Beyond retail: How is Balenciaga shaping its future in China?

At a time when fashion houses are navigating a slowdown in the world's second largest luxury market, Balenciaga has gone supernova with its ever unconventional approach to sculpting silhouettes and shaping sensibilities. On May 27, the historical maison hosted a grand opening for its newly renovated Taikoo Li Sanlitun flagship in Beijing. Spanning four stories with an area of over 1,204 square meters, the space is Balenciaga's largest store in the world, beating its own record set only six months ago when it opened the Taikoo Hui flagship in Shanghai. The revamped flagship, which blends elements of the brand's Paris couture salon and a turn-of-the-century Beijing cityscape, maintains its signature raw architectural edge. Both the façade and interiors are already a fitting reflection of its pursuit for impossible perfection, much like its couture that immaculately weaves the futuristic into the classic with meticulous attention to detail. To mark the grand opening, an entire floor is dedicated to six archival ensembles by founder Cristóbal Balenciaga. The curated selection is reminiscent of the master courier's vision that continues to shape what the fashion world looks like today. Also on display are Chinese-exclusive releases and limited-edition pieces from the house's Paris boutique – yet another sign that Balenciaga is betting big on China. Women behind the dress Cristóbal Balenciaga, a couturier hailing from Spain, established the namesake fashion house in 1917. Upon his relocation to Paris to flee the Spanish Civil War, the brand took the fashion world by storm under his direction – one that combined timeless elegance with avant-garde innovation. Cristóbal's artful, refined, and experimental approach to haute couture that contributed to the tunic, the semi-fitted line, the balloon jacket, the baby doll dress, and the cocoon coat among a variety of iconic looks revolutionized the female body in the mid-20th century. The demure, sculptural, and imperceptible aesthetic brought on by Cristóbal drew the attention of some of the world's most emblematic women, from actresses to celebrities, making Balenciaga one of the most sought-after luxury names in the 1950s and 1960s. Given the special bond, Cristóbal dressed many influential female figures, notably from the world of cinema. The six ensembles, shown for the first time in China, are each displayed alongside an archival photograph of the original wearer in the flagship's third-floor salon. They include a black silk velvet evening dress worn by Princess Grace of Monaco, Grace Kelly, to the "Scorpio Ball" in 1969, a rustic wild silk skirt suit with kimono sleeves worn by actress Marlene Dietrich in the film "Paris When It Sizzles," a white satin gown with sequin-embroidered ribbons worn by actress Ingrid Bergman in "Anastasia" in 1957 when she made a triumphant return to Hollywood. Also on view is a pink and white evening wrap and gown from and a black lace evening gown, both worn by Parisian socialite Francine Weisweiller, as well as a black guipure lace jacket over a pink satin bustier gown worn by writer and singer Annabel Buffet. The exquisite exhibition offers the public a rare glimpse into the rich, largely untapped archives of Cristóbal, the couturier of couturiers. To preserve his heritage, the house established an archives and heritage department in 2001. Among the more than 70,000 pieces it houses, over 900 are Cristóbal's creations up till 1968 when he closed the maison as he refused to compromise his vision by making ready-to-wear. A long-term vision through brick-and-mortar expansion Balenciaga's unconventionality has gone beyond the runway. It's all along been going against the grains in making its own retail codes, from the surprise shutdown of its couture ateliers in 1968 to the most recent surge in brick-and-mortar expansion. In early May, consultancy Bain &Co significantly downgraded its global luxury sales forecast for 2025 to a 2-5% slump, from its previous estimate of 0-4% growth. In China, the luxury boom also halted, with a sharp decline of 18-20% in 2024. Amid fierce competition due to economic headwinds and consumer whiplash, many luxury brands are turning to livestreaming sales and other strategies to seek short-term attention rather than invest in physical retail presence. Some houses have even closed a few stores in China where property value decline and shifting client preferences have further weighed on the luxury sector. But it seems Balenciaga has moved with ease across China. The brand, classified under the Kering's "Other Houses" category and hence without individually released revenue figures, was estimated to have grown from €360 million ($409 million) in 2015 to €1.66 billion ($1.89 billion) in 2024 in sales, according to Morgan Stanley. Statistics show that Chinese consumers account for roughly one-third of Balenciaga's global sales. The long-term vision in expanding physical presence may have contributed to this rosy picture. Balenciaga has been opening new stores in China, including new flagships in Shanghai and Chengdu, new boutiques in cities like Wuhan and Urumqi, and the expansion of its Hangzhou store, which in itself is a bold move but remains in line with the brand's forward-thinking and boundary-pushing ethos. So far, China has had the largest number of Balenciaga stores worldwide – about 60 up from only seven in 2016. A cultural connection with China's Gen Z Among Chinese Gen Zers and millennials, Balenciaga has gained a devoted following by interweaving avant-garde designs with its rich heritage. For instance, the "tuku," or "peasant cool" aesthetic, a style that fuses the surreal and the mundane, gained instant popularity as it taps into the psychological undercurrents of a generation living under fast changing sociocultural landscapes. Clad in such deconstructed garments, these young people are defying mainstream fashion codes and hence societal expectations of them. Consider how Balenciaga turned a hoodie from a streetwear staple into a high-fashion statement and eventually into a pop-cultural symbol, through hand-finished tailoring and a near-monastic silhouette. The hoodie-as-couture wave resonates deeply with China's Gen Z who are reinterpreting luxury as anti-elitist, expressive, and, at times, ironic. Gen Z stands at the forefront of Balenciaga's deeper engagement with the Chinese market, serving as the catalyst for its long-term growth. The house has in recent years accelerated its engagement with this young demographic – a relationship it had cultivated for a decade. In 2021, it held its first-ever couture exhibition in Shanghai, presenting 30 looks from its 50th couture collection on the Paris runway. In May 2024, the house unveiled its Spring 2025 show at a museum in Shanghai's Pudong. This marked only the third time it debuted a collection outside France, with the previous two held in New York and Los Angeles. At the opening event of the Sanlitun flagship, the house once again illustrated how it connects with China's Gen Zers through a sense of cultural humility. In addition to featuring local cuisines and a China-exclusive colorway of the Chips Wallet, it showcased upcycled T-shirts and hoodies printed with layered, overprinted graphics. The offerings speak to a generation rediscovering Chinese tradition, committing to environmental responsibility, and craving experiences over status. For example, half of Chinese Gen Z shoppers said they aim to reduce fast fashion consumption, reveals a recent McKinsey survey. Balenciaga, which launched a "pre-loved" program in partnership with Reflaunt in 2022, positions itself at the forefront of luxury's shift toward circular fashion, securing its spot as a go-to luxury brand for this generation. The event was attended by a lineup of Gen Z's icons, from Zhang Xiaofei whose portrayal of a young woman in the 80s in the film "Hi Mom" earned her the nickname "national mom," Cecilia Yip who relishes in playing roles widely viewed to have sabotaged her own image, to Wang Manyu who claimed the women's doubles title at the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships. Besides Zhang, other friends of the house – Yang Chaoyue and Chen Feiyu – also made appearance. Zhou You, who earned recognition at the Berlin Film Festival for his raw yet restrained performance, didn't make it to the event but his presence dominates Sanlitun, where over 40 billboards feature him in Balenciaga's Summer 25 campaign. The diverse cast of personalities also mirrors the Balenciaga identity – raw, creative, and maverick. Completing the occasion, a selection of limited editions from the house's Paris atelier, including an Hourglass Bag incorporating fishnet embroidery, hand tattooed Rodeo Bags, and HRH sunglasses in gold-plated aluminum, were offered in-store. Notably, within just 24 hours of the flagship store’s opening, over 25,000 related posts had appeared across major Chinese social platforms, amassing more than 1.142 billion impressions and over 573,000 engagements—clear evidence of the brand’s powerful appeal and cultural influence in the Chinese market. Simply put, for Balenciaga, physical retail spaces have never merely served as extensions of sales channels, they are the tangible projection of the brand’s worldview. In these immersive environments shaped by architecture, lighting, service, and rhythm, consumers are invited to experience the brand’s core ethos and undergo a transformation from passive observers to emotional participants. This is more than a shopping experience; it is a journey of identity and cultural resonance. Especially in a global climate marked by economic uncertainty and a shift toward more thoughtful, diverse luxury consumption, Balenciaga’s sustained investment in offline retail goes far beyond commerce. It is the construction of a perceptible and experiential cultural asset, a physical embodiment of long-term thinking, cultural consistency, and ideological clarity. That promise is a direct continuation of Cristóbal’s avant-garde legacy. Just as he once redefined aesthetic boundaries through deconstruction and reinvention, the brand today answers the tension of the times with the same bold spirit—fusing extraordinary craftsmanship, radical design, and local cultural references, embedding itself into the fashion vocabulary of a new generation and inspiring them to define their own “Balenciaga” aesthetic code.

Beyond retail: How is Balenciaga shaping its future in China?

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Published May 29, 2025

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Beyond retail: How is Balenciaga shaping its future in China?