British Fashion Council Launches China Partnerships Strategy in Shanghai with Ambassadorial President David Beckham

What has David Beckham been up to in Shanghai this week?
For one thing, he's been helping the British fashion industry to break into the vast Chinese market.
So Victoria is not the only one with global fashion credentials in the Beckham camp these days.

In his new role as the British Fashion Council’s (BFC) Ambassadorial President, David Beckham has launched the organisation’s China Partnerships Strategy supported by Stephanie Phair, BFC Chair; Dylan Jones, BFC Chair of Menswear and Caroline Rush, BFC Chief Executive.

The strategy was launched at a lunch attended by existing and potential new key partners, invited by the BFC and Mr Beckham. Guests included Xia Ding, President of JD International Fashion; Paul David Haouzi, President & Executive Director Trinity Group; Claire Chung, China General Manager Yoox Net-A-Porter, Patrick Tsang, Chairman Tsang Group and Judy Liu, Managing Director China Farfetch.

The lunch, hosted at The Middle House Shanghai confirmed £500,000 worth of deals including JD.com and Ruyi’s co-sponsorship of the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund, JD.com’s support for the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund and support from Britain’s Department of International Trade.  In addition to deals done, the BFC continue to explore the next stage of their innovative partnership with VIP.com and their long-term partnership with Fung Retailing Group.

The development of the BFC’s China Fashion Business Network is a key pillar of development for the next 12 months, and many attendees at the lunch pledged their support to assist the BFC create a network of credible partners across investment, licensing, manufacturing, property, communications and retail in China.  As Stephanie Phair, BFC Chair commented: “China has always been a key market for British designers, from emerging businesses to established brands. There is a growing appetite for British fashion in China."

David Beckham, BFC Ambassadorial President said: “Promoting the British fashion industry in China is an important part of my new role with the British Fashion Council. I hope that through events like today we are able to shine a light on the incredible creative talent we have in the UK and promote that talent on a global scale. The opportunity in China for connecting creatively and driving investment into British fashion is huge. Today we are able to show real commitment from Chinese businesses to future fashion leaders in the UK and in parallel, share our experience, knowledge and platforms with emerging Chinese designers.”

The BFC’s China Partnerships Strategy is focused on three key areas and solidifies the organisation’s commitment to making access to the Chinese market easier for British designer businesses: 

Support for emerging talent with mentoring on the Chinese market Partnerships of Fashion Weeks; stimulating demand through content and access, in relevant cases supplying that demand through retail partnerships in the UK and China.Network development of investors, creatives, influencers, media, retailers and high-net worth individuals to partner with British designer businesses on local growth strategies.

At the lunch hosted by BFC Ambassadorial President David Beckham at The Middle House Shanghai, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Dylan Jones, BFC Chair of Menswear and Editor of British GQ, Caroline Rush, BFC Chief Executive, Xia Ding, President of JD International Fashion and Francis Srun, Executive President of Ruyi International Group that confirms funding, mentorship and additional opportunities to develop partnerships for the shortlisted designers into China.

Xia Ding, President of JD International Fashion said: “The UK is now increasingly recognized by Chinese people as a global fashion centre and JD is proud to serve as the most convenient channel for British designers to reach China’s many discerning fashion consumers.”

Francis Srun, Executive President of Ruyi International Group commented: “Aside from a range of joint initiatives in offline retail and e-commerce, Ruyi’s extensive collection of global brands are already working closely with JD and we are confident that this network will give a strong boost to designers supported by the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund.”

The BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund is the UK’s biggest menswear prize for emerging talent.  The prize was established in September 2013 following the success of the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund providing one designer with a £150,000 grant to provide necessary infrastructure to take them to the next stage of their business and significant value in kind services as part of a bespoke, high level mentoring support programme over a twelve-month period.

Craig Green for Moncler, unveiled in Milan for 2018-19.

Dylan Jones, BFC Menswear Chair and Editor of British GQ, commented: “We are delighted to re-instate the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund thanks to JD.com Inc. and Ruyi who have committed to two years of support for our brilliant emerging menswear designers.

The last British designer to win the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund was Craig Green, a talent and business that has gone from strength to strength.”

China goes on shopping frenzy on Singles Day.

Perhaps one can deduce that shopping is the best cure for a lonely heart, or a great distraction from the world's developing problems.

Yesterday November 11th is Singles Day in China and the world's second largest economy was on an online spending frenzy.  By day's end, record sales (still to be verified) were reportedly broken.

The country's e-commerce giant Alibaba was reporting US$5 bn of shopping sales in the first hour of Singles Day, with total sales expected to top US$20 billion this year, overshadowing America's equialents of Cyber Monday and Black Friday - the Monday and Friday after Thanksgivin (November 24).

Chinese market - a force to be reckoned with.
Photo: ISPO fair in China.

Singles Day was invented in 1993 by students in Nanjing, the ancient capital, who wanted to celebrate their singleness, and the date 11/11 was chosen because the number one stands for the solitary single.

Every year, thus on this particular day, millions of Chinese go shopping and Chinese companies have turned it into the biggest online shopping day in the world. Alibaba has approximately 440 million online customers.

Singles Day revenue nearly tripled from 2013 to 2015 to the tune of US$14.3 bn grossed on the Alibaba’s shopping sites, Tmall and Taobao; recording, approximately US$357 million were profit.

Alibaba company founder Jack Ma drummed up the enormous business by making Singles Day into a gala event onn November 10  in Shenzhen, the cosmopolitan city across from Hong Kong in Guangdong province.  There was a four-hour show broadcast on national television studded with countless stars, including star couple Victoria and David Beckham, Hollywood star Scarlet Johansson and LA Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant as guests. Pop star Katy Perry was billed as a star attractions but she pulled out at the last minute due to a "family emergency".  Mr. Ma himself even performed a magic act.

Design Shanghai reports over 47,000 visitors to its first edition.

As China is rapidly developing as a market for affluent designs, the recent launch of a new exhibition had given the organisers much optimism to the event's future prospects.

Organisers at Design Shanghai has reported that its inaugural event held in Shanghai February 27 to March 2 was an overnight success recording more than  47,000 visitors to the four-day show, 65% of which were architects, interior designers, developers, dealers and affluent design-conscious consumers.   

Design Shanghai was co-organised by Media 10 (organisers of UK fairs:-100% Design, Grand Designs Live, Clerkenwell Design Week and Ideal Home Show), and Shanghai Art Fair Ltd.

Design Shanghai featured some of the UK’s most prestigious design brands exhibiting at the newly renovated Shanghai Exhibition Centre for the first time. The show included more than 50 UK and over 100 international design brands, most of which have never been showcased before in China.

Furthermore, over 600 media representatives from across South East Asia attended the opening day, resulting in 104 television reports on Design Shanghai.

Referring to  Design Shanghai 2014 as the leading trade platform for design professionals in China, with greater numbers of trade visitors than any other design event, Lee Newton, CEO of Media 10 said: “We're absolutely thrilled by the success of Design Shanghai; in particular, by the overall number of visitors.

"We, as Media 10, always wanted to stage a high-end design event in main land China, and when the opportunity arose, we seized it with both hands. China, especially Shanghai, is developing rapidly, but until now, no one has taken major Western design brands to the country.

"We're so pleased with the overall response to Design Shanghai, and we believe that this event is going to grow and become a key global platform for design. We would like to give a special thanks to all the exhibitors who have supported us in achieving this goal, and we look forward to seeing them again in China in 2015.”

Leading design brands including Magis, Flos, Fritz Hansen, Alessi, Boss Design, HAY, Cole & Son and Design Republic (Moooi, Tom Dixon and BD Barcelona Design) were among some of the exhibitors at the show.