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Marco Bizzarri, Jessica Liu, Xiao Xue, Gildo Zegna and Chen Xiaodong to Headline BoF China Summit

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, the BoF China Summit is back to spark debate among global executives, Chinese fashion industry leaders and our China-based community during Shanghai Fashion Week.
Marco Bizzarri, Jessica Liu, Xiao Xue, Ermenegildo Zegna and Chen Xiaodong | Source: Courtesy
By
  • BoF Team

SHANGHAI, China — The Business of Fashion is delighted to announce that it will hold its second annual BoF China Summit during Shanghai Fashion Week next month. The gathering of international and Chinese executives, entrepreneurs and captains of industry will be held in partnership with The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and take place in the heart of Shanghai's bustling business district on October 15, 2018.

This year's line-up of speakers includes leading figures in luxury, retail, tech, manufacturing, media and management, including BoF 500 members Ermenegildo Zegna chief executive Gildo Zegna, Elle China's chief executive and editor-in-chief Xiao XueJessica Liu, Alibaba's president of Tmall fashion and luxury and Shaway Yeh of the Modern Media Group. The summit stage will also welcome executives from brands and retailers including Gucci (Marco Bizzarri, president and chief executive), Bulgari (Joyce Weng, Asia Pacific marketing director), Levi Strauss & Co. (Jennifer Sey, chief marketing officer), Harrods (Michael Ward, managing director), Intime department store group (Chen Xiaodong, president, chief executive and executive director) and Erdos (Tana Dai, executive general manager). Media executives behind the Chinese business magazine CBN Weekly and L'Atelier — the communications agency used by LVMH brands in China — will rub shoulders with young entrepreneurs, investors and creatives making waves in fashion, design, and tech.

Held this year at the HKRI Taikoo Hui Event Centre, the BoF China Summit bears the Chinese name 论道 “Lundao,” which refers to the use of dialogue to distil meaning. By bringing together fashion industry pioneers and bold business leaders who have local, regional and global perspectives, the BoF China Summit creates a unique atmosphere where speakers and spectators alike can watch the barriers come down between experts across the fashion value chain and adjacent industries. The focus of this year’s summit will be on exploring “New Frontiers.”

“With our BoF China team of editors and writers on the ground in Shanghai, we’re in prime position to help set the agenda for the fashion industry in China,” says Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion. “As its power and influence grows globally and as its role continues to evolve in exciting new ways, our aim with the BoF China Summit is to do more than just chronicle and amplify all that dynamism. We created the summit with a view to help feed it too.”

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“This is exactly what our summit speakers already do. Last year’s summit was about creating the right framework but now is the time to highlight the companies and individuals who are pushing boundaries, changing the conversation and propelling the industry forward. They’re the decision-makers behind the brave investments we now see that are changing the way we engage with consumers and the market; they’re the ones behind the high-tech and high-performance strategies we need to see more of in a world where values are as important as profit.”

Supporting Amed on stage to moderate discussions at the BoF China Summit will be editors from our Chinese-language platform BoF 时装商业评论 (BoF China), which launched in 2014 and continues to bring original industry news, features and analysis to Chinese readers through both global and local coverage of the fashion, luxury and apparel industries.

The BoF China Summit is an invitation-only event. If you are a BoF Professional member and would like to register interest to attend, please click here, and stay tuned for future announcements revealing additional speakers. Speakers confirmed so far include:

Marco Bizzarri is the president and chief executive at Gucci. Since taking the helm and appointing Alessandro Michele as Gucci's creative director in 2015, Bizzarri's leadership at the Italian fashion house has produced immediate unrivalled success, with 2017 sales up 45 percent on the previous year.

Jessica Liu (also known by her Chinese name Liu Xiuyun) is the president of Tmall fashion and luxury within the Alibaba Group. Seen as the"'fashion gatekeeper" for the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, Liu has introduced international brands including Uniqlo and Burberry to the local market.

Gildo Zegna is the chief executive of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, a global leader in luxury menswear now managed by the fourth generation of the Zegna family, with more than 6,500 employees worldwide and consolidated Group revenues that totalled €1.183 billion in 2017.

Xiao Xue is the chief executive and editor-in-chief of Elle China. Under her leadership, China's first international fashion publication has become one of the leading multimedia brands in the country, encompassing web and TV channels as well as a credit card with over 3 million cardholders. Xiao Xue has been commended for localising the 44-edition strong Elle brand to engage the magazine's Chinese readership, resulting in a vast presence amongst China's online community.

Lv Xiaolei, commonly known as Madame Lu, is the vice secretary general of Shanghai Fashion Week, and has played an integral role in repositioning the city as a global fashion capital through her bold strategic initiatives and a knack for nurturing local design talent and entrepreneurship.

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Chen Xiaodong is the chief executive at Intime Retail Group, a leading Chinese department store chain and shopping mall operator. With 62 stores in 33 cities, Intime was privatised by the Alibaba Group in 2015 and now leads the charge among brick-and-mortar players in China's "New Retail" renaissance.

Michael Ward is the managing director at Harrods, and continues to play a key role in positioning London's iconic department store as the world's premier luxury retail destination. The luxury retailer will likely break its record of 65 million domestic and international visitors per year if its a £200 million investment-backed "Redefining Luxury 2021" agenda goes according to plan.

Shaway Yeh is the group style editorial director of Modern Media Group, and one of China's most influential media and opinion leaders on fashion, design and culture. Yeh is also the co-creative director of the Chinese edition of Nowness and founder of Yehyehyeh, an agency that develops creative solutions through sustainability and innovation.

Wendy Yu is the founder and chief executive of Yu Holdings­, and a prominent Chinese investor, philanthropist and patron of the arts. Yu provides international and Chinese brands with cross-market expertise and is cementing her role as one of the world's most influential fashion investors, which she exercises through Yu Holdings' investment arm, Yu Capital. Recent investments include British fashion brand Mary Katrantzou, Tujia (Airbnb's Chinese rival) and Didi Kuaidi (the largest taxi-hailing firm in China).

Zhao Jia is the editor in chief of CBN Weekly, a business magazine under the CBN network, China's cross-media, cross-regional, cross-sectoral professional financial information provider. Zhao has over 10 years' experience in finance reporting, and extensive insight into the ever-changing landscape of Chinese business and economics.

Tana Dai is the executive general manager of the Erdos Fashion Group's business division. Erdos' own-brands are sold at over 1,000 boutiques across China, and the group balances sustainability goals with producing over one-third of the world's cashmere.

Daisy Guo is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Tezign, a creative marketplace platform that utilises data intelligence to provide workflow solutions for the world's leading companies including Unilever, Alibaba, Starbucks and Tencent.

Leslie Zhang is a photographer based in Shanghai. Zhang's striking body of work evokes Chinese cultural nostalgia through ambient colours and striking compositions through portraits and still lifes. His fashion photography has been featured in the pages of Vogue China, Elle China, Grazia China, GQ China, T Magazine China, Harper's Bazaar China,and Nylon Magazine China.

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Lyndon Morant is one of the world's top strategy planners. He is currently chief strategy officer at L'Atelier, a specialty luxury communications agency network in Asia that works directly with LVMH Media and the group's brands. Morant's previous work on Nike China's London 2012 Olympics campaign won two Cannes Lions in the Social Media and Interaction categories.

Yooyo Keong Ming is a makeup artist whose work has graced the pages of Vogue China, as well as the Chinese editions of Elle, L'Officiel, Marie Claire, Numero, T Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, GQ Style, Grazia and Modern Weekly. Yooyo frequently collaborates with Chanel Beauty, and is also the go-to makeup artist for actress Zhou Xun.

Joyce Weng is the brand communication director for the Greater China region at Bulgari, and played a key role in the brand's decision to hire Kris Wu as its ambassador in 2016 — a move which set a new market standard for celebrity marketing.

Liu Mengyuan is the chief executive of YCloset, a Beijing-based designer clothing rental online platform. Liu targets millennial consumers in China's first-tier cities, and users pay a monthly subscription fee to borrow apparel and accessories. Last year, the company completed a $50 million fundraising round led by Alibaba, SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.

Yin Jiajue is the general manager of China's Chenfeng Group. One of the country's largest textile and garment manufacturing companies, and a supplier to brands such as Uniqlo, Patagonia and Theory, the group continues to set new industry standards in sustainability and efficiency.

Anny Fan is a Chinese influencer and editor of the WeChat account and website Style On Top. With over 300,000 WeChat subscribers and a Weibo follower count nearing 3 million, the ex-banker has collaborated with the likes of Fendi, Chanel, Tod's, Piaget and Jimmy Choo, and has graced the front row at Hermès and Louis Vuitton's runway shows.

Jennifer Sey is the chief marketing officer of global brands at Levi Strauss & Co. Under Sey's leadership, Levi's marketing team has injected the 145-year-old brand's DNA into campaigns that resonate with modern consumers, including Live in Levi's, one of its biggest launches in recent history.

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a Partner of the BoF China Summit

Shanghai Fashion Week is the Strategic Partner of the BoF China Summit

HKRI Taikoo Hui Event is the Venue Partner of the BoF China Summit

For further information please email chinasummit@businessoffashion.com

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