As one of the spotlight events in China’s fashion industry, SS21 Shanghai Fashion Week drew to a successful close on October 18th. The season’s fashion week took place both in digital and physical format to maximize the exposure and engagement with the general public both in China and globally. 

Online: As early as March this year, Shanghai Fashion Week and T-Mall co-hosted the “Cloud Fashion Week.” Fashion insiders and consumers experienced the unique format “Cloud Showcase + Cloud Live Streaming + Cloud See Now, Buy Now.” More than 150 fashion brands launched their new collections during the 7-day virtual event. 

In collaboration with RED, the first two days of Shanghai Fashion Week were live-streamed on the platform exclusively, leveraging the power of influencers on popular Chinese social media platform RED to create hype for Shanghai fashion week both online and offline. According to RED, more than 3 million users watched the live streams on one single day. 

Offline: This season, with a theme of “Eternal Runway,” Shanghai Fashion Week hosted nearly 100 physical events, runway and tradeshows at major fashion landmarks in Shanghai. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shanghai Fashion Week focused on supporting small to medium-sized fashion houses and homegrown talents; seventy percent of the new releases were presented by Chinese independent designers. This marks the evolution of “China Chic” in the global fashion industry. 

Our team has consolidated China’s hottest domestic labels and brand marketing tactics you should know about to stay relevant in today’s changing ‘phygital’ (physical + digital) landscape.

SECRET FAN - MUKZIN 

MUKZIN, designed and founded by Kate Han, is one of the top Chinese fashion brands which showed at several international fashion weeks. The brand focuses on merging traditional Chinese cultural elements into contemporary fashion pieces, raising awareness for the importance of preserving China’s national heritage. Being the spotlight at Shanghai Fashion Week, MUKZIN’s sales have increased by 70% over the same period last year. Chinese-designed clothing brands have gained popularity as Chinese traditional culture is being recognized in the film industry (Disney with Mulan as a recent example) as well as across social media platforms.  

BRONZE LUCIA X XIAO LONG KAN HOTPOT

Did you ever think a fashion brand and a hotpot restaurant could do a brand crossover? Chinese chic fashion brand Bronze Lucia presented its latest collection in collaboration with one of the most famous Chinese hotpot restaurants -Xiao Long Kan at Shanghai Fashion Week; the new collection includes clothing, lifestyle items such as phone cases, and even a self-heating instant hotpot, incorporating graphic prints of Xiao Long Kan’s signature hotpot dishes, and crayfishes with Bronze Lucia’s brand elements. This unique crossover collection created a huge buzz on China’s social media platforms.

CABBEAN

As an indicator of “China Chic”, Cabbean continued to elaborate on Chinese cultural elements in its new collection; the brand held a brilliant fashion show that perfectly fused Chinese traditions with modern elements, awakening the national pride within the young Chinese demographic.

3 Takeaways | Major Trends in Brand Marketing in China

1. O2O Campaign - Although there were  90+ fashion shows held in-person at physical locations, Shanghai Fashion Week did not give up on going virtual this season. They complemented physical efforts with “Cloud Showcase + Cloud Live Streaming + Cloud See Now, Buy Now.”. With this, Shanghai Fashion Week was able to create hype across the digital platforms and help fashion brands to boost their sales with the format of “See Now on the Runway and Buy Now online.”
   

2. Cross-Promotion: Collaborative marketing has become one of the most common tactics to gain brand awareness. In the example of Bronze Lucia x Xiao Long Kan Hotpot Restaurant, blending food and fashion, the collaboration was able to gain brand awareness and create a sense of curiosity among the consumers, especially the millennials who love to try new things.
   

3. “China Chic”: Without the glamour of Western luxury brands, brands that embrace Chinese elements performed outstandingly at this season’s Shanghai Fashion Week. It is not difficult to predict that the “China Chic” elements would continue to shine within the China market and even the global market.

Is your brand looking to strategize your marketing and sales strategy for the China market? Contact our Chinese Marketing Specialists at info@catalystagents.com today.