President Of Shenzhen Copais Calls For Cultivating Chinese Design Talent
Zhao Yunhu (Image: dbw.cn)
Earlier this year, Zhang Zhifeng, the founder and Chief Art Director of the Chinese fashion house NE-TIGER said that Chinese luxury brands need to be bold enough to break with the prevailing Western-centric fashion order and create and play by their own rules if they’re going to be successful domestically and overseas. Though Zhang believes the odds are stacked against Chinese luxury brands at the moment, as he told the crowd at the Prestige Brands Forum in Shanghai, “based on the market potential of billions of population, based on China’s 5000 years of civilization and its cultural heritage of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and based on the passion and creativity of the new Chinese generation of designers, I believe in our future in the Chinese luxury brand industry.”
Apparently Zhang’s optimism is shared by a growing chorus of Chinese luxury insiders. At this summer’s China Luxury Summit, Zhao Yunhu (赵云虎), president of the Chinese fashion manufacturer Shenzhen Copais, issued a controversial declaration, saying the Chinese luxury industry is ripe for a revolution — led by home-grown brands and design talent — to combat European dominance. From the Chinese news site Foreign Trade (translation by Jing Daily team):