Zhang Jiangping

The founder and chairman of Peacebird, one of China’s fashion giants, has turned the apparel company into a leader which competes with the likes of Zara.

Today, the fast fashion enterprise has 3,800 retail outlets across China and saw $870 million in annual sales in 2015, making it a benchmark for companies looking to penetrate China’s urban markets.

After receiving a degree from Fudang University, Zhang set up a garment factory in 1996 with six machines and seven workers. Today, Peacebird has become a retail giant, and was one of the first Chinese retailers to embrace a distinctive global marketing aesthetic and an accelerated product offering.

In 2015, it acquired a stake in the French couture label Alexis Mabille to establish a network of stores in China, while the Spring/Summer 2017 season saw the brand tap models such as Molly Bair, Natalie Westling and He Cong for its ad campaign, shot by  Josh Olins .