London Road, Bosideng, China'S Largest Down Garment Enterprise

Bought a landmark building in the bustling area of London.

Join in to create a brand that competes with Hugo Boss. Is Bosten's first overseas flagship store an adventure? No one has ever done so.

British designer Ash Gangotra heard for the first time.

In May 2011, before that, he knew nothing about the name.

The largest Chinese down garment enterprise found him and his partner Nick Holland, hoping that they would design men's clothing for the upcoming Boston London store to help Bosideng become an international brand that competes with Hugo Boss.

"Not many people in Britain know Bosten."

Ash Gangotra told reporters that he was initially surprised by the idea of Bosideng.

Soon, however, he found it an inspiring idea.

To be invited to China and communicate with Bosideng board members, visit production equipment, and understand in the field.

After the quality, Ash Gangotra believes that the Hong Kong listed companies, which has nearly 10000 stores in mainland China, has "enough strength, professionalism and knowledge accumulation". What he and Nick Holland have to do is "change people's perception of Chinese brands, especially Westerners".

In 2009, Ash Gangotra and Nick Holland co worked with the original oasis band's lead singer Liam Gallagher to help him create an independent fashion brand Pretty Green, which was named the best in Britain after more than a year.

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In July 26th this year, their men's wear was officially unveiled at Boston's first overseas flagship store in London.

This day is the day before the opening of the London Olympic Games. This is a well chosen occasion. London has become the focus of attention in the world.

The London store, 28 Morton south, is in the most prosperous part of the city.

It is facing London's busiest commercial street, Oxford street, at the same time, it is also the site of the Bond Street, which is the first line of brand. It is only 20 meters from the Bond Street subway entrance.

At 4 p.m. that day, the Olympic torch relay team from North London passed through the door and was boiling away towards Big Ben.

"With the help of the Olympics, tourists from all over the world can find Bosideng's new brand."

Zhu Wei, head of British company, Boston.

Bosideng has indeed become a new brand, especially for Chinese tourists who are familiar with the name.

In the flagship store with a retail area of about 400 square meters, the traditional Chinese style screens, Ming Dynasty style cases, Vitoria style sofa and clothing mirror are embellished from contemporary British artists' woodcarving and origami works in different background areas, creating a Chinese Western shopping environment.

All costumes - T-shirts with Peking Opera mask, British style narrow shirts, high quality tailoring.

The unique style of down garments are different from those of any Boston store in China.

The designs are from Ash Gangotra and Nick Holland; the fabric comes from Italy or France; as for production, besides the down jacket and leisure jacket made in China, the rest of the garments are made in Italy, Turkey, Romania and other European countries.

Clothing is limited to production, with a maximum of 50 pieces per piece.

The price of shirts ranges from 85 to 100 pounds. The price of the down coats of different materials is 125 to 400 pounds, and the price of each garment is about 500 to 900 pounds.

Chinese tourists passing through London stores are very puzzled, while European and American customers are interested in this brand with Chinese elements.

An American tourist who came to see the Olympic Games had never heard of Bosideng, but he paid for a $900 casual leather jacket on the grounds of "good style and good workmanship".

Zhu Wei's response to customers is not surprising. "The quality and price of London stores determine that the target customers are middle class people between the ages of 25 and 40.

When Bosideng appears as a high-end brand, it is easier for foreign customers to accept it. They know little about Bosideng compared with Chinese customers who have deep-rooted impressions of Bosideng.

This is an important reason why Boston chose to introduce high-end men's clothing in London.

"Compared with Chinese consumers, British consumers are more mature. They are more concerned about the product itself, such as fabric, design and style, rather than just looking at the brand."

A director of Boston Group said.

He believes that because of the maturity of the market, Bosideng shop in London is better than the high-end men's wear series launched in China.

Gao Dekang, chairman of Bosideng group (micro-blog), does not want his company to be a down jacket manufacturer, but he is rated as a "boss who insists that things will stick".

What he has identified includes Bosideng will become an integrated clothing brand operator. The men's wear business has been launched since 2005. Besides Bosideng, the brand also includes Rui Qi, Mogao and Wei De Luo, and bought the women's clothing brand Jesse in 2011.

"In the next five years, we hope to achieve 30% to 40% of the products are non down garments."

Shen Guangjian, general manager of Bosideng international M & A investment, said.

According to the annual report of fiscal year 2011, the income of Bosideng's down jacket is 16.1%.

Internationalization is another ideal that Gao Dekang has always had. In the company, he often mentioned Haier and HUAWEI, hoping that Bosideng could become an internationally famous brand like them.

London store is regarded as an important step in Bosideng's internationalization process.

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Bosideng's international strategy began in 2004 with the sale of down coats to the United States and Russia.

In 2007, Bosteng's men's wear and down jacket products entered the more than 80 store network of the chain store brand Greenwoods, and opened a store in Lincolnshire and other places.

However, after some assessment, Bosideng believes that cooperation has not promoted Bosideng's brand image because of the large age of Greenwoods customers and the difference between the two sides.

"Internally, it is best to make a sensational thing to truly internationalize and enhance the brand image."

Shen Guangjian said that the most sensational thing is to set up a high quality store with the best products in the best location of the most internationalized city.

It will give full play to Bosideng's product positioning, brand image and marketing strategy.

For this reason, Shen Guangjian inspects Italy Milan, France Paris and the United States New York, and finally decides to open the first overseas flagship store in London, England.

The reason for choosing London is: in men's clothing, the world's best recognized is the United Kingdom; London is one of the fashion centers in the world; there are good cooperation teams in the UK; in 2012, the Olympic Games were held in London.

Ash Gangotra also agrees with the idea of "doing something sensational". "London is the center of global fashion, and it is also the best platform for showing what a brand is."

However, Bosideng did not plan to set up a brand new brand for the new high-end men's wear, but still used Bosideng.

"This is a matter of principle."

Shen Guangjian explained that if Bosideng made another brand, its short-term performance may be very good, but what Gao Dekang hoped was to let consumers know that Bosideng is a comprehensive clothing group, not only to make down clothes well, but also to make men's clothing good.

In order to make a sensational event, Shen Guangjian and Zhu Wei arrived in London in May 2010 to find suitable shops.

In the west end of London, Bond Street and its adjacent Regent Street, South Morton street and vertical Oxford street form the most prosperous commercial centre in London.

They hope to find a good shop with an area of about 200 square meters here.

"The shop is too small or the location is not good."

Shen Guangjian said.

He and Zhu Wei have seen many rental properties in this area.

In addition to themselves, they also commissioned a few real estate agents to help.

In July, a small medium property broker, MFA, brought a good news that a landlord intended to sell a property on the South Morton street.

"As a London real estate, you may not be able to get a deal like this in a lifetime."

Shen Guangjian remembers the MFA's people to tell him that it is hard to reach a purchase, not a lease on the street, that the landlord is a British developer and may be selling property out of cash flow.

The property to be sold far exceeded Shen Guangjian's expectations.

Its location is at a fork in the road. A Hog in the Pound, a popular bar in London, has been operating here for more than 20 years. People used to go to bars to rest at their feet when shopping, or simply place the waiting place here.

South Morton street is famous for its designer brand. For example, "Browns Focus" is a concept store that has discovered designers such as John Galliano, McQueen, the former creative director of Dior.

In addition to positioning for London stores, it also comes with a revamping scheme that has passed the review.

In 2007, after the British landlord bought the building, the bar still operated as an old tenant.

The landlord planned to rebuild the building a few years later, so he hired DSDHA architects to design a pformation plan.

According to the new plan, the original three storey building will be pformed into a six storey building.

"This is very difficult."

Shen Guangjian said that since the building is located in the historic preservation area of Mayfield in London, any minor pformation plan should be approved by the relevant departments and supported by all the neighbors.

"Let alone demolished the old building and build a taller new building."

Shen Guangjian realized that this is a very rare opportunity.

He made a quick report to Gao Dekang.

"He flew to London very much and was very satisfied after seeing it."

Shen Guangjian said the two sides quickly reached a preliminary purchase agreement.

At the end of December 2010, Bosideng convened a board meeting to make a final decision on whether to buy London property.

A week before the board meeting, Bosideng also invited an independent director, Wang Yao, to visit London.

Wang Yao, vice president of China Federation of Commerce, has many years of research experience in the apparel retailing industry.

After analyzing the three aspects of passenger flow, brand positioning and traffic condition, he gave affirmative opinions on property purchase.

To make a splash, the timing of opening London stores is also important.

Therefore, the most controversial issue on the board is not the project itself, but whether the project can be completed before the Olympic Games as scheduled.

According to the preliminary agreement, Bosideng signed the purchase contract in May 2011. It closed the room in July and began to decorate. It was only one year after the Olympic Games officially opened in 2012.

Opponents believe that in order to complete the demolition and construction in a year, it is necessary to coordinate the municipal departments and so on, which is not possible from the efficiency of the British people.

For Bosideng, if we fail to start business on time, we will largely lose the function of using the Olympic publicity brand. This means that it will not be a suitable location.

For this reason, Zhu Weili laid down a military order that must be completed before the Olympic Games.

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The Board approved the purchase decision. Apart from 21 million pounds used to acquire property, the total cost of demolition and renovation and decoration was 35 million pounds, about 350 million yuan.

After the London store project was established, Boston British company and European headquarters were set up.

The leadership of the London project team is Gao Dekang, chief financial officer, Mai run Quan, Shen Guangjian and Zhu Wei, who are the heads of the group management, reporting directly to the leadership.

"This is the only item in Boston group that Gao Dekang directly asked."

Shen Guangjian said that according to the company structure, such projects will usually be held by the vice president.

Although the London project was directly questioned by Gao Dekang, he also adopted a strategy of full decentralization. He told Zhu Wei that "the British market is totally different from the Chinese market and must act according to local conditions."

Prior to the pfer to the UK project, Zhu Wei has been the head of Bosideng company since 2004 and is responsible for expanding Bosideng overseas channels.

In addition to Zhu Wei, Bosideng has not been pferred from the mainland to other employees, and the rest of the candidates are being recruited in the British market.

For example, Jason Denmark, a sales director of the British company, is one of the first members of the London program. He comes from Greengoods and has over 20 years of experience in clothing retailing.

After joining, he recruited and formed the whole team with Zhu Wei.

After signing the purchase contract in May 2011, Zhu Wei began to identify suitable designers for the upcoming Boston London series.

Boston London series is located in high-end men's clothing, the customer group is defined as "middle class people who know the trend, but do not catch up with the trend". From the price point of view, competitors have Hugo Boss, Ted Baker and so on.

Ash Gangotra and Nick Holland are the best candidates for Zhu Wei's designers. He appreciates their understanding and grasp of the market, and the design idea is also consistent with Bosideng's positioning.

Zhu Wei sent the idea of London series directly to designers through E-mail.

Zhu Wei knows very well that cooperation with Bosideng is also a challenge for the two designers.

Pretty Green is a brand from nothing to it, like a blank sheet of paper; Bosideng has many years of clothing experience, the London series of product positioning, target groups have been set, designers free to play relatively small space.

In this case, cooperation must be given enough respect.

In Ash Gangotra, there are many factors that can make London series stand out, such as location, product itself, brand and company operation.

"To recognize the impact of the flagship store," Ash Gangotra said, "South Morton street is a gathering place for London's top designer products, as well as the entrance of Bond Street to the first tier brands.

A specific geographical location and its own charm will attract specific audiences to come here. "

Ash Gangotra agrees with the positioning of the high-end men's clothing in Boston London series, and believes that "the products produced need to reflect the social environment of the customers at the location of the shops, so the quality requirements of the products must be very high."

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The designer's positioning for the series is to "choose the best materials to make the best design for high quality products".

Ash Gangotra said: "when we design the down jacket, we are not thinking about the price of the material. We may use 5 or 10 dollars a meter cloth, so the retail price will be very high. For the design, the most important thing is to use good and high-quality materials."

After that, Boston London series was further determined in Europe, including Italy, France and Turkey.

Using the better fabric, technology and design than the same price product, the cost performance has become a competitive power of Bosideng.

Apart from certain price competitiveness, competition in the mature market also needs certain characteristics. For this reason, designers integrate Chinese elements into products.

For example, the traditional Chinese paper-cut art is used for the design of T-shirt, and the color of Chinese red is used.

In Boston London series, each product is launched by three party discussions of British companies. Gao Dekang gave Zhu Wei the power of final approval.

When the designer comes up with the preliminary design concept map, Zhu Wei will convene the marketing department and Purchasing Department of the British company to discuss with the designer: the designer elaborates the design concept from the fashion and style, and marketing can be grasped from the consumer's ability to accept, the fabric is unique, the price and so on.

The introduction of each product requires several rounds of discussions. Zhu Wei will express clearly what business considerations are in making final decisions. "This is a professional and respectful expression in western culture."

When the Boston London series launched a redesigned down jacket, some people inside the group thought that "down jacket can be taken directly from China to the UK, from design to manufacturing is first-rate", but Zhu Wei recognised the designer's idea that down jacket must be redesigned according to the needs of British consumers.

He was supported by Gao Dekang. In the end, the London series of down coats was cut by British style, and some English elements such as roll, pocket, and color were added.

Bosideng's new logo is also the choice to listen to local consumers' opinions.

Initially, Gao de Kang hoped that the London Series logo could be used in China.

But Mammal, which is responsible for visual and brand image design, does not agree that the earth elements in the domestic logo are too common to be further refined to make it concise and clear.

Gao Dekang agreed to allow consumers to choose what kind of logo to use through market research, and finally win the image of wings.

Zhu Weili's "military order" building demolition and renovation work is also being carried out at the same time.

"From building demolition to building, the whole building is dealing with lawyers and engineers from both sides."

Zhu Wei said that during the whole process, he did not have a meal with the person in charge of the other project, and many even went through E-mail.

"Unlike in China, the British are all public."

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The renovation of the building has followed the design plan of DSDHA. Bosideng continues to hire DSDHA as an architectural design consultant. They are also familiar with how to interact with municipal and planning departments.

In the course of construction, the original plan has been adjusted.

The structure of the building is 6 floors on the ground and 1 on the ground floor.

The idea of British developers is: 1 storehouse underground as warehouse; 6 to ground floor, 1 to 2 floors for retail, 3 to 4 floors for office, 5 to 6 floors as apartments.

Bosideng has rearranged its usage. The biggest adjustment is the retail area: 1 floors underground and 1 to 2 floors on the ground as retail and 3 storehouses as warehouses and staff offices, 4 to 5 floors as headquarters offices, 6 floors to clubs.

"For retailers, the first floor is more suitable for retail sales.

It is a basic rule in retailing that customers are accustomed to go down instead of going up. "

Zhu Wei explained.

Due to the fine-tuning of the use, the original scheme needs to enlarge the window area for display, and the storey height of the whole building is also increased by half a meter higher than the previous height.

Shop decoration was handed over to ZEBRA, a professional store decoration company.

After consulting with headquarters, Zhu Wei's request for ZEBRA decoration is "elegant and generous, modern and integrated into Chinese elements".

At the busiest time, Zhu Wei stared at progress on the construction site every day, and only one week before he opened the building.

The household application for wires submitted four months ago has not yet come down, and only two alternator can be used alternately on the opening day.

In July 26th, Boston London store opened as planned.

Without a Chinese style opening ceremony, Zhu Wei wanted to be low-key. He only held a small party to thank the partners the day before. Nor did he put a lot of advertisements on it. Instead, he sent 120 thousand emails to Londoners who bought the medium and high grade clothes through a RSM who had worked as a fixed-point marketing for Mercedes Benz.

"There is no precedent for all this."

Zhu Wei said he did not underestimate the difficulty of Chinese brands' success in the UK market.

It looks pretty good.

"Although it's a Chinese company, its fashion series is very European."

British lawyer Winston Chesterfield said.

In his spare time, he is a fashion blogger. In an online magazine "Men s Flair" about the Bosideng brand, he thinks the Boston London series is beyond his expectations. "Wool is very thick, soft, stylish and minimalist style, and steel gray is also the trend of autumn and winter this year, and the quality of individual parts looks very high."

However, Winston Chesterfield believes that the brand image of Boston London series is not obvious. "It seems a bit familiar.

A tweed jacket is a little Hackett style, and another man's suit is very Ralph Lauren black brand series.

"At present, only one quarter product is launched, and designers will make adjustments based on the preferences of consumers."

Zhu Wei thinks that it takes some time to form brand style, and the relevant brand planning is still in exploration.

More than a week after the London store opened, Zhu Wei had been asked to invite Boston to one of the top high-end department stores in London.

At present, the two sides are discussing the cost of opening a shop, the floor and location of the shop.

Shen Guangjian received greetings from a British clothing group on the day of its opening day.

After seeing the London store open, the other side hoped to cooperate with the women's clothing brand to enter the Chinese market.

As for sales performance, Zhu Wei only revealed "better than expected".

During the Olympic Games, half of the passengers from Britain and the United Kingdom accounted for half of the total. After the Olympic Games, the sales promotion activities will be further launched for London passenger flow.

The next step is to set up sales websites and special counters for high-end department stores.

But for Bosideng group, the London series has been pinned with more hope. A director said: "the launch of the London series has a bonus effect on Bosideng brand.

Nowadays, the international and domestic market is an interactive big market. "

But can the fashionable new image of London's bustling areas really bear the burden? From the present point of view, the London series has introduced domestic plans, but it is only at the stage of discussion.

Since the establishment of Bosteng men's clothing, several adjustments have been made in China.

In 2011, another adjustment was made for men's wear sales network.

This is a tempting idea, but it is also an adventure - there is no precedent to follow, and there is no precedent for success.

"It may be an expensive learning experience."

Jiang Jiongwen, Professor of marketing at China Europe International Business School (micro-blog), is puzzled by the prospect of Boston London series.

He thought Bosideng might win European recognition if he wanted to spend hundreds of millions or more to run the London series, but it was almost impossible to change Chinese consumers' deep-rooted understanding of Bosideng.

"If we can succeed in the British market, we start a brand from scratch.

But it's too confusing to let consumers associate with high-end men's clothing from down jacket.

Jiang Jiongwen thinks Bosideng should not use Bosideng brand when he first introduced men's clothing in China. "It's unwise to extend the brand up or down."

For example, when the sports brand Adidas is preparing to launch a more high-end brand series, it creates "Y-3" and invites the world-famous designer Yamamoto Teruji as creative director. When the Toyota Corporation wants to launch luxury cars, it launches "Lexus" brand, and has invested 500 million yuan to spend 6 years of research and development time.

Another worrying aspect is that in fact, there is no definite plan for the future of the London series. If the plan is only small, it will not be able to scale, and the influence may be limited.

Ash Gangotra and Nick Holland are now designing products for spring and summer 2013.

"The next cooperation is autumn and winter.

I think the opportunity is very rare. I have not considered it before and design it for other companies. "

He revealed an interesting message that after the launch of the autumn and winter series in 2013 - before the end of the contract between the two sides - everything may become clear.

It is less than two years since Pretty Green was launched.

"Wait and see whether they can succeed in the place where their predecessors fell."

Winston Chesterfield said, "Bosteng will find that high-end men's clothing in London is a rather crowded market. If you are only proud of having a store here, it may only be a short-term experience."

But the good news is that in 2010, Gao Li International estimated that London's real estate will rise to 31% in the next 5 years. At least Boston's property in West London is a good investment.