In 2024, Taobao Trend and Douyin’s e-commerce platforms successively rolled out livestreaming occasions showcasing prime quality and classy womenswear. Manufacturers resembling ChicJoc, Keigan and Marius captured the trade’s consideration with their GMV figures surpassing market projections.
Competitors within the womenswear market focusing on feminine clients ages 26 to 40 and round 50 is fierce. With product homogenization rampant, the success of those manufacturers hinges on a typical denominator: cloth. By sourcing materials from the identical suppliers as worldwide manufacturers, they’ve appealed to a discerning client group in search of a stability between budget-conscious and upgrade-minded buying and are rising in a client panorama dominated by “reasonably priced options,” all due to their emphasis on “prime quality, premium value.”
Winter coats from Marius, ChicJoc and Keigan that declare to make use of the identical cloth as the long-lasting Max Mara Teddy Bear type.
This winter, Max Mara’s traditional Teddy Bear coat has once more grow to be a dominant search for the high-end Chinese language client. But, regardless of sharing related materials and a value vary of about 6,000 renminbi (about $822), these “Teddy Bear”-style coats aren’t all from the identical model.
Through the use of obscure descriptions to focus on the Italian-imported cloth that’s allegedly of the identical origin as worldwide manufacturers, this technique has swiftly cultivated a transparent understanding amongst ladies who search good client decisions. On the official web site of ChicJoc, there are even pages that explicitly establish the worldwide cloth suppliers with which it claims to collaborate, whereas in Keigan’s livestreaming classes, hosts repeatedly assert that the material is sourced from the identical producer as a famend worldwide model.
On the official web site of ChicJoc, there are pages that clearly establish its world cloth suppliers.
As these manufacturers emphasize cloth, craftsmanship, and silhouette, these core womenswear components are persistently strengthened in shoppers’ minds as key, sparking relentless debates within the trade. On one hand, people start to ponder the true essence of the style enterprise. On the opposite, optimistic voices come up, asserting that Chinese language manufacturers have reached a brand new start line — the place high-quality cloth and craftsmanship will inevitably grow to be the usual for all manufacturers, shifting the main focus of competitors within the subsequent section again to design.
The “Proper Time and Proper Place” for a Increase in Womenswear
From the sudden retailer closures of pioneering web celebrities Zhang Dayi and Zhou Yangqing, to the speedy rise of manufacturers like ChicJoc and Keigan with the assist of the platform’s official “Tremendous Trend Launch” IP, the tales of those rising and falling Taobao clothes manufacturers all unfolded final 12 months.
Keigan — which was based by trend influencer Zhou Dudu and architect Jin Hao — opened its retailer on Taobao in 2011, spearheading the pattern of Taobao manufacturers transitioning towards high-end trend.
ChicJoc, based in 2015, is the brainchild of Lou Chen, a graduate of Donghua College, China‘s prime establishment for textile and attire research, which has produced famend designers resembling Uma Wang. His spouse, Wei Yujing, can also be a designer.
Marius, which debuted in 2019 as a Weidian (a Chinese language e-commerce platform for small companies and people), was cofounded by Douyin influencer “Lao Ma”(Ma Rui) and Zhang Lei. Previous to founding Marius, Ma Rui was a logic engineer at a state-owned enterprise and is affectionately referred to as the “Cloth Goddess” for her experience in materials.
Ma Rui along with her crew.
In contrast to their predecessors resembling Zhang Dayi, the founders of this technology of Taobao manufacturers don’t overly depend on their private IPs to drive site visitors to their shops on the preliminary stage. Taking Marius for example, from the outset the model established an expert central sample room, bought international-standard tools, and launched an offline showroom in the identical 12 months their Taobao retailer went on-line. This was adopted by the completion of a product analysis and improvement middle, strategic acquisition of a high-end garment manufacturing manufacturing unit, and a multichannel structure with a number of manufacturers within the pipeline. This operational strategy is extra akin to conventional model administration, but it boasts a notably sooner development trajectory in comparison with conventional ones.
The posh items trade is experiencing a downturn, leading to important vacancies in industrial areas. In the meantime, rising manufacturers have but to totally capitalize on this market alternative. Dealing with this problem, manufacturers with inherent provide chain benefits are poised to embrace an unprecedented “golden time for improvement.”
Taking ChicJoc for example, from a garment firm registered in Jiangsu to a model administration firm established in Shanghai, this womenswear model that began as a producing manufacturing unit has, strictly talking, a historical past of lower than a decade. Up to now two years it has opened 50 offline shops, together with models in prestigious high-end buying facilities resembling Deji Plaza in Nanjing and Henglong Plaza in Shanghai.
Beginning in 2024, the model launched into abroad enlargement, opening two shops within the U.S. final month: one on the Beverly Heart in Los Angeles and one other at Trend Island in Newport Seashore. Previous to its official foray into worldwide markets, loyal abroad clients persistently generated annual gross sales volumes of $4.1 million to $5.5 million, accounting for 3 p.c of its whole annual gross sales.
On one hand, these manufacturers cater to sensible shoppers who search cost-effective options. On the opposite, the worldwide market is beneath stress, and this has considerably shortened the hole between Chinese language manufacturers and worldwide provide chains, making top-quality European materials extra accessible to them. Underneath such advantageous circumstances, womenswear manufacturers with a median buyer order worth of about $410 are seeing a rebound regardless of the difficult market circumstances.
How Far Can Materials Propel Chinese language Manufacturers?
The upper high quality of the materials has led to regular development within the buyer base. ChicJoc boasts a repurchase charge exceeding 65 p.c, with month-to-month gross sales topping 200,000 models. Throughout a six-hour livestream in October, the model achieved sturdy gross sales, together with one product surpassing the ten million-yuan mark; three merchandise breaking the 5 million yuan barrier, and 12 merchandise exceeding the million-yuan threshold. Finally, the transaction quantity exceeded 64.2 million yuan ($8.8 million), setting a brand new file within the dwell streaming class of Taobao’s attire shops.
Returning to the product because the core and profitable client recognition for the model by fulfilling market demand is undoubtedly a leap ahead from the earlier marketing-centric, traffic-dominated strategy. Nevertheless, it’s evident that cloth alone can’t totally assist a “nice product.” A mature model wants steady innovation and eager perception to navigate by means of enterprise cycles. Furthermore, design functionality is an indispensable facet that can not be ignored.
In contrast to manufacturers resembling ChicJoc, Keigan, and Marius, which declare to shoppers throughout dwell broadcasts that the materials used for his or her “Teddy Bear” coats are sourced from the identical suppliers as worldwide ones, one other Chinese language model, Icicle, has taken a special strategy. In 2016, the corporate acquired Kaijie from Jiangsu Province, a key provider to MaxMara. Moreover, when Icicle established its design middle in Paris in 2013, it employed a number of designers and patternmakers who had beforehand labored for distinguished worldwide manufacturers.
On the spring-summer 2026 Première Imaginative and prescient exhibition held in Shanghai final month, Ye Shouzeng, one of many founders of Icicle, acknowledged that in September and October, the model’s clothes gross sales had elevated by 20 p.c, and the proportion of chosen Italian supplies utilized in its collections had risen from 25 to 50 p.c. He additionally admitted that even throughout troublesome occasions for the trade, he nonetheless attends the Première Imaginative and prescient Paris Present yearly to look at trend developments and choose high-quality suppliers, thereby upgrading the materials the model makes use of.
Florence Rousson, the chairman of the board of Première Imaginative and prescient, additionally stated in an interview with WWD China that about 1,100 exhibitors will take part within the Première Imaginative and prescient Paris Present this 12 months, sustaining an analogous scale and probably even increasing. Artistic administrators of core manufacturers based mostly in Shanghai and its surrounding areas, notably these of mid- to high-end and even luxurious manufacturers, pays shut consideration to the Première Imaginative and prescient present.
Moreover, she revealed that the Première Imaginative and prescient Paris Present’s high-end inventive workshops, which goal to honor conventional craftsmanship, will concentrate on the applying of conventional crafts in modern contexts and pioneering workshops that produce uncommon, non-industrially mass-produced merchandise, inspiring the trade with creativity.
Rousson introduced an inventory to WWD China detailing among the exhibitors from the Maison d’Exceptions, a showcase of high-end inventive workshops. The record boasts collaborators of the couture traces of worldwide manufacturers resembling Giorgio Armani, Balenciaga, and Dior, together with Anne Gelbard, a workshop famend for its craftsmanship. It additionally options Solstiss, a lace workshop that provides to Hermès and Alexander McQueen, in addition to Antoni Mogin’s workshop, which collaborates with Burberry and Swarovski, amongst others.
The vibrancy of worldwide exhibitions and establishments acts as a bridge between China and the world, offering the trade with insights and channels. Sooner or later, we could witness a big uplift within the product high quality of many Chinese language manufacturers, not solely within the realm of womenswear, but in addition in menswear and different classes, with the potential emergence of extra trade darkish horses. Nevertheless, the quick subsequent step may very well be to forge collaborations with main worldwide workshops and designers, thereby integrating world-class craftsmanship to achieve new ranges of excellence in design and manufacturing.
Editor’s Notice: China Perception is a month-to-month column from WWD’s sister publication WWD China taking a look at developments in that key world market.