Fashion house's next showcase: the world

Olympic Games gave Chinese garments brand international push

This was a fashion parade unlike most others. The models were novices, most were garbed in men's wear, and there were more A-listers than fashionistas.

Hours before the Olympic Games opened on the other side of London, these fledgling mannequins lined up for the show at historic Lancaster House in the West End, among them Liu Chuanzhi, founder of consumer electronics company Lenovo.

The event on July 27 showcased the wares of the Chinese men's wear label Eve de Cina, whose hallmarks are dashes of Chinese culture combined with the best of foreign elements.

The show was part of a China Day at the British Business Embassy set up during the Olympics to promote business.

"We have nursed the dream of going global for a long time," says Xia Hua, chairwoman of Eve Group, whose headquarters are in Beijing and which sees itself as a purveyor of Chinese culture.

Over the past few years Eve has been laying the groundwork for realizing its global ambitions, recruiting foreign designers, building up its supply chain and marketing its products around the world. Now it is time for Eve to "make the first step into the overseas market" to compete directly with luxury brands there, Xia says, adding that she plans to open a store in London next year.

It is likely to be the second Chinese fashion retailer in Britain after Bosideng opened a store in South Molton Street, off Oxford Street, London - a day before the Lancaster House show.

But Xia's ambitions stretch beyond the British capital. Xia, who returned from a business trip to Italy this month, says she has been in talks with Italian companies on mergers and acquisitions.

"There is no doubt that that is an effective way of expanding our business internationally."

Starting from a small booth in the Xidan shopping area of Beijing in 1994, Eve now owns five clothing labels: Eve de Cina, Eve de Uomo, Notting Hill, Kevin Kelly and Jaques Pritt, with more than 500 franchised stores and about 3,000 employees across China.

It is expected that the decidedly upmarket Eve Group - the price of its products range from 800 euros ($1,050) to 1,000 euros - will have revenue of more than 2 billion yuan ($317 million, 244 million euros), all from China, this year, with a return of about 10 percent, Xia says.

"In the next three years we will grow significantly overseas," Xia says, tipping revenue to rise to about 4 billion yuan a year by 2015, with a return of up to 20 percent.

"By then we will have about 800 shops, including 10 overseas, and 10 percent of revenue coming from there."

Su Baoyan, secretary-general of the Asia Fashion Federation of China Committee, says the Chinese cultural element is a great fillip for Chinese fashion brands going abroad. "China has many traditional and attractive design techniques, such as embroidery. If the Chinese brands can combine eastern and western elements, that will be very attractive for foreign customers."

Xia reckons that Eve is the perfect vehicle to deliver Chinese culture to the world. "The typical Chinese style and attributes of some traditional Chinese techniques and features guarantee our success globally.

For example, every button on Eve's shirts is made from precious black jade, she says, the group gets Lin Jianhui, a jade sculptor, to carve Chinese paintings on the small, thin buttons. "These techniques are precious, and some are dying in the country."

Her dream of working in fashion began when she was a child, she says.Born into a poor family, she recalls that her parents could not afford to buy new clothes for childrens on Spring Festival. "However, my mother, like a magician, made many beautiful clothes out of worn-out curtain."

Inspired by that, Xia came to believe that "beauty in life can be made by us, reshaping life".

In the absence of enrolling for fashion courses, Xia cultivates her fashion sense through travel and by reading magazines. "I get my fashion judgment from daily life. The way anyone dresses can inspire me."

She graduated from the China University of Political Science and Law in 1991 and embarked on a career as a university teacher. Once when doing research on China's business, she found there was huge market potential in the field of formal dress for Chinese entrepreneurs. Then, in 1994, she quit her job and founded Eve Group.

Her decision to leave a secure job as a university teacher for the precarious life of someone starting up a business astounded her family and friends. "I believe opportunities come from challenges. Now this international march is another challenge and opportunity for us."

Katrin Reinfurt, a fashion designer and founder of MPMP fashion studio in Beijing, agrees that there are many challenges when Chinese fashion retailers go global. "If you want to be recognized in a high-class product segment, you have to be able to compete with the quality and the reputation of international and global performing brands. Fashion nowadays is not locked to a country anymore, so I guess Chinese brands have to take the challenge to face international high fashion design standards."

Xia says Chinese brands are as good as their foreign counterparts. "There is this common stereotype that Chinese clothing brands are of low quality and dated, but that is plain wrong and a prejudice. We perform well in quality and design."

Eve invests about 10 to 15 percent of its revenue in research and development and in recruiting talented people, she says.

Apart from four factories in China, it has worked with original equipment manufacturers of international brands such as Chanel to produce clothing. "About 60 to 70 percent of our raw materials are imported from other countries such as Italy," Xia says.

One big challenge when going abroad is the huge differences between the Chinese and foreign customers.

"With dress style, foreign customers have a more fixed mindset. It takes time for us to impress them, since they are more mature in fashion tastes. What matters for us is time and patience.

"Time is needed in creating brand acceptance, an issue we have had locally. Eve will allow customers to get to know the brand and then cultivate the brand loyalty."

To meet consumer demand overseas, Eve has built up an international design team, with about 160 designers from 30 different countries and regions.

"Because customers in different countries and regions differ a lot in their habits and dress sense, foreign designers are quite important for us to get close to the local customers," Xia says.

Eve also provides a wardrobe management service to foreign customers.

"Since our major customers are businessmen who are very busy and have little time to consider their dress, we have staff assigned to give them regular instruction on dress sense.

"The service is free, but it provides direct contact with customers, helping to build brand loyalty. It works very effectively in the domestic market, and it will appeal to customers overseas, too."

Not content to conquer the men's wear market, Eve is already looking to move into other fields. "Now we have begun selling accessories from foreign brands such as Chanel," Xia says. "By selling their products first, Eve wants to step into the accessories market, which is untapped in China.

"We want to build up a fashion kingdom covering many areas of fashion. For instance, we plan to expand business branches into home decorating and furniture design."

But Eve is not aiming to become another Louis Vuitton in China, she says. "Why another LV, and not the first Eve? We want to become the largest fashion group here, unique and pioneering."

huhaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/20/2012 page22)