BEIJING — When Chinese fashion designer Xie Feng got his start in the
industry two decades ago, there was hardly any fashion to design.
At
the time, China was still a land of simple clothes and sturdy fabrics.
The country had little interaction with the outside world, which meant
no fashion magazines, no designer labels and certainly no events like
China Fashion Week. “When I was in college in the early Eighties, you
couldn’t even major in fashion,” said Xie. “It wasn’t part of the
culture at all.”
What a difference 20 years can make. China
has gone from a fashion black hole to an industry hub, quickly becoming
the center of multibillion-dollar manufacturing and international
retail activity. Lingering in the shadows of such massive movement is
the field of Chinese fashion design, which was celebrated last week at
the seventh annual China Fashion Week in Beijing. The event is barely a
blip on the international radar, but not for long: As the industry’s
focus on China sharpens, local designers like Xie could become the
future of fashion. All they need to do is wait; after all, the market
is coming to them.
It’s a terrific position to be in for the
small number of established Chinese designers, many of whom have been
in business for less than 10 years and are hardly household names, even
in China. A study by Merrill Lynch released early last month predicts
that by 2014, Chinese customers will account for 30 percent of the
world’s luxury market, up from 11 percent now. That will place them on
par with today’s core Japanese consumer and well ahead of those in the
U.S., whose share is expected to drop to 17 percent from 26 percent in
the next 10 years. Like everyone else, Chinese designers are looking to
their homeland to find retail success. “Of course, I’d like to be able
to sell internationally, but it’s not a priority,” said Chinese women’s
wear designer Luo Zheng, who launched her Shenzhen-based women’s wear
line, Omnialo, in 1996. “Right now, my focus is on developing and
selling in China.”
The obvious advantage for locals like Luo
is that they don’t have to travel far to tap the world’s potentially
biggest market, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by foreign investors
who are suddenly making Chinese designers a hot commodity. In hopes of
getting an edge on the ever-crowded Chinese retail scene, more outside
companies are starting to invest in or partner with Chinese designers
who could help them rule the retail boom. There are success stories
already, like the formerly bankrupt Canadian luxury brand Ports
International, which localized its design team and retail activity in
China and boasts soaring sales and a bigger presence here than such
brands as Gucci or Chanel, according to market research.
Foreign
interest in Chinese designers has helped Xie — often called by his
adopted English name, Frankie — who started his own line, Jefen by
Frankie Xie, in a partnership with an Italian company four years ago.
Today, Jefen’s 20 boutiques across China have annual revenues of more
than $7 million, making it one of the top local brands. “The most
successful fashion lines in China right now all have foreign partners,”
Xie said. “There hasn’t been enough time for Chinese designers to learn
the business from the start. The partnerships help us keep up and move
forward.”
This kind of arrangement might make Xie the perfect
prototype of the modern Chinese designer. He seems ready to step into
the role: Two days before his fashion week show — which featured
colorful satin blouses, tight jersey dresses and sleek belted jackets —
Xie was huddled in his smoky office in the financial district of
downtown Beijing, selecting runway hair and makeup (wild curls, pink
lips) and screening the music for the show (energetic techno). His
short black hair was newly highlighted with golden streaks in the
front; his signature sunglasses, worn even in Beijing’s
pollution-clouded daylight, were a constant accessory.
Xie’s
experiences give him a worldly perspective: He spent years studying
design and working in Japan — and often refers to it as the kind of
mature Asian market that China could be — and also worked for Japanese
designer Kenzo in Paris, as detailed in his new book, “The Way to
Fashion.” Xie seems to understand the potential of increasing his name
recognition: He’s working on producing a TV show based loosely on his
life as a designer. In an office overlooking a row of run-down
neighborhood noodle shops, he reviewed the bright styles from his
upcoming spring line, many of which would be featured at the Jefen
show.
The collection was a rainbow of hot pinks, lilac purples
and buttery yellows, a silky mix that appealed to Jefen’s clientele of
professional women who are just starting to enjoy fashion, while also
meeting their daily need for officewear. Because he’s watched fashion
grow in China, Xie understands the style necessities of women in a
country that is still very cautious when it comes to dress.
He
— and presumably his Italian backers — thought it gave him an advantage
as a designer in the Chinese market. “Foreign luxury brands will always
appeal to the people who only want the top labels,” he said. “But where
Chinese designers really have their strength is in the everyday clothes
that the majority of people will wear. If you look at Japan, there are
both successful foreign luxury brands and high-end and mid-priced
clothes from Japanese brands. The Japanese designers understand the
culture and lifestyle better than any designer from an outside country.
In the future, China could be the same way.”
Adds Wang Qing,
president of the China Fashion Association: “Foreign brands competing
in the market have better operations and brand images than those from
China right now. But Chinese designers have their own advantages. While
foreign designers tend to view China as a whole, Chinese designers
recognize the differences in markets around the country. The cultures
and needs are very different as you go from north to south. Foreign
companies entering China can spend three to five years localizing their
brands, but Chinese designers are already there.”
Right now,
the biggest hurdle for Chinese designers may be overcoming the stigma
from the country’s stylish elite who find Chinese design too
unsophisticated and underdeveloped for their high-fashion,
brand-focused tastes. Nowhere is that rift more apparent than at the
fashion week events: Unlike other cities, where the front rows of shows
are crammed with well-dressed celebrities and socialites, the
superstylish shy away from China Fashion Week, which is held twice a
year in Beijing (where it focuses on domestic brands) and Shanghai
(where it focuses on promoting international labels and caters to a
more elite crowd).
At last week’s fashion week events in
Beijing, the audiences were primarily filled not with style-setters but
with government suits, members of the media, and young fashion
students. The small but growing group of glamorous Chinese stayed home.
“The fashion industry isn’t meeting the needs of the modern
Chinese woman,” explains Su Mang, executive publisher and editor in
chief of the Chinese edition of Harper’s Bazaar, who’s been a fashion
editor for 10 years. “They love fashion, they want style, and they’re
only finding it in foreign designs right now. Women here don’t want to
wear the Chinese brands — they’re just not sophisticated enough.”
Even Xie acknowledged the divide: “My wife,” he said, “prefers Prada.”
Although
there is some evidence of a lack of sophistication — to start, no
Chinese runway show seems complete without a generous amount of sequins
— it may not really matter that Chinese design isn’t as advanced as its
foreign competition. While there are certainly high-profile consumers
in China who covet trendsetting styles, the typical customer is someone
who is just starting to appreciate fashion and requires something
affordable. Luo’s brand Omnialo, for instance, is aimed at an average
professional consumer who makes about $400 per month. That’s not enough
income to cover necessities and a label like Louis Vuitton, but it is
enough for a regular splurge from Luo’s line.
Last week’s
fashion shows also demonstrated an increasing creativity that
organizers hope will lure more local customers to Chinese design. Luo’s
feminine show was a standout, offering modern yet delicate twists on
classic Chinese designs. And there was Shenzhen-based designer Liang
Zi’s nature-inspired show for her brand Tangy, which opened with a
model draped, monk-like, in folds of natural-fiber fabric. Liang’s
organic designs were quickly heralded by critics and organizers as one
of the week’s best and earned her top women’s wear designer honors
along with Luo at the closing awards ceremony.
“I don’t think
Chinese design is far behind the foreign brands,” claimed Liang, her
arms full of floral bouquets amid a flood of camera flashbulbs after
the awards. “We just need to start thinking more about business
opportunities to grow our brands. Foreign companies have recognized the
importance of building brand extensions in areas like makeup, bags and
shoes. Chinese designers need to look beyond clothes and start doing
the same.”
It could be that the biggest problem for the local
fashion industry is itself and its propensity to produce knockoffs. No
matter how innovative and well-financed the designers can become, they
will still be plagued by competing brands that can easily copy the
styles and sell them as their own. Even a central event like China
Fashion Week has become marred by the threat of copying. “There are so
many fashion companies here who don’t even employ designers,” said CFA
president Wang. “They simply copy the design of the best-selling
clothes and produce them under their own brand name. It’s a big problem
for events like fashion week, where fashions are shown months before
they’re seen in stores. Many of the designers who show here run a very
large risk of having their styles copied before they even put them
out.”
Still, judging by the response to the recent fashion
week, the future remains bright. The investors are coming, along with a
slow stream of accolades and awards. The potential for success — less
than two decades after the industry’s start, no less — is large. “The
Chinese fashion world is constantly growing,” said Wang. “It’s only a
matter of time before it starts receiving international attention.”
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Xie Feng doing fittings for his Jefen line.
Photo by Vidurajang Bahadur
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