The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
"China's Big Luxury Spenders are Young, Trendy and Not So Rich" (Reuters)
"Global luxury brands expanding in China are better off targeting the HENRYs – "high earners, not rich yet" – instead of the ultra-wealthy, as a slowing economy and a government that frowns on official excesses usher in an era of less showy spending."
"Apple Watch Targets Chinese Aspirations in $16 Billion Market" (Bloomberg)
"Apple Inc. jumped to the top of the Chinese market by adapting the iPhone to local tastes. It's using the same recipe with the Apple Watch."
"China Shoe Factory Workers End Strike Over Benefits" (Reuters)
"Employees at a shoe factory in southern China that lists international fashion houses among its customers returned to work on Wednesday after going on strike this week over benefits."
"Chinese Manufacturers Roll Out Apple Watch Lookalikes" (Associated Press)
"A month before Apple Inc.'s smartwatch hits the market, China's thriving copycat manufacturers are selling lookalikes, some openly advertised as Apple copies."
"Wired Women: The $3 Trillion Women Powering China's Tech Boom" (The Guardian)
"China's 115 million upper middle class women are driving ecommerce and social media in China, outspending their US equivalents by double on the biggest shopping days of the year."
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.