The 10 Jing Daily stories that defined 2025

The rules changed in 2025. Asian brands took market share from European houses, playful luxury displaced logo-driven prestige, and transparency became mandatory. These most-read stories showed where the market moved. #1: Asian handbags won Gen Z hearts The year’s top story centered on South Korean “quiet luxury” labels and Indonesian niche brands offering identity and innovation at prices European rivals struggled to match. South Korean brands like Osoi, popularized through K-pop idols and K-dramas, had cultivated clear aesthetics and cultural familiarity that resonated beyond their home markets. The data revealed a fundamental shift: 64% of Southeast Asian consumers actively sought affordable alternatives, but 83% weren’t looking for dupes. They want Asian brands with distinct identities. When consumers pick these brands, they aren’t settling. They are selecting. #2: Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters became a global hit The animated musical became the most-watched Netflix film of all time by treating Korean culture as universal storytelling. The film amassed 314.2 million views, held Billboard chart positions for 12 weeks, and sparked fan-made Roblox games before official licensing could respond. Korean Canadian filmmaker Maggie Kang infused the story with “hojakdo” folk art, K-pop fandom culture, and collectible merchandise dynamics. Luminate data shows the film lost minimal viewership over its first 12 weeks, which is rare for streamed content. Netflix responded by screening the movie in select theaters, releasing a singalong version, and partnering with Seoul’s Everland theme park to launch a themed zone just three months after the film’s release. The song “Golden” made history by becoming the first track by a girl group since Destiny’s Child to top the Billboard Hot 100. Readers wanted to understand how regional culture became global infrastructure, and this story provided the blueprint. #3: Louis Vuitton’s ‘taiyaki’ demonstrated demand for playful prestige Louis Vuitton’s “taiyaki” bag charm, a leather recreation of the Japanese fish-shaped pastry, went viral across East and West. Priced at $1,105 in China, the charm tapped into converging forces: culinary nostalgia, “kawaii” aesthetics, and luxury personalization. On Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote), the Chinese term for taiyaki reached 113 million impressions while #bagcharm hit 1.4 billion impressions. The charm’s success built on Labubu mania. Pop Mart’s plush toy sparked 5am queues in Los Angeles, and commanded a 627% premium on StockX. Labubu redefined luxury adjacency when consumers hung the quirky character off their Hermès bags as status symbols. By 2025, foodie charms from Coach’s pretzel to Fendi’s dumpling had risen to prominence. Gen Z consumers chose charms over logos, personalization over brand displays, and emotional comfort over traditional luxury codes. #4: Hermès hit its first beauty setback Hermès’ fragrance and beauty division posted its first sales decline since launching in 2020, contrasting sharply with competitors. The division fell 4% in H1 2025, while LVMH aggressively launched Louis Vuitton Beauté with Pat McGrath and Kering Beauté grew 9%, driven by Creed’s fragrance line for women. The decline raised questions about whether the label’s discreet approach could resonate with consumers looking for bold storytelling. Beauty consumers, especially in Asia, increasingly demand science-backed luxury, visible efficacy, and social media resonance. A single elegant lipstick launch no longer moves the needle when competitors offer experiential retail and celebrity-driven visibility. While Hermès maintained industry-leading profitability with a 41.4% operating margin, readers returned to this story to understand where quiet luxury’s limits lie. #5: Chinese manufacturers on TikTok exposed the power of disinformation Factory workers and owners went viral claiming that 80% of luxury bags were made in China, with products from Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton allegedly produced in the same facilities as lesser-known labels at a fraction of the cost. The hashtag #chinamanufacturer reached 11,700 posts. While conveying disinformation, these videos revealed an evolving consumer psyche: skeptical of brand markups, eager for access, and willing to circumvent luxury gatekeeping. The videos reframed China as a hub of high-quality craftsmanship. Workers showcased finely made goods identical to high-end brands, challenging assumptions about “Made in China” quality. For heritage brands, the message was clear: consumers would quickly believe claims about pricing and production unless brands were themselves transparent. This extends to beauty standards. China's plus-size fashion wake-up call, published in 2024, remained a breakout piece by challenging traditional “pale, young, thin” (白幼瘦) ideals. The story revealed that China’s plus-size market comprised 20% of the global market, yet brands still struggled to produce clothing designed for diverse bodies. Readers returned to this story throughout 2025 because it exposes the gap between market opportunity and cultural inertia. Ranking six to ten of the year’s most-read stories: #6: Young Chinese race to crowdsource luxury: How should brands respond? #7: RichTok and the brands of Asian Gen Z’s 1% #8: What Zhao Lusi’s livestreams say about China’s influencer economy #9: From outdated to ‘it’ bag: The reinvention of Coach #10: Americans rush to Xiaohongshu ahead of TikTok ban In a year marked by escalating U.S.-China tariffs, regulatory volatility, and economic headwinds, these stories showed brands where consumer attention and spending actually moved. Playful luxury gained traction as traditional codes faltered. Regional culture proved universal when marketed with confidence. And transparency became a competitive requirement when disinformation spread faster than corporate messaging could respond. What defined 2025 was a recalibration: cultural specificity outperformed heritage, accessibility challenged exclusivity, and the brands that recognized these shifts early built momentum others are still racing to match.

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The 10 Jing Daily stories that defined 2025