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.
Italian luxury house Tod’s has named Chinese actor and singer Xiao Zhan, perhaps most famous for his star turn in period bromance drama, The Untamed, as its new spokesperson.
Xiao boasts almost 30 million followers on social media platform Weibo and the hashtag associated with the appointment has been read more than 410 million times and discussed more than 1.91 million times on that platform in the hours since it was first released.
Last week, Tod’s said its sales rose 19 percent to 178 million euros ($217.38 million) in the three months ended March 31, with sales in Greater China up 136.7 percent to 62.8 million euros ($72.7 million), while sales revenue from Europe and the Americas fell.
According to Ruder Finn’s 2020 China Luxury Report, mainland Chinese consumers place more importance on KOL (or key opinion leader, the local term for influencer) and celebrity endorsements in their luxury spending decisions, with nearly 80 percent of respondents saying their influence is becoming more and more important.
As the country’s economy moves into deflationary territory, manufacturing output declines and a real estate crisis worsens, some consumers are becoming increasingly cautious.
Its flagship brand struggled following the departure of its creative director but better growth was seen at other labels.
After years of outsized growth in prestige cosmetics, consumers have pulled back on the typically recession-proof category.
Last year’s harsh pandemic restrictions and recent raids on foreign firms have made it harder for Western fashion companies to persuade top international talent to move to the country.