Chinese Gen Z is quickly becoming one of the most influential luxury consumer groups in the world. While they represent only a fraction of China’s population, Gen Z and millennials now account for an estimated 70% of the country’s luxury spend, redefining how brands measure relevance, loyalty, and long-term opportunity.
Based on Jing Daily’s October 2025 survey of fashion-forward consumers in Beijing and Shanghai, this report examines how Gen Z’s spend-over-save mindset is reshaping priorities across fashion, sport, travel, wellness, and food culture. From Labubu mania and Lulicore to F1 fandom and Xiaohongshu-driven aesthetics, the findings reveal how emotional identity, subculture, and digital community now shape purchase decisions.
This report equips executives, strategists, and market leaders with a clear view of how Chinese Gen Z allocates their time and money. We also look into what luxury and lifestyle brands must do to build authentic connections with this powerful cohort hailing from the mainland.
What you’ll learn #
- How Chinese Gen Z in Tier 1 cities shifts spend from physical goods toward travel, wellness, and community-led experiences
- The psychological drivers behind “spend now, live authentically,” and what it means for pricing and assortment strategy
- The subcultures shaping fashion demand in 2025–2026, from emotional excess to Softcore minimalism
- How Xiaohongshu acts as a real-time cultural index for aesthetics, discovery, and value perception
- Why fandom, from F1 and basketball to K-pop, are converting emotional devotion into measurable commercial impact
- How food culture and branded cafés are becoming new touchpoints for lifestyle positioning
- Why Miu Miu has emerged as a youth-luxury benchmark, and what its success reveals about Gen Z product logic
- Six recommendations for building Gen Z relevance across product, activation, and community design
