in the China Daily. I mentioned Chinese versions of the “I’m not a plastic bag” cloth bags that are popular here, either as fakes of the Anya Hindmarch item or as locally designed versions. Soon free plastic bags will be illegal at all stores in China, just as they are in much of Europe, so expect more coverage of the plastic bag issue and its relationship to eco-fashion on Stylites.

In other press related news, the CScout interview with me on trends and drivers in the China fashion market appears to be getting many links and to be quoted on countless other websites.

The perfect way of getting around in August 2008 is made by Gucci and could be yours for a mere USD 3,420, which could be over USD 4,000 by the time of the Olympics at the rate the dollar is dropping. The color and fact that the brand is Gucci make this a perfect ironic symbol of the new China and I’m sure this exact thing has already been produced here as art. With eight products in total, there will also be a red watch, red shoes, a red Majiang set, a red bag set, and a hideous black and white panda. These products will only be available in Chinese Guccis. Olympics special edition products are a good idea and the bike will add a peppy feel to the boutiques, with their vapidly pretentious vibe (it’s also possible to be pretentious with depth). Gucci fans will be happy to buy up new lux goods that match the non-subtle vibe of the brand. Still, these may be the first items from Gucci than don’t strive to be sexy, which is refreshing. This Beijing Olympics blog has the full story.

Granted, Gucci does make relatively high quality clothing for a fashion brand, and everything is cut for my physique. In China at least, most people who buy Gucci go for the ugly logo covered stuff, which makes it hard to like the brand. The fake canvas bags are almost as popular as LV fakes. I wonder if we will actually see people riding around Beijing on those bikes.

I wonder if it is possible to buy the fakes for this stuff yet.

I’m not the most “with-it” person when it comes to global pop culture. Still, a key focus for Stylites in 2008 is subcultures and what they mean for fashion in China and the development of the consumer market. We will be analyzing the Chinese interpretations, from a style standpoint, of hip hop, punk, mod, and other subcultures.

Some of our key questions: How do kids who ascribe to these subcultures express themselves through fashion? How do they buy? What do they think about the outside world, brands, and their futures? Do they think of their chosen style as foreign? How do they make it Chinese? Is any part or world view deliberately subversive?

CScout charts new and innovative trends in hotspots throughout the world. With offices in Tokyo, Munich, New York, and Beijing, their blogs regularly feature updates on consumer-oriented trends in lifestyle, marketing, and technology. This week, Daniel Allen, their Beijing Trend Director interviewed me on trends and drivers in the China fashion market.

With all the “replica” Dior Homme these days, this guide to telling the real thing, from Fake Hunter, is a must-see. The number of hits on Taobao for “Dior Homme” is now at 13828, compared to 262 on Ebay.com. Even on Ebay, I estimate that one third of the items are made in China. Also, keep in mind that the 262 on Ebay are each a single item whereas usually each of the 13828 hits on Taobao represents an item that can be bought in at least a couple sizes, colors, and quantities.

For hip kids in China these days, Dior Homme is the brand to wear. However, even merchants selling fake Dior Homme admit that it is one of the few luxury brands that has yet to relocate production to China. So no one can claim that these are factory seconds or overproduction, like they can with Burberry, Dolce and Gabbana, and Prada. The Dior Homme fakes are higher end than most fakes because, as with the real brand, the target consumers are very discerning and style-conscious as opposed to buyers of LV bags who just want the brand name. Most of the factories that make Dior Homme were started by Koreans and Japanese to target the China market and their home countries.

It would be interesting to take a survey of the thoughts of wearers of this type of Dior Homme.

The negative aspects are visible in the rise of religious fundamentalism of various stripes, but could there be an aesthetically pleasing side to this? And could that be in the realm of luxury and fashion? Earlier this year, Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of PPR – parent of Gucci, made a prediction: “We are entering what I think is an age of irrationality and return to fantasy – and luxury is a part of that. We are at the beginning of a social trend, change in values that could go on for years – the age of rationalisation, after all, lasted for more than a century.”

He’s right, and the craving for fantasy is keen here in Asia. Hundreds of millions of high-rise dwellers suddenly enjoy knowledge of a wider, more glamorous, world. On the internet and TV, they see all the exciting choices, whether in career, love, or aesthetics. While spirituality lags, they live in a constricted universe of concrete and pollution. They can only dream of joining that more beautiful world and fashion is a key tool for this dreaming. Fashion, even luxury, is fantasy for the masses.

JWT, the largest advertising agency brand in the US, just released a list of the 80 trends to watch in 2008. It is not always clear what the terms they use mean. While the whole list is a must-read, I picked a few of their trends that are most relevant to Stylites and fashion in China:

4. Beijing 2008 – Requires no analysis. Stylites will be on the scene to record the styles of 2008 in Beijing.

9. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang – Considerably better looking than Yao Ming, Liu’s picture is in every ad already. How does he dress when he’s not competing?

13. Cooperative consumption – JWT might mean (1) groups like Yahoo Freecycle that aim to reduce consumption through trading used products, (2) coordinated and planned purchasing based on the needs of small communities, to economize and reduce ecological impact or, though this is unlikely, (3) less coercive forms of marketing, advertising and sales in which the seller forms more of a partnership with the consumer. In any case, Stylites aims to track all three of these trends in China.

16. Designer Phillip Lim – The fashion designer of Chinese-origin JWT singled out, Lim relies on a gentle palette to create wearable-looking and fun pieces. He just introduced a men’s line which looks fresh but totally approachable, which is a notable accomplishment. Stylites will track perceptions of overseas Chinese designers in the Mainland.

37. Intellectual luxury – This seems to be a derogatory term denoting intellectualism for it’s own sake, though I’m not certain. I prefer to think of intellectualism as a luxury product that the elites everywhere engage in when they have the leisure and wealth needed to do so. In keeping with their country’s traditions, the elites in China are already starting to engage in intellectualism for fun rather than profit. It will be interesting to track the intellectual products they consume and the spread of “intellectualism as fun” to the general population.

39. Japanese designs (Tsumori Chisato, Uniqlo, Muji, etc.) – This hardly seems like a new trend. Nonetheless, the spread of Japanese style beyond the avant-garde to the mainstream is notable in the States, and of course in China. Everyone is wearing overproduction from Japanese brands. Anyway, why did Uniqlo close in Beijing?

41. Lifestyle curators – In China, this will be huge. The nouveau riche will demand it. More on this to come here at stylites.net.

57. Recycling into fashion (Nau, Gary Harvey, etc.) – This is going to intensify. There have already been dresses made from condoms, not to mention sportswear brands that use old bottles. Being so fashion-obsessed, what will the Chinese do with all this cheap apparel that is being created once it turns to rags or goes out of fashion? This is a special focus of stylites.net.

75. Vicarious consumption – Perhaps the most fascinating trend here, this Thornstein Veblen term is highly relevant to the current experience in China. Most older people will only achieve joy through the consumption that their progeny can engage in. They didn’t have the money and now they don’t have the youth to wear the Dior jacket but they can be gratified by seeing their kid in one.

I would like to thank JWT for coming up with this list. Stylites will be looking into many of these trends and others as they relate to fashion in China.

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