Asian fashion rivals Western brands as customers take pride in home-grown labels

Fashion brands from South Korea, China and Japan are becoming serious rivals of their Western peers as Asian consumers become increasingly confident in their own style and take pride in buying home-grown labels.

Asian consumers are the world’s biggest spenders on high-end fashion, representing around half of total buyers. Most of them are under 35, internet-savvy and increasingly on the hunt for small, cool, original brands that will make them stand out and look different from their parents, fashion executives and retailers say.

High quality is no longer the preserve of Western luxury brands, fashion experts say, and Asian brands are attracting attention as they experiment with new textiles and materials, facilitated by their local manufacturing base.

This growing threat from the East is likely to add misery to big luxury brands such as Prada, Kering’s Bottega Veneta and Tod’s, already suffering from plunging sales, partly due to excessive price increases, overexposure in certain markets, such as China, and mega-brand fatigue.