00:00Kent Lee, author and senior lecturer of international fashion business at the University of London.
00:06Dr. Lee, thank you so much for joining us.
00:08So firstly, what's your assessment of this journey for China's luxury fashion brands and who are the standouts for you?
00:17Thank you for having me.
00:19For me, as you mentioned, quite a lot of great brands already.
00:23Icicle is particularly interesting because it's in China to replicate a European luxury brand.
00:30It has built a very distinctive identity through natural materials, understated design, an aesthetic rooted in Eastern philosophy.
00:39And you mentioned just now, earlier this year, Cary took a minority stake in its parent company.
00:44And when a big European luxury lover invests in a Chinese luxury business, I think it's quite powerful an acknowledgement
00:52of how the landscape is changing.
00:54And then we have brands like Bossy Den, they have two or three decades of technical expertise in downclothing and
01:03increasingly translated it into fashion and brand value.
01:07So we are seeing several different routes towards Chinese luxury.
01:11I see.
01:12So this success comes at a time when actually luxury brands are struggling, aren't they?
01:16What do you think these Chinese brands are getting right?
01:21I wouldn't necessarily describe this as a crisis of luxury.
01:26I think it's a recollection of luxury because the consumer has become much more selective, especially after the pandemic.
01:36We have years of significant price increase, economic uncertainty, and consumers increasingly asking whether a product generally justify its price.
01:46We also see spending shifts towards experiences, wellness and travel.
01:51China reflects many of those pressures.
01:54It remains very important.
01:58And what's particularly interesting now is that Chinese consumers have a lot more credible domestic alternatives.
02:06So international brands are not simply competing against one another anymore.
02:10They are increasingly competing for attention with Chinese brands as well.
02:15And it's not just Chinese consumers, is it?
02:18I mean, these Chinese brands are reaching international audiences like never before.
02:25Yes, definitely.
02:26And I think it's quite interesting to see that the landscape has changed.
02:32And also how we define luxury consumers have changed as well.
02:37Because now it's for us as academic and also as expert in the industry, it's impossible for us to define
02:44the luxury consumer simply by geography or even by age.
02:48Dr. Lee, we really appreciate your time.
02:50Thanks for joining us.
02:52Thanks.
