China’s Six Biggest Fashion Brands for Men

With its massive population and solid middle class, China's apparel market is a paradise for brands in all pricing categories. China, in fact, has many home-grown apparel giants that run brands successfully competing for Chinese consumers against international players from Europe, USA, Korea and Japan. We will take a closer look at China’s top 6 Fashion Brands for Men.

6. 柒牌 SEVEN

Fujian Qi Licensing Group was founded in 1979 and after more than three decades in business, has established itself as China’s leading apparel research, design and manufacturing firm. The Qi Group employs over 5,000 people and has over 3,000 stores nationwide in 31 Chinese provinces. The Qi Group has R&D bases in Jinjiang, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Japan, Italy and France.

SEVEN’s products were awarded China’s famous brand and trademark. The company has also designed and manufactured special suits and dresses for Olympic athletes for several Olympic games including Beijing 2008.

5. 雅戈尔 YOUNGOR

Youngor Group founded in 1979 and operates within 3 major industries: clothing, real-estate development and equity investment. Youngor employs over 5,000 people, operates over 800 self-managed stores in China and has more then 2,632 branded outlets.

In October 2001, Younger completed a 350 acre International Garment Manufacturing Park; the largest of its kind in China. The company’s product line includes male suits, shirts, casual clothes and trousers.

Over the past decades Youngor was repeatedly named "China Advance Enterprise" and ”Favorite Consumer Brand” with its products awarded "National Key New Product" and “Benchmark Quality Product” titles.

4. 报喜鸟 Saint Angelo

Baoxiniao Group Ltd., established in 1996, is a clothing manufacturer with three industrial parks operating in Wenzhou, Shanghai and Hefei. The group is also involved in real estate development like many other apparel manufactures.

Zhejiang Baoxiniao Clothing Ltd. was established in 2001 with registered capital of 192 million yuan, and is mainly engaged in production, marketing and sales of Angelo branded suits and shirts. The company is using a franchise shop model with over 600 stores throughout China.

The ANGELO diversified into several distinctive brands such as SAINT ANGELO (Male brand), BONO (Female centric) and CARL BONO (Italian couture).

3. 红豆 HODO

Jiangsu Hongdou Industry Ltd. is a part of the Hongdou Group that owns over 120 pilot enterprises in the Jiangsu province. On January 8, 2001 Hongdou Group floated on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Its main products include suits, jackets, shirts, T-shirts, sweaters, ties and other clothing mostly under the well-known brand Red. The brand was awarded the title "Famous Chinese Trademark" as early as 1997 and later was recognized as the "Chinese famous brand".

The HongDou group has 10 subsidiaries and international presences, such as manufacturing facilities in Cambodia and sales subsidiaries in New York and Los Angeles.

2. 波司登 BOSIDENG

Bosideng is China’s largest down-jacket manufacturer. It was established in 1976 in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province by Mr. Gao Dekang and now employs over 10,000 people. BOSIDENG is managing a few brands and is handling all product research, design, development, raw materials procurement, outsourced manufacturing, marketing and sales internally. The current brands under its umbrella include Bosideng, Snow Flying, Compro, BingJie, Ice fly, Upper feather,
Bosideng Men and Ricci-Club Women.

In the past few years, in an attempt to explore more international markets and build an international brand, Bosideng has co-operated with DuPont and Itochu as well as a number of other well-known international brands such as NIKE, COLUMBIA, NORTHFACE, BOSS, TOMMY, GAP and ELLE.

Over the years, Bosideng has won many prestigious industry awards including, amongst others “Chinese well-known trademark”, "China World Brand" and "China Industry Award" .

1. 杉杉 ShanShan (also known as FIRS)

China Ningbo Shanshan Garment Ltd., known as FIRS in English, is China's largest domestic apparel group. Since 1989 ShanShan has manufactured and marketed suits, shirts and other clothes pieces. According to the official website the company uses German, Italian and Japanese manufacturing knowledge and technology to produce high-end clothing that fits the physic and tastes of Chinese men.

Impressively, Shanshan Group has: 2 domestic listed companies, 7 internationally registered companies, 12 product development companies, 12 industrial companies, 19 brands and nearly 3,000 stores in major cities across China as well as in some European and American markets. The Group employs over 10,000 people.

China Shanshan Group implements a multi-brand strategy and currently owns 杉杉 (FIRS)、玛珂·爱萨尼(Marco Azzali、万星威(Munxing Wear )、 Le coq and 卡莎迪娅(Cosdear ) among other brands.

_________________________

It's interesting to see how the local Chinese brands ( not just fashion brands, but brands in general) will evolute in the coming 5-10 years. The potential is undoubtedly there, but will they have what it takes to make it global? Share your thoughts below!

By Ashley Galina Dudarenok ( [email protected]). First published on www.ajournal.com.hk on 7 September 2015.