Why Western luxury brands bought by Chinese investors fail – the buyers lack the experience and know-how to turn them around

Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes and French labels Sandro and Maje have suffered from a Chinese company’s failed attempt to build a luxury conglomerate

Other brands with Chinese investors have run into trouble, and experts point to the buyers’ inexperience as a factor

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 7:15am, 10 Nov 2021Updated: 8:45am, 10 Nov 2021

Although luxury brands tend to see Chinese customers as their saviour, their downfall could, on the flip side, be Chinese owners.

News broke last week that London Savile Row stalwart Gieves & Hawkes could be in jeopardy: its parent company, Trinity Limited, is itself owned by the Shandong Ruyi Group, a Chinese textile and clothing company in Shanghai that is facing debt issues.

In a court hearing on November 4, Trinity Limited lost its appeal against a winding-up order and, unless a buyer is found, Gieves & Hawkes – a 250-year-old house synonymous with tailoring excellence – will go into liquidation.

The suit maker is not the only Chinese-owned fashion retailer in danger of being shut down. Until very recently, Shandong Ruyi owned a majority stake in SMCP, the French firm behind fashion labels Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot – all of which have been struggling for the past year.

A now-closed Gieves & Hawkes store in Hong Kong. Photo: Shutterstock

In the past few years Shandong Ruyi has also bought Cerruti 1881 and the now defunct luxury retailer Aquascutum – floundering brands that have put a substantial financial burden on a conglomerate trying but failing to be like LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury retail empire.

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