Younger generation provides fresh pivot

It seems that the younger generation has become more welcoming to domestic brands, preferring to pay for the product's design and quality, rather than just big-name brands and labels reading "Made in Italy".

I was impressed and touched by the great efforts Erke made to support flood-hit Zhengzhou, Henan province, in July, when the sports and lifestyle company donated supplies worth 50 million yuan ($7.85 million), despite posting a loss of 220 million yuan last year.

The generosity shown by the company has not only won it a chance to turn the tide and regain lost ground, but also given other domestic brands the opportunity to let Chinese customers know that they also have fine products and a deep love for the country.

It's now trendy to wear "new national products", and they have changed Chinese people's shopping habits thanks to their good quality and new interpretation of traditional culture.

I used to be among the group that preferred foreign brands, especially cosmetics.

I always held the view that using imported goods made me look very chic and Western. I was also concerned about the outdated designs and poor quality of domestic goods.

I dropped my prejudice about two years ago when I tried some domestically made cosmetics and fashion pieces by Chinese designers. The quality is as good as that of imported items, while the prices are much more reasonable.

In the past few years, the claims and impolite behavior of some foreign brands, whose advertisements seemed to poke fun at Chinese people-for example, Dolce & Gabbana's "chopsticks "advertisement, which prompted accusations of racial discrimination-have not only hurt people's feelings but also severely affected those companies' futures on the Chinese mainland.

However, I think people's ever-growing confidence in the nation's development and the improved designs and quality of domestic products are the main reasons for the growth of these new national products.

The change in attitude has been more noticeable among the younger generation, especially people born after 1990 and 2000, who have grown up in an environment in which China's economy has boomed and resulted in improved global standing.

An ever-stronger China now is giving its people greater confidence, and that has inspired the development of these new national products.

However, such business is not only about promoting national feeling or patriotism, but also about innovation and improved quality to aid the sector's sustainable development.