How China’s first lady, Tencent and Alibaba empower a home grown luxury fashion industry
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Mar-a-Lago meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump generated a buzz over their glamorous wives – one a former singing star and the other a supermodel. But it wasn’t the first time Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan has dazzled international audiences with her signature chic, yet conservative attire embellished with Chinese motifs, which subtly lends cachet to the country’s burgeoning fashion industry.
As part of the“Peng Liyuan effect”, China’s otherwise Western bling-obsessed consumers were swift to seek out the non-conspicuous-luxury labels that tailored her suits, qipaos and jackets in public appearances, emptying their shelves and pushing the low-key designers – all Chinese – into the limelight.
And that is perhaps what a relatively lesser-known Western label would find it hard to achieve with the help of eBay and Whatsapp, even though they might have Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton as spokeswomen to catapult them to world fame, as what happened with America’s J Crew and Britain’s L.K. Bennett.
Ma added: “Taobao is offering a low-cost platform for young designers to showcase their creations, many of which do sell very well.”
There is good reason for China’s emerging fashion houses to ride on the country’s internet boom that is being supercharged by tech giants Tencent and Alibaba, two of Asia’s largest companies by market capitalisation.
Meanwhile, young Chinese fashion designers who can’t afford to set up physical stores have found Taobao, China’s biggest online bazaar, fertile ground to reach out to millions of potential customers and build up their fan base.
“If you look at their pages, you’ll find many of their items have gorgeous designs,” Ma said.
The label is still available on Taobao, with a vintage-inspired dress selling for 3,800 yuan, more than half of a Chinese white collar worker’s monthly salary.
However, market insiders warn that an overreliance on “grassroots-dominated” WeChat and Taobao, which are only a few clicks away from anyone with a smartphone and internet access, will take some of the sparkle off the appeal reserved for designer brands.
“To cultivate their deluxe image, they eventually have to have a proper physical presence when they gain sufficient financial prowess,” said Tang Xiaotang, founder of luxury retail consultancy Nofashion.