Within days of the royal wedding on Friday, couples getting married in China were wearing outfits patterned on the clothes worn by Prince William and Kate Middleton. China’s leading business to consumer site, Taobao, reported a roaring trade in orders for copies of the wedding gown and a Prince William-styled groom featured in China Daily, looking in fact more like a member of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
One likely beneficiary of this renewed interest in the royals in China is Trinity Group, a Hong Kong luxury men’s wear retailer. In the 80 Gieves & Hawkes stores that Trinity manages in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, it has made much of the British suiting company’s history – notably that it has had a Royal Warrant to make clothes for British royalty dating back to 1809.
This has put it at the forefront of the men’s wear market in China as a long-time maker of that classically British product – the gentleman’s suit.