Phillip Lim talks about ‘Made in China’ stigma and being Chinese at Shanghai Fashion Week
The Asian American designer feels a strong connection to China and wants to change the stereotypical view of manufacturing in the country as poor-quality
“People are always asking me, ‘are you Thai, are you Chinese, are American, what are you?’,” says Asian American designer Phillip Lim from the stage at the Business of Fashion’s (BoF) first China Summit.
He joins a gathering of industry heavyweights and insiders, led by BoF founder Imran Amed, at the one-day event exploring the China and global markets and unpacking China’s unexpected power moves in fashion.
“In Chinese culture, things are not spoken. Growing up in the West, you’re so used to being vocal,” he says, “but in Chinese families, at home it’s always about respect and things you won’t have to be told. A lot of values and nuances … there’s humility and hard work.”
Lim is from an ethnically Chinese family, but was born in Thailand and grew up in the US, where his eponymous 3.1 Phillip Lim fashion label is based. His business partner Wen Zhou is from Ningbo in Zhejiang, eastern China.
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The pair’s covetable fashion brand is among hundreds of American labels eyeing the massive China market as bricks-and-mortar fashion retailing struggles back home. But with their natural links to China, Lim and Wen have an advantage – they already operate four stores in the country, and China’s online e-commerce giant JD.com sponsored the label’s most recent New York Fashion Week show.