Tmall will launch new partnerships with luxury brands each month in 2018, Jessica Liu, president of Fashion and Luxury at Tmall, told Jing Daily on Wednesday.
Since partnering with luxury brands requires “mutual agreement and effort,” it is hard to predict exactly how many brands Alibaba’s biggest business to consumer e-commerce platform is going to partner with in 2018, Liu said. “But we have been in touch with all kinds of luxury fashion brands. As you know, we launched Giorgio Armani last month, and Tod’s last year,” she added.
Peacebird’s runway show was held on February 7 at Skylight Modern. Photo courtesy: Jing Daily/Huixin Deng
In addition, Tmall is determined to introduce Chinese designers and fashion styles to the West.
At this year’s New York Fashion Week (NYFW), Tmall collaborated with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to launch Tmall China Day, which aims to expose Chinese consumers to US fashion designers and help Chinese brands break into the US market.
Peacebird made its debut in the international market. Photo courtesy: Jing Daily/Huixin Deng
This year, four mass market Chinese brands were chosen to host runway shows and showroom viewings during NYFW.
“They are all very unique brands,” Liu said. “We picked them because we believe they sort of represent China’s popular culture and trends.”
CLOT aims at bridging the gap between the East and the West. Photo courtesy: Jing Daily/Huixin Deng
The four brands are:
Peacebird, an urban fashion brand with 4,500 retail stores in ChinaChen Peng, whose iconic puffer jackets have been worn by celebrities such as Lady Gaga and RihannaLi Ning, a sports brand established by the former Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast of the same name, andCLOT, streetwear couture designed by Edison Chen and Kevin Poon.
Chen Peng’s original puffer coats. Photo courtesy: Jing Daily/Huixin Deng
Why didn’t Tmall choose more avant-garde, luxury brands to showcase during one of the world’s top fashion events?
“Because our primary goal is to bring Chinese culture and design to the world,” Liu explained. “There are barely any domestic Chinese luxury brands, so we would like to introduce more popular Chinese brands instead.”