These Brands Are Taking a Chance on China This Year
China remains a promised land for fast-growing fashion brands looking to expand their business on a global scale.
Despite a challenging retail climate due to the prolonged pandemic and rising tensions between China and the U.S., which led to brands like Off-White and Trussardi downsizing, a new cohort of players is gearing up to take their chances in the final quarter of 2022.
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The Sequoia Capital China-backed brands, which include the South Korean fashion brand We11done, Alexandre Mattiussi’s Ami Paris, and Holzweiler from Norway, in particular, are very active in the market.
Angelica Cheung, venture partner at Sequoia Capital China and founding editor of Vogue China, revealed that We11done last month launched its Tmall flagship and it plans to open its first offline store in Shenzhen in September. Stores in Beijing, Chengdu, and Nanjing are also in the pipeline for 2022. By 2023, We11done plans to open another three to five stores focusing on other top-tier cities.
While Ami Paris plans to open in four new locations, bringing the store count to 14 by the end of 2022. The brand is also present in Hainan with two stores and one creative pop-up. The brand plans to open six to eight stores in China next year, focusing mainly on major regional cities.
Holzweiler, in the meantime, plans to open a Tmall store this fall and contemplates opening three to four retail stores in China’s tier-one cities in the second half of 2023.
A-Cold-Wall’s first stand-alone store in Beijing.Samuel Ross’ fashion venture A-Cold-Wall unveiled its first stand-alone store worldwide in Sanlitun Beijing the past July. He opened the store in partnership with brand-management specialist Power Rich and with Tomorrow, which acquired a minority stake in A-Cold-Wall in 2018.
According to Ross, China already represents a significant percentage of the brand’s annual revenues, which have tripled from 2019 to 2022, and “we are really keen to continue to grow that market.”
The other Tomorrow-backed retail project, Machine-A Shanghai, the London multibrand concept’s first international outpost, will soft launch at the beginning of September. The store will host Shanghai’s first Raf Simons shop-in-shop.
Bianca Quets Luzi, chief executive officer at Raf Simons, believes that the new space will increase the brand’s visibility in China, and help it gain valuable feedback from the local consumers.
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Alaïa, the couture brand now designed by Simons’ former right-hand man Pieter Mulier, recently opened its first China store at the basement level of upscale shopping mall Plaza 66, while Zimmermann, Ambush and Rick Owens opened their first China stores at the emerging luxury shopping destination Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai earlier this year.
Totême, the Nordic fashion brand, which launched its first China store at Taikoo Li Qiantan last November, is set to launch its second store at Réel Department Store this fall.
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Hungarian fashion label Nanushka, under Vanguards Group, is expected to open its first China store in Shanghai’s high-end mall iAPM by the end of September, in partnership with luxury distributor Translatio, according to sources.
The digitally native affordable luxury accessories label By Far set up its first China pop-up in TX Huaihai for Qixi, Chinese Valentine’s Day, during the summer.
It also plans to open its first China store in Shanghai later this year at the historic Zhangyuan Shikumen compound, a joint revitalization project between Swire Properties and Shanghai Jing’an Real Estate, and to open another store in Beijing in the near future.
It has been reported by local media that the latter phase of the Zhangyuan development will host major luxury tenants, including a Louis Vuitton pop-up store.
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A few blocks away, the newly opened JC Plaza on the bustling West Nanjing Road welcomed the opening of four OTB brands in July.
As OTB’s most important retail development project in China to date, the large-scale facades of Maison Margiela, Jil Sander, Marni, and Amiri were erected opposite the likes of Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Hermès, and Dior across the street at Plaza 66.
The location is the first China store for both Jil Sander and Amiri, and the largest store worldwide for Maison Margiela.
According to Renzo Rosso, founder and president of OTB, the decision to put all four “alternative luxury” brands under the same roof was quick, noting how difficult it was to find a prominent space in the city’s central shopping hub.
“We can put all our luxury brands together and show our muscles. That was the idea,” Rosso said. “Everyone passing by JC Plaza can see our brands. It gave us fantastic visibility.
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