{"id":52265,"date":"2021-07-14T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T21:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daxueconsulting.com\/?p=52265"},"modified":"2021-11-18T10:57:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T02:57:45","slug":"mens-fashion-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daxueconsulting.com\/mens-fashion-china\/","title":{"rendered":"5 men\u2019s fashion trends in China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chinese male consumers are increasingly keen to spend money on clothes. Between 2009 and 2019<\/a>, the men\u2019s fashion market in China grew steadily, reaching 594.9 billion RMB in 2019, recording a year-on-year increase of 4.07%. Moreover, male consumers spend on average more than 1,500 RMB<\/a> on clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Euromonitor<\/a>, Chinese male consumers\u2019 top three favorite brands are HLA, Adidas<\/a> and Bosideng, respectively accounting for 4.7%, 2.4%, 2.3% of total sales in 2019: it is the sixth year in a row that HLA holds the lion share of Chinese men\u2019s fashion industry. Foreign luxury and fast fashion<\/a> brands dominate the menswear market in higher tier cities, making life difficult for local competitors. Five major trends can be observed in men\u2019s fashion in China that can help us to have a glimpse of where male apparel market is going and how to reach male fashion consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese men\u2019s fashion brands are going digital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The outbreak of Covid-19 disrupted the fashion industry and forced brands to experiment on new ways to connect with their Chinese audience. Participants of Paris and Milano Fashion Weeks had to rely heavily on new media to present their Spring-Summer 2022 Men\u2019s collections to Chinese customers. For instance, Louis Vuitton<\/a> decided to have a live stream show on Chinese video platform Kuaishou<\/a>, reaching around 40 million viewers. Before the event, the French Maison collaborated with five Chinese male celebrities, Kris Wu, Gong Jun, Dylan Wang, Chase and INTO1-Mika, to release some promotional teasers on all the most famous Chinese social network platforms<\/a>. The Italian luxury brand Prada<\/a>, instead, split its catwalk show between Milan and Shanghai, inviting all its Chinese KOLs<\/a> to attend the event at the Rong Zhai Residence. Overall, about 16 million people watched the livestream<\/a> of Prada\u2019s fashion show on Weibo, Douyin<\/a> and the official brand\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the boundaries between male and female<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On occasion of the International Men\u2019s Day, the data analytics and brand consulting company Kantar published the What Makes a Man 2019 Survey<\/em><\/a> for the Italian menswear luxury company Ermenegildo Zegna, highlighting men\u2019s difficulties to be themselves in society. According to such study, about 89% of Chinese participants said that they played up their masculinity at work. However, younger generations feel more and more dissatisfied with traditional gender labels and are willing to explore alternative ways of expressing themselves. The constant contradiction between Wu <\/em>\u6b66 <\/em>and Wen <\/em>\u6587<\/a> men idealtypes is gradually resolving as a softer and more fluid concept of manliness gains ground at the expense of the warrior masculinity embodied by the famous Chinese kung fu<\/em> stars of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being aware of such social transformation, brands decide to accompany Chinese men in their quest for sexual freedom providing them with genderless, cross-gender and non-labeled clothing. It is no coincidence that Prada<\/a> chose the young Gen-Z idol<\/a> Cai Xukun as its spokesperson, since the singer, rapper and actor incarnates such new concept of masculinity in China. Along with other Chinese celebrities such as Zhou Zhennan and Wang Yibo, last year Cai Xukun went public wearing a skirt<\/a>, triggering an animated discussion about manliness on Chinese social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Weibo, Zhou Zennan wearing a skirt for ELLE China<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Integrating urban details into high fashion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to OFashion and Nielsen report<\/a>, in 2018 streetwear brands in China boasted a growth rate of 60%, while non-streetwear ones recorded a meagre 17% increase. Between 2015 and 2019 Chinese men\u2019s consumption in urban clothing soared from 29% to 36%, boosting the sales of sweatshirts, shoes and T-shirts. Chinese Millennials<\/a> and Gen-Z consumers are the engine of the recent boom in the streetwear market in China. Such trend is involving both Tier-1 and lower tier cities: in 2018 urban apparel in Qinghai province experienced a 385% rise. The influence of K-pop in China<\/a> and the successful hip-hop talent show The Rap of China<\/em><\/a> played a major role in promoting streetwear nationwide<\/a>, by making niche urban clothing brands known to the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surfing such streetwear fever in China, luxury brands decided to add urban features to their collections. That is the case of Burberry<\/a>, which decided to stage its menswear presentation<\/a> for this year Paris Fashion Week in an urban landscape and mingled its traditional taste with high street elements, such as sneakers and hoodies. Instead, in its collection Duality<\/em><\/a>, Herm\u00e8s<\/a> mixed formal and leisure wear to offer its customers the perfect outfit for any occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Weibo, Actor and singer Kris Wu during the popular hip-hop talent show The Rap of China<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Men’s fashion in China is embracing Guochao<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Men\u2019s fashion in China did not remain untouched from young generations\u2019 tendency to prefer brands capable of combining Chinese cultural elements<\/a> with modern designs. Founded in 2013, Atelier Rouge P\u00e9kin<\/a> embodies this attempt to rediscover Chinese roots by reinventing traditional cuts and material to adapt them to contemporary needs. Chinese activewear brand Lining<\/a> renewed its brand precisely through incorporating more Chinese designs, risking to bind its future to the current Guochao trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following such a trend is not an easy undertaking for foreign companies since falling into clich\u00e9 could result into harsh criticism and, in the worst-case scenario, it could lead to boycotts. The French fashion giant Dior<\/a> revealed to be quite good at meeting the tastes of Chinese young consumers. Indeed, its 2021 Fall-Winter menswear collection<\/a> mingling traditional Chinese techniques, symbols and materials with modern fashion had a great success among Chinese consumers<\/a>: the hashtag \u201cDior 2021 Fall Menswear\u201d got 340 million views on Weibo and many positive comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Lining official website, Sweater from China Lining collection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chinese consumers get nostalgic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Guochao wave is on a certain extent linked to Chinese consumers growing attachment to the past. According to Wuhan University of Science and Technology, in 2018 about 80% of Chinese<\/a> employees declared being under mental and physical stress at an average or higher level due to their huge amount of work<\/a>. Moreover, according to a survey carried out by Statista, 47% of Chinese respondents<\/a> believed to be likely to suffer loneliness during 2020. Escaping from an increasingly atomistic and competitive society, Chinese Millennials and Gen-Zs seek relief in the reassuring memory of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands can meet such psychological needs by leveraging nostalgia marketing<\/a> tools which enhance consumers\u2019 engagement through building up communities of kindred individuals. Lining\u2019s and Anta\u2019s<\/a> current success can be partly traced back to the nostalgia effect they can trigger in Chinese young customers, since they used to be quite popular during 90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that some of them entered Chinese market not that long ago, Western brands are capitalizing on Millennials and Gen-Zs\u2019 nostalgia<\/a> as well. For instance, Dior collaborated with Chinese-American actor Chen Feiyu<\/a> to relaunch its retro-style saddlebag for its Fall 2020 Men\u2019s Collection. That same year both Uniqlo<\/a> and Puma<\/a>, instead, released a Super Mario-themed collection in occasion of the Italian plumber\u2019s 35th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: WWD, Shanghai-based menswear brand 8on8 joins Spring-Summer 2020 London Fashion Week with a retro-futurist collection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Major trends in Chinese men\u2019s fashion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n