Bye bye bling – China’s consumers move on from logos

British designer Paul Smith described the Chinese luxury market as “extremely dangerous” to the Financial Times in 2008. Shoppers in China only “wanted things that say I’m wealthy and I’m fashionable… things with a logo on,” Smith said.  Soon after he packed up and left the market.

Five years is a long time in fashion and now he has chosen Shanghai for his new flagship store. “There are a lot of people who are not necessarily looking for the obvious symbols of wealth or fashion. They are looking more to buy things that they know are interesting or special,” Smith opined more recently, again in the FT.

He is not alone. Armani is now heavy on simplicity, easing back on logo-ed shirts and bags. Even Gucci has toned down the visible branding.  In fact, industry blog Buy Buy China found 23 per cent of the Gucci bags sold in China this year have no prominent logo, compared to just 6 per cent in 2009.

As a basic example: an image-conscious Shanghai business executive might drive an Audi, but at home he keeps his beer in a domestic brand fridge. So says The Week in China. Such wisdom, says the WIC, has worked well for the luxury retailers, who have focused on selling items such as bags, cars and apparel that announce ‘I’m rich, I’ve arrived’.

But as Chinese luxury consumers become more knowledgeable, it seems they are learning to play it down, too. It sounds very plausible, but as anyone who has been to Macau lately will tell you, news hasn’t yet reached the south. It’s still in- your- face brands’r’us. 

Wash and blow for Fido