A three decade-long economic miracle plus growth while others
floundered in a recession has given China new confidence. Still more
will come when Chinese brands gain recognition domestically and
internationally. The question is whether Chinese have the confidence
to create and buy products that are distinctly local.
Foreigners, both established companies and entrepreneurs, do
seem to have this confidence. Last year, Hermès founded Shangxia, a
brand that - beyond being designed and made in China - utilizes traditional
Chinese motifs and construction methods. Young businesspeople
from France and the US bought the rights to Feiyue and Huili, two no
longer hip Chinese shoe brands, with histories going back to the 1920s.
The two brands were subsequently re-packaged, with flashy new lines
added, and are now a hot item in Paris, New York, and London. Another
pair of foreign business people even founded their own retro
Chinese trainer brand, Shulong, also mainly on sale in the West.
Only after being embraced by foreigners did these trainers gain a
following in the home market, which tends to favor Nike and Adidas.
Now boutiques in Beijing carry Shulong and Huili, and hipsters wear
their parents vintage pairs from the '70s and '80s. Zhonguofeng or “Chinese
Wind” is the latest trend going well beyond trainers and is seen
as showing the patriotic sentiment of the youth. In the imaginations
of Chinese, fashion and illustrious heritage are becoming less the exclusive
preserve of Western brands. China has heritage brands: 1,600
of them according to the Ministry of Commerce survey.
Perhaps taking inspiration from the trainer brands, several locals
have recently moved to revive heritage brands. Shanghai's Forever
bicycles, omnipresent on China's roads from the 40s till the 90s, are
being upgraded. More status-conscious commuters might be lured away
from BMW and Benz by the modernized Red Flag, a label founded by
Chairman Mao in 1958 and revived by First Auto Works (FAW). Shanghai
Vive, a skin-care brand redolent of the glamourous 1930s of that
city is also back selling at prices exceeding many foreign competitors.
Chinese are said to believe expensive means good. Based on that
criterion, locals can easily be lured to local luxury brands. Government
might also require high officials and managers of State-owned
Enterprises (SOEs) to switch from Audi to Red Flag. The question
remains whether when Chinese will have the confidence in their own
taste to buy brands that lack the endorsement of a flashy Western label.
Can Chinese be persuaded that style and quality don't equal foreign?
Nels M.N. Frye费志远
Editor-in-Chief
