Will China’s love affair with British fashion survive Brexit?
British labels big and small are hoping to emulate the success of London-educated Chinese designers such as Masha Ma and Huishan Zhang, who have successfully conquered both markets
When the British Fashion Council polled 500 of the country’s top designers ahead of the Brexit vote, 90 per cent said they intended to vote Remain. So it is fair to say that unease stalked the studios and showrooms of London on June 23, last year, when the nation voted to leave the European Union. But as if to anticipate the blow that was coming, some of the country’s most promising designers and brand managers met with executives from Chinese online platform JD.com on the day before the referendum. And while the atmosphere in London was tense, there was a sense of hope at the meeting that a vote for Brexit needn’t be a death blow for British fashion.
Although Brexit is worrying for the many brands that are profoundly entangled with European partners, it was never going to make one of the most international industries in multicultural London slam its doors on the world. And in the nine months since the Brexit vote, British fashion’s foreign outlook has not only grown, it has also been increasingly trained in one direction.
With China’s fashion industry expanding at an impressive rate, it is no surprise that a number of countries want in on the action. But few are putting in quite as much effort as Britain, a country that has ramped up the hard sell on both its luxury brands and its independent designers.
