Interview With Wu Zhize, Chairman Of The News Bird Group: The Way Of Chinese Brand Leading To Luxury Goods

Whether a country can produce a luxury brand is closely related to its cultural status besides the quality of the product itself.

I believe that in the near future, China will have a cultural renaissance. At that time, our fashion industry is likely to set off a new climax.

Interview with Wu Zhize, chairman of the news bird group

Calatrava Ref

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In 1997, Wu Zhize went to Italy to attend.

It is this stimulation that makes Wu Zhize realize the true meaning of "luxury": not only the designer of the sky, the precious material, but also the historical accumulation behind the brand and the strong cultural attribute.

Since then, the Zhejiang businessman began to make good news birds not only as a clothing brand to build, but has injected various elements into the brand for more than ten years, making it more and more plump and more and more solid.

He firmly believes that "the concept of the nation is the world", he hopes that the birds will enter the world's luxury forest with the image of "China totem".

How far is it from luxuries?

Reporter: at present, what is the location of this brand in the domestic and international arena?

Wu Zhize: good bird is a first-line brand in China, but it should belong to the second tier brand in the world.

Reporter: what do you think is the difference between the domestic independent brand and the international brand?

Wu Zhize: over the years, I have almost witnessed the rise of independent clothing brands in China.

In the 80s of last century, some local miscellaneous cards began to appear sporadically. Competition at that time was also a competition between miscellaneous and miscellaneous brands.

By the 90s of last century, the concept of "famous brand" began to enter China.

As a result, a "famous brand" war on "miscellaneous cards" began.

In this war, local brands such as the seven wolves started their reputation.

Since 2000, Chinese local brands have begun to compete with international brands.

After years of brutal competition in the market, local brands have made a great achievement and gained the recognition of consumers.

This is also a reflection of the fact that local brands do not lose to international brands in design and production. What we lack is probably a kind of soft power.

Reporter: for clothing brands, what are the main aspects of this soft power?

Wu Zhize: clothing is actually a carrier, it carries the national culture.

Why do people want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions of dollars to buy a Armani suit? In fact, the brand of Armani can be worth thousands of dollars.

However, because it is Armani, a cultural symbol that has enriched Italy's noble and simple style for hundreds of years, many people prefer to see it as a symbol of status.

Similarly, LV sells not only the design and material, but also the imperial court culture of France for centuries.

Whether a country can produce luxuries is closely related to the cultural status of the country besides the quality of the product itself.

Europe has been preemptive, and now it has become a gathering place for luxury goods and a fashion center in the world.

If you buy a watch from Libya and buy a piece of clothing from Iraq, no matter how exquisite the watch is and how beautifully designed it is, you can not equate them with luxuries.

The same is true for China.

But in the history of China, Changan in the Tang Dynasty was the fashion center of the world. It was the Paris of that era. China's silk and tea also travelled all over the world in luxury.

Therefore, I believe that in the near future, China will have a cultural renaissance, and at that time, our fashion industry is entirely possible to set off a new climax.

Chinese elements that cannot be abandoned

Reporter: so, you have been committed to integrating Chinese elements into the brand of good bird?

Wu Zhize: that's right.

In the bird shop, you can see a lot of Chinese elements: Butterfly neckline, neckline dragon totem, and even the layout of the shop, such as cloisonne, Chinese knot and other typical Chinese symbols.

I have always firmly believed that "the nation is the world".

The news bird has always been a brand of "Zheng Miao Hong". It has no English name, and emphasizes the Chinese "elegant" culture.

The concept of Chinese clothing can be turned into luxury goods.

When the time is ripe, I hope to set up a Chinese clothing store overseas.

Reporter: if the concept of Chinese dress is only made to high-end, the difficulty seems to be very large.

Wu Zhize: we were aware of this problem very early. So, the good news bird adopted a multi brand and multi series strategy.

At present, there are 5 original brands and 3 agency brands in the news birds. They cover many sub fields such as advanced customization, professional wear, fast fashion, sportswear, even women's wear and children's wear.

And our two Italy brands and a Korean brand also satisfy consumers' pursuit of exotic customs.

In the future, the market of garment industry will be further broken down. Therefore, if we can do a lot of brand strategy, we can also seize the opportunity in the future competition.

Recently, we have just introduced the Italy international first-line luxury clothing brand TOMBOLINI, and we hope to continuously improve our high-end clothing brand.

Mr. EUGENIOTOMBOLINI, the founder of TOMBOLINI, devoted his life to making "forever fit" clothes, showing Italy's culture of innovation and tradition, luxury and taste, elegance and comfort through costumes.

Reporter: good news birds at the same time involved in so many fields, will not worry about over diversification and affect the main business development?

Wu Zhize: on the contrary, an important purpose for us to do so is to ensure that the main business does not deviate.

One is to guard against human development and two is to defend oneself.

On the one hand, we can prevent competitors from attacking aggressively in areas where we have never been involved. On the other hand, the main business of wedding birds is to build high-end clothing for 30-50 year old mature men, and in the field of fast fashion and so on, they make money quickly.

In my view, the multi-layered clothing brand is like an aircraft carrier, with a main ship, a frigate, and a submarine, with clear division of labor and teamwork.

I don't want every brand to make money, but they must be combined to play a strong combined role.

Interpreting value with culture

Reporter: I notice that the birds have been doing the "cutting-edge character Award" since 2009.

For a clothing brand, what is the significance of holding this activity for many years?

Wu Zhize: if we compare the Western luxury brands, we will find that they are very keen on this kind of cultural activities.

Because of a real luxury brand, it has a strong discourse power and influence in the cultural world - the outstanding art awards of MontBlanc and the Cartire Art Award have now become the benchmarks of the fashion and cultural circles.

The good news birds always strive to host the "cutting-edge character Award", which is to further enrich their cultural connotation by constantly exploring new characters in the art world.

We are pleased to see that many newcomers to the front stage of the wedding birds now have some popularity and influence, such as Guo Jingming and Jiang Yingrong.

And the other talented young artists who have been excavated by the wedding birds are not necessarily famous now. But I enjoy the time with them, see their colorful blooms on the canvas, or let a pile of materials gradually become a work of life tensity. They also have confidence in their prophecy of "returning to the world cultural center 30 years later".