Finding comfort in the lap of luxury

As Chinese spend on high fashion worldwide, local firms go shopping for brands to expand

Retailers, investors and industry insiders believe China's luxury goods industry, despite losses for the second year in a row in 2015, is still well on its way to a brighter future, coasting on the momentum of double-digit growth in recent years, said consulting firm Bain & Co.

The Fortune Character Institute's research findings appear to confirm the optimistic outlook. In 2015, Chinese consumers bought 46 percent of the luxury goods consumed worldwide. But 78 percent of it was bought outside China.