Made-in-China luxury is having a moment. Brands are proliferating and, a decade after Italy’s Prada listed in Hong Kong, Icicle, a Chinese purveyor of top-end fashion is mulling a public offering in Paris. That fits with a country no longer seen as a factory pumping out cheap copycat goods. Instead, there is innovation in the form of electric vehicles from BYD, AI via DeepSeek — and yes, toys courtesy of the ubiquitous Labubu doll.
Homegrown luxury is oiled by government edicts to embrace guochao or national trend, and cultural self-confidence. China chic spans all the hallmarks of status spending: fashion, jewellery, cars and fine wines. Hongqi cars, once known for escorting early communist leaders, now ferry the country’s billionaires.
This is a threat to European luxury companies. First, these goods are priced to go. With the economy lacklustre and younger consumers facing bleak employment prospects, dropping around $500 on a handbag from Songmont is a better proposition than buying one from European brands costing 10 times that.