In “Headlines from China,” we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that have yet to make it into the English language. In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- Dolceamp;Gabbana Appoints a New Asia Pacific CEO
- De Beers Invests in China's ‘Me Generation’
- Sina Launched New Virtual Fashion Social App ADA
Dolceamp;Gabbana Appoints a New Asia Pacific CEO - Sina Fashion#
The Italian brand Dolceamp;Gabbana recently appointed Carlo Gariglio as the CEO for Asia Pacific region. He will be based in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Gariglio previously was the regional managing director of Japan and Korea for Salvatore Ferragamo and held executive positions in multiple luxury houses, namely Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, and Ermenegildo Zegna. This appointment is seen as the brand’s first comeback in the China market since last year's serious campaign misstep.
In a recent interview, brand founders Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce disclosed that they are seeing a rebound from China market. However, according to data from Gartner L2 published this July, Chinese celebrity and consumers are still protesting the brand, based on continued declined engagement on Weibo. There are also still no product searches showing up on Tmall, JD and Net-a-Porter's Chinese e-commerce site.
De Beers Invests in the “Me Generation” in China and U.S. - Fashion Business Daily#
Esther Oberbeck, Head of Strategy of the biggest diamond maker, De Beers, told Reuters that the brand will roll out series of new marketing campaigns, targeting mainly the “Me Generation” in the U.S. and China. She hasn’t disclosed the marketing budget, but it will certainly exceed last year’s 170 million. The “Me Generation” refers to women buying jewelry for themselves, an increasing trend among millennials. It was said Chinese millennials account for 68 percent of diamond sales in China, a number that’s significantly higher than other global markets.
Sina Launched New Virtual Fashion Social App ADA - ifeng.com#
Sina launched a new app, ADA, on the App Store on October 25, which allows users to build their own 3D avatars and virtually try on cloths, plus an embedded buy button. They can also interact with their friends by taking virtual pictures and share styles with each other. Launched by the Sina fashion team, the app has landed collaborations with quite a few luxury brands, namely Armani, Christian Louboutin, Dior, Prada, and more. The goal is to build a high-quality community, so it has only sent out an invitation link to fashion or tech industry insiders to try out so far.