Chinese Brand Designers Are Also In Poor Condition.

The 2010 autumn winter Paris fashion week, which is about to begin in March, has entered the final stage of preparation. It is different from the January Milan fashion week, which has only 4 days in January, and has confirmed that more than 30 brands will withdraw from New York fashion week. The Paris fashion week will last for 9 days.

However, in this official calendar, there is only one Chinese brand name - "Xia Zi".

Two designers who should have appeared at the same time -- Xie Feng, the designer of the five consecutive season in fashion week, and Qiu Hao, who won the 2008 annual Australian Merino wool logo award, was shown to be in the Paris fashion week.

In addition, as the first Chinese designer to enter the Paris high fashion week, Ma Ke, a domestic and international media attention, has not appeared in Paris fashion week this January.

In the past two years, the names of the three designers have been mentioned repeatedly in many media. They are considered to be the iconic figure of Chinese designers going to the world and the successful models of Chinese designer brands.

However, the 3 group's "collective absence" caused many people to attribute the cause to the economic crisis which brought great impact to the clothing retailing industry.

The reason for such speculation seems obvious - the designer brand is in the ascendant, and the niche positioning between high-end luxury brands and mass consumer brands will limit the accumulation of capital, and it is hard to have strong capital as a guarantee for "winter".

Therefore, in the face of economic crisis, designer brand days are most likely to be the worst.

Is this really the case?

What exactly is the designer brand in the economic crisis?

With these two questions, the reporter interviewed designer Xie Feng, founder of Ji Fen and independent designer He Yan of Shanghai.

Xie Feng: in the economic crisis, the most important thing is to live. In October 2006, Xie Feng brought his "JefenByFrankie" for the first time on the stage of the fashion week in Paris. This is the first time that Chinese designers have officially appeared here.

By the 2009 spring summer of November 2008, Xie Feng has been insisting on appearing at Paris fashion week two times a year.

There are two main reasons for deciding not to participate in the fashion week of March.

One is timing.

The fashion week started too late, so in February, we held a small order meeting in Paris for Jifen's customers.

Another reason is the sharp drop in US customers.

In fact, after the press conference at the end of last year, we found that the number of customers in the US dropped by 30%.

Taking into account the current economic situation in the United States, we predict that this time will continue to decrease.

The United States is an important overseas market for Jifen.

Considering these two points, the significance of publishing this year's fashion week in Paris is not so great.

Xie Feng told reporters about the absence of the fashion week in Paris.

This economic crisis has shocked all retail businesses in Europe and the United States. Many international clothing brands are laying off and closing down. CHANEL's Paris office has laid off 200 people and France's Morgan has closed down.

The most promising market in the world is in China. So what Ji Fei has to do this year is to develop the domestic market, and to expand overseas markets needs to wait and see.

Ji Fen has been sold in Japan and the United States. This crisis has almost brought back Japan's economic level in 70s, and the outlook is not optimistic. The US market is not yet certain. If Obama's 800 billion rescue plan plus 700 billion of Bush's investment failed to make the US economy rebound, the market will probably not improve in the short term.

"It is not very meaningful for Chinese clothing brands to make overseas markets if they do not make the US market.

And for Chinese designers, becoming the mainstream of European and American retail industry is very difficult, at least for the present environment.

Western clothing brands are different from those of China. They are collectivized operations. Under a large capital group, there may be 20 brands. These large groups almost monopolize the mainstream group of retail trade, and Chinese designer brands can only develop in the second and three way retail channels. Simply speaking, from the perspective of design strength, the Chinese designer level is not necessarily higher than that of European and American designers, and there are so many talented designers abroad.

Therefore, it is the most important thing for the Chinese designer brand to make the domestic market in this period. After all, it is the most important thing to live in the economic crisis.

"Ji Fen last year's sales growth in the bad environment is still growing, straight road at the end of 11 and December, it is felt that retail sales have been hit.

We thought it would be worse this spring, but up to now, there has been no sign of worse than usual.

At present, domestic demand is less than 30%, and this figure should normally reach fifty or sixty.

If the government's policy of stimulating domestic demand works, there will still be room for development.

After all, the brand of Jifen has been in operation for 10 years, and there is a certain scale of consumer groups and brands. We only need to do a solid job in all aspects of sales, services, media delivery and so on.

He Yan: now the naive idea must be changed now. In the past two years, a group of independent designer shops have appeared in Shanghai, and a group of independent designers have been welcomed because of their experimental and practical design styles. He is one of them.

In 2003, she resigned from the company and set up her own door.

Less than a year later, she made 3 releases in a small bar at the back door of East China Normal University, and received a good response.

Later, she opened his own studio on the Jinxian Road, specializing in senior uniform, because "at that time, the financial resources could not afford the production of garments."

At a speed of a series of new releases every year, He Yan has accumulated a certain number of customers.

"At the end of 2007, the first store opened, and it was aborted after 7 months. In the environment like Shang street, how to promote and manage myself is something I haven't done enough to cope with, so it failed."

In 2008, he opened second stores on the Changle road. "Only 18 square meters of storefront rent twenty-five thousand per month.

It was just the time when the economic crisis began.

Most of He Yan's clients are local senior white-collar workers and Europeans living in Shanghai.

"After the economic crisis, foreigners responded most, and they no longer spent money.

In fact, if I insist on it, maybe I will make money, but I still can not sustain it. After 7 months, it will be closed. "

He is very frustrated and confused and doesn't know what to do next.

After a period of low tide, I had something to do.

At first, those seemingly innocent ideas had to be changed. It is too difficult for a person to survive. The market problem is very urgent. It is not at all free.

We must cooperate with others before we can go on. "

He Yan sighed with emotion.

"I used to think that the way of consignment could not be accepted by my pride. Now I also want to start, and not only in Shanghai's designer shop, but I am in Beijing, Dalian, Chengdu and Hangzhou shops to relieve my sales pressure. It is also a promotion."

In addition, he is also talking about cooperation with the capital side. "They are going to make my own brand of mass produced garments and go to department stores to sell them. I also do my design."

"Will this limit your design style?"

The reporter asked.

When you talk, you will say that you do not limit your design, give me full freedom, but you know, there must be concession.

Now, however, I do not have a better business model.

After all, making clothes is not a work of art, nor is a designer an artist. He has to go back to business circles. "

He Yan said.

"Designers do not have enough money to survive independently in the economic crisis. The clothing companies that export and process now need to rely on designers to pform their brands.

Perhaps this financial crisis will provide an opportunity for Chinese designers and clothing brands.

If capital and designers can come together, that will be the best result. Only in this way can China's clothing brand go to the world.

However, the key premise is that the thinking of the capital side needs to be changed. The director of a garment processing factory does not necessarily sell the brand more than the hot water bottle manager, because making good clothes and selling clothes are two different things.

Thinking remains unchanged, and cooperation with designers will be difficult.

More clothing investment information, click here to enter the responsibility editor: Wang Xiaonan