Fashion industry: Is it the era of real designers?

In the last ten years, Chinese local designer brands have experienced a process of "from nothing". Under the banner of individualism, will the Chinese fashion industry usher in a real designer era?

On April 17th, half an hour before Shanghai's local designer brand May J show began, the entrance to the show floor of the Xintiandi artificial lake had already been crowded with various people watching the show. The media who took the microphone, the street shooter who held the telephoto camera, the stars that the security guards adored, and the influx of influxes of the influx of buyers all gathered here. As the last show of Shanghai Fashion Week, the popularity of May J's popularity has already made people feel the battle of the four major fashion weeks. From April 11th to April 17th, 35 brands displayed new autumn and winter products at Shanghai Fashion Week. Among them, nearly 30 brands are from the hands of Chinese designers, and there is no shortage of Shanghai native and independent brands.

In fact, Shanghai Fashion Week is only a relatively concentrated stage. Now, as long as you take a walk around the rich people's road shaded by the Indus, you can clearly feel that the vitality of the local design is surging in the "Shanghai's most fashionable road." This 0.6 km-long road has gathered Li Hongyan’s high-end original design brand “Helen Lee”, the “Mao Tai Design” with a design continuation of history, and “Li Liming”, which has been included in Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage... The most recent store in Fumin Road was a brand-name designer shop in Beijing that has already started its name. It is said that at the opening reception of the store last year, all Shanghai fashionistas were almost ready to join in.

Fumin Road is not an "island" of Shanghai designer brands. Tian Zifang was unveiled in 1998 with the title of “Shanghai SOHO” and is still the first choice for original designers looking for studios; Xintiandi’s shops also opened up new battlefields to original designers in a timely manner: Wang Yiyang of ZUCZUG and Qiu of One by One. Well, Even Penniless's Gao Xin has set up a specialty store here.

The "New York Times" used a "Shanghai: Rebirth of Individualism" to introduce the rise of Chinese original brands. The young designers are "a keen and energetic", not only wanting to break down the uniform and dreary taste, but also looking forward to changing the outside world's "Made In China" to the inferior stereotype.

Will China's fashion industry usher in a real designer era?

Break the myth

"The clothes you designed are beautiful, but I wear it out and how can I introduce it to others?" Sitting in a slightly crowded studio in Taikang Road alley, Li Hongyan talked about the embarrassment of the designer's brand when he started. "I It is understandable that customers can not show off their feelings to others. This is the general attitude of the public in the face of Chinese designer brands."

Li Hongyan is one of the leading figures in Shanghai's emerging fashion field. He graduated from the prestigious La Salle International Design Institute of Donghua University and won several international and domestic awards. In 2003, she founded "Insh" (In Shanghai), using modern methods to express the busy and noisy metropolis, and created a brand new impression of Shanghai, surpassing people's knowledge of the old school in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s.

Chinese independent designers often use design as an art, but Li Hongyan pays special attention to the market, and the customer is a word she often talks about. The client suggested to her that “we cannot attend Insh’s jeans and T-shirts when we attend an event, dinner, or company’s shareholder meeting.” In 2007, she created the high-end brand LiHongYan, which can be used for both advanced customization and ready-to-wear clothing. In 2009, LiHongYan was renamed "Helen lee." “It is difficult for foreign guests to call out my Chinese name. For the long-term consideration of the brand, it was decided to change its name,” she said.

Li Hongyan’s reputation in Shanghai is quite high, and “Helen lee” on Fumin Road often has visitors who hold “guidebooks” on the map. A few days ago, she had just completed her autumn and winter show at Shanghai Fashion Week 2012. She is now busy making costumes for Zhang Jun’s new “Peony Pavilion”. "Over the years, I have slowly accumulated customers, including foreign buyers. I will invite buyers to participate in the fashion week's press conference, since 2010, this kind of interaction is particularly good. Sometimes they will set aside thousands of Pieces of clothing."

Like many local designers in Shanghai, Li Hongyan’s guests were mostly foreigners. "At first, I couldn't get local mass consumers." She bluntly said, "The same price, they are more inclined to buy foreign luxury brands."

Price is the biggest problem that has plagued Chinese designer brands. Because the scale is too small to produce in batches, the price of designer brands has remained high. "Actually, we have been trying to control the cost. A winter coat is only sold for 2000-3000 yuan, but I know some people would rather spend 2,000 yuan to buy a counterfeit luxury goods because they can't understand what we are doing. ”

Like Li Hongyan, La Vie's designer Ji Cheng also believes that the difficult status of designer brands is related to the public's mentality of consumption and aesthetic cultivation. Similarly, in the first few years of the brand's initial establishment, Ji Cheng’s foreign customers accounted for the vast majority. "Foreigners know how to appreciate my clothes. I know an Italian girl who started reading Vogue Magazine when she was 15 years old. Of course, there is a higher appreciation in this atmosphere."

If consumers are not willing to spend money, where is the brand's future? For an independent designer, it is better to retire and connect with the net. "So when designing, we must take into account commercial things, such as the effect of putting on the body, rather than simply doing things for their own preferences." Li Hongyan said. On the other hand, Shanghai's designers have also gradually increased their exposure through Fashion Week and many cross-border platforms. Li Hongyan’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection cooperated with the ceramic artist Zheng Hao, and boldly designed the porcelain butterfly into a variety of wearable ways. Ji Cheng also has close cooperation with a series of commercial big names - Johnny Walker, Estee Lauder, Herborist. “Some customers have noticed my design style because of grassy perfumes, and they will pay attention to my clothes.” She said frankly.

The accumulation of designers has gradually tested the market's direction. “Now, Chinese consumers are no longer blindly pursuing big brands, but have begun to learn how to appreciate design and understand how to find the right design style based on their own needs.” Ji Cheng said, “In the past few years, 70% of our customers are Foreign customers have just reversed in the past two years."

The same is true of Li Hongyan. Her Chinese clients sometimes even take the initiative to give designers puzzles and suggestions. “Customers want to interpret their understanding of fashion through clothing. Because of this change in the concept of dress, to designers Brought a huge market."

Growing troubles

On the last day of the current Shanghai Fashion Week, young designer Jiang Yu made her debut at the Xintiandi show with her own third-year creation. The elements of darkness and religion have always run through them, but at the beginning of the creation of the brand, the design of “sea bladders” with the body as a thorn was almost weakened to nothing. Although the new design is very good on a long-haired male model, it shows a real sense of wear as a single product. In response, Jiang Yu said: “I deliberately weakened the sharp sea urchin design. Although these designs are distinct in style, they ignore the needs of the market. The style does not necessarily have to be shown. I have spent more time on tailoring and materials this year. More energy - this change made me feel more mature.

In addition to finding a balance between style and market in design, it has to be said that Chiang Kai-shek's creation of the brand is extremely intent. In the interview room after the show, Jiang Hao was surrounded by numerous microphones and video cameras, along with other star friends including Huang Ling and Gao Yayuan.

It has become commonplace for designers to become a star in foreign fashion circles. Marc Jacobs, the design director of LOUIS VITTON, has always been the center of all kinds of gossip. Jiang Hao is currently the first to get attention in this way in the early days of brand development, and is also considered a performance that a new generation of designers dare to try. Regardless of the pros and cons of this attempt for the long-term development of the designer, at least for now, Chiang Kai-shek's brand MAY J has indeed achieved a good development. Today, Jiang Hao’s team is recruiting and involving all aspects of the garment making process. The current sales channel is in addition to Hong Hyun’s fashion shop B opened in Beijing. N. C, Shenzhen's "substances" and other buyers outside the shop, Jiang Ye also intends to open a physical store in Shanghai in June this year.

In the 1990s, designers were still in a subordinate position in the field of clothing. In the last ten years, China’s domestic designer brands have not only gone through a process of “going from scratch,” but more and more designer brands have become active in major shopping malls.

At present, China’s designer brands generally have Marc’s “exceptions”, Yang Ziming’s “Carbin”, Yao Feng’s “Jie”, Xie Feng’s “Jifen” and Wang Yiyang’s “Suran”. Hui's "Jia Jia" and Hu Rong's "De Poetry" and so on. Among them, Marco and Xie Feng were among the earliest designers to enter the fashion week in Paris.

Due to the limited size and price, designer brands generally take the advanced custom route. Take Jicheng as an example. Among its two brands, La Vie sells high-end garments, and Wedding By La Vie focuses on high-end wedding dresses. Currently, Kyrgyzstan has opened four stores, namely Taikang Road, Changle Road, Xintiandi and Hongfang in Shanghai. There are also a small number of designer brands slowly entering the business system, such as ZUCZUG and “The Thing”, the number of stores and sales are increasing.

In contrast, most of the designer brands that make clothes sales are still in the stage of minors. Tian Zifang's "shop" comes and goes. In 2010, Changle Road, which the fashion media called "Shanghai's Central Harajuku," had "flighted" a large group of designer brands because of rising rents, and even the famous Qiu Jun also looked elsewhere.

"A 50-square-meter shop, you know how much the year's profit is." Li Hongyan said, "If independent financial support, independent designers hurry to open a shop is really hard to go on." Starting from scratch, it is Lee. One thing that Hongyan is very proud of is that "I don't have the financial support behind me. Only by selling things out can I have funds that will continue to run."

For young designers, everything from production to marketing is difficult. It is a hassle to find a manufacturer of ready-to-wear garments. "Individual designers have a few pieces of clothes, and some factories simply do not accept our little list." Li Hongyan recalled. There was no use complaining. She simply trained herself to tailor. "At first, it would cost a lot of communication costs. But after 5 to 10 years, they are mature and professional. Then we also have a fixed partner."

At present, Li Hongyan still holds several positions like most independent designers. Even when she was pregnant in 2010, she walked up to a five-story studio on foot and insisted on working 10 hours a day. “No way, everything from design, production to management is what I’m doing once. Stopping the work, the brand will also be closed for half a year."

**Tongyou

"The designer brand is too small and profitable for several stores is not realistic. Only by reaching a certain amount will there be a certain profit." Li Hongyan said.

This of course has jumped out of the design category and entered the field of business operations. In an interview with the China Business News, independent designer He Yan said: “If there are institutions or companies that are willing to do this work for bridging the link between the various links, the designer brand can get more from Support for technical raw materials and production from the downstream industries and business guidance from the upstream, then, in turn, the impact of these designs on the local fashion of China will ultimately benefit all aspects of these upstream and downstream resources and links."

In fact, although this "bridge link" link is still quite weak, it is gradually growing. As a major buyer of foreign designer brands, the boutiques of buyers have developed rapidly in the past two years. N. C, Shanghai's "Bridge", SEVEN DAYS, including DBHK settled in Xintiandi, etc. are gradually becoming a new platform for designer brands.

Hong Hung believes that “Chinese designers also need to establish credibility among consumers and establish their own brand image.” According to Hung, quality is an important juncture for independent designer brands. Because many of the designer's things are done in the workshop, the experience of mass production is not enough. Designer He Yan also revealed in an interview that how to ensure the quality of clothing after design is a very energy-consuming issue. “I hope to have more freedom in the production and procurement of raw materials. Even if our production is small, we can do it. High-quality and highly-private products."

Hong Hung once concluded that there are two characteristics of a well-sold garment in a buyer's shop. First, the design concept is distinct. “For example, Chen Ping’s Pari Chen, at first glance, is definitely something of Chen Ping. There is a Chinese designer brand in the UK called TBA, the style is also very clear, and it comes into the first month. Sales first." The second point is that it is easy to wear. Hung said that TBA's clothes are "very suitable for a girl to wear," and various details of the style make people applaud. The profile of UMA Wang is very special, and the plate making is very different, but her size is very loose, and it makes people feel comfortable when they are not perfect.

"Designers must not be eager to achieve success, want to be a hit, and don't want to design in accordance with the mentality of propaganda and advertising, but must lay the foundation." Li Hongyan suggested, "Exposure Things can be bought with money, as long as you steadily design well, it is the long-term way."