Author: Gemma A. Williams
China ushered in the Year of the Horse with a wave of festivities on Feb. 17, but the travel rush that began two weeks earlier will keep retailers busy until mid-March. The 40-day Chunyun season is one of the country’s peak travel periods, offering brands a prime opportunity to capture spending around Lunar New Year.“Demand for high-end travel within China is booming,” said Zhang Chen, vice president of Alibaba’s online travel platform Fliggy, pointing to private domestic tours that can easily reach 27,000 yuan ($3,900) per person for five days, excluding flights but including accommodation near retail districts. That package…
In one way or another, top international designers have been working for Chinese brands for decades. What was less common was their willingness to reveal these relationships to the wider fashion industry, with hires usually hidden behind non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). That reticence is now fading, as two high-profile names have broken with tradition and publicised their latest gigs on the mainland.When Kim Jones and Kris Van Assche, both former creative directors at LVMH brands, revealed late last year that they had been hired by Bosideng and Anta respectively, it was big news, says Emmanuel Hemmerlé. “Previous hires [that Chinese firms…
Brands like Loewe are betting on the craze for bite-sized soap operas, testing how far they can stretch mass-market entertainment without undermining their prestige positioning.
The resale market is expanding from apps to buzzy offline markets as taboos around secondhand fashion fade, interest in sustainability grows and the slowing economy pushes more Chinese consumers into bargain-hunting mode.