Since JAB Holding Company put its luxury brand Bally on the market in April, there has been much speculation about who the potential buyers could be. According to Chinese media company Caixin, there’s much interest in the Swiss brand Bally from buyers in China. And it appears, from recent interviews with the brand’s CEO Frédéric de Narp,…
Category: Fashion
Bottega Veneta’s China Ambition May Come Too Late
Bottega Veneta is playing catch-up in China. But are they too late? On December 18, the Italian fashion veteran joined top-tier luxury brands such as Valentino and Ermenegildo Zegna by launching a flagship store on Alibaba’s Luxury Pavilion. It aims to carve out a bigger slice of the Chinese market as the brand steps up…
New York Fashion Week Backstage Pass: Custo Barcelona Eagerly Eyes China Market
A look at Custo Barcelona’s Spring/Summer 2015 New York Fashion Week show. (Custo Barcelona) Launched in the early 1980s, Spanish fashion label Custo Barcelona currently operates a network of approximately 80 shops worldwide, with Europe and the Americas as its important markets. Led by designer Mr. Custo Dalmau, the brand is renowned for its lively…
Event Watch: Watches & Wonders 2013
Switzerland isn’t the only place to find an exhaustive exhibition where the world’s top watch brands come together to show off their most exquisite models. From September 25 to 28, Asia’s first Haute Horlogerie exhibition, Watches & Wonders, will make its way to Hong Kong. Over 700 exhibitors will be present, including Chinese and Hong Kong watchmakers. According…
Chinese Designers Take the Wheel in New York, Los Angeles
Rihanna in Guo Pei at the 2015 Met Gala. (Weibo/Metropolitan Museum of Art) Making over 70 percent of luxury purchases outside of mainland China, Chinese consumers now support a vast network of brands and industries worldwide, boosting luxury and fashion brands as well as retailers, hotels and tourism providers. Now, a growing number of tourism…
Watch Out, Shanghai: Qingdao Has Big Ambitions To Become China’s Shopping Capital
A night view of the Northeast China city of Qingdao, which is on its way to becoming a major tourism and shopping center. (Shutterstock) Nicknamed “Oriental Switzerland” since German colonization in the 19th century and recently known as the future “Hollywood of China” thanks to Dalian Wanda Group’s grand development plans, Qingdao will also soon…
Swatch Bellamy Payment Watch Wins China UnionPay Race Against Apple
Swatch’s new Bellamy smartwatch with UnionPay capabilities. (Courtesy Photo) Chinese consumers may as well throw their physical wallets out the window now that companies are stumbling over each other to offer the best mobile payment option on the market, with Swiss watchmakers particularly keen to compete with Apple’s evolving smartwatch capabilities. The latest piece of…
China’s Top 5 Off-Season Runway Shows Of 2013
While China’s fashion weeks are all about showcasing local talent, foreign brands that unveil their collections in New York, London, Paris, or Milan are increasingly hosting off-season, China-based shows in order to gain the attention of the world’s largest group of luxury consumers. Free from the constraints of the conventional fashion week format, brands experiment…
Industry Interview: How the Social Media Crackdown in China Will Affect Luxury Brands
On June 8, the Chinese government shuttered 60 accounts on some of the biggest social media platforms, including WeChat and Sina Weibo, among others, for publishing celebrity news and gossip because they undermined socialist values. Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration ordered internet companies including Tencent and Baidu to “take effective measures to contain the glorification of scandals…
Met Gala’s Catholic Theme Stumps Chinese Supermodels
In recent years, the star-studded Met Gala has increasingly appealed to China’s A-list actors, models, and designers as a way to boost their fashion status on the world stage. Last night saw the annual star-studded fundraising event take place in support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year, three Chinese supermodels were…