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.
Shisanyu is a fashion brand focused on the past, and it’s proving a lucrative move for the start-up, which has just secured over 100 million yuan ($15.24 million) in Series A funding led by Loyal Valley Capital and Bilibili, according to a 36kr report.
The Beijing-based brand, which was founded in 2016, is a purveyor of historical Chinese apparel, also known as Hanfu, a fashion sub-culture popular with a growing cohort of young consumers in China.
Its founder, Xiao Doukou, found fame posting videos of herself wearing Hanfu-inspired outfits on the social media platform Bilibili, which is known as an incubator for sub-cultures, and draws most of its audience from China’s post-90s and post-00s generations (the same generations that have most enthusiastically embraced the trend for Hanfu dressing).
Shisanyu is now the top ranked Hanfu brand on Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall platforms, and its store has 4.1 million followers on Taobao alone.
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.
While travel to Europe remains muted, Chinese shoppers are flocking to Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian destinations where fashion retailers are hoping Lunar New Year marketing investments will pay off.
Local fashion designers experimenting with puffers and other down clothing have scored collaborations with outerwear companies like Moncler and attracted the attention of prominent international retailers like H.Lorenzo.