How first lady Peng Liyuan is boosting business for China's bespoke tailors
How first lady boosted business for China's bespoke dress designers
As a young graduate in her 20s, Angela Zhou loved to buy discounted Chanel and Louis Vuitton items at end-of-season sales. But when she found success in her 30s as one of the mainland's top luxury yacht brokers, she could finally afford to buy the priciest items.
Each time she closed a sale on a multimillion-dollar yacht, Zhou would treat herself to a dress from a famous design house. Then, last year, the sight of first lady Peng Liyuan appearing elegant and confident in mainland-designed and tailored dresses on her overseas trip with President Xi Jinping piqued her interest in upmarket custom tailoring.
Zhou is typical of younger wealthy mainlanders who are seeking out a growing number of bespoke tailors in major mainland cities.
They came to network ... but soon they started ordering suits and dresses
"European or American luxury brands are often the first choice for many rich Chinese when they dress up. But, thanks to the first lady, my business doubled last year," said Mu Yan, founder of M.Y.Bespoke, a custom tailor in Shenzhen aimed at wealthy customers.
Mu started her high-end tailoring career in 2007 and counts 3,000 entrepreneurs, socialites and celebrities, some in their early 30s, as clients. In busy seasons, monthly orders can reach more than one million yuan (HK$1.25 million).
The which tracks China's wealthy and their spending habits, reported recently there were 1.05 million individuals each with assets exceeding 10 million yuan. Of those, 64,500 were deemed "super rich" - those with assets of 100 million yuan or more.
When Mu started out in Shenzhen, few of the city's wealthy used bespoke tailoring. "It took nearly eight years to develop the market," she said.
