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    Top Livestreamer Viya Launches Her Own Collection

    Viya’s swift move into designer fashion makes her stand out among the sea of Taobao apparel sellers, and also opens doors for international collaborations.
    Dressed in Helen Lee for ITIB x Viya Niya, top livestreamer hosted the runway for the launch of her fashion brand. Photo: Helen Lee
    Yaling JiangAuthor
      Published   in Fashion

    What happened

    Viya, China’s top livestreamer, launched her eponymous fashion brand Viya Niya on October 14 at Shanghai Fashion Week. For her first season’s 48 looks, Viya collaborated with eight global designer brands, including Helen Lee, Shine Li, Wan Yi Fang, and Awaylee through the global creative platform International Top-tier Innovation Business (ITIB).

    The wildly popular livestreamer, who has helped Kim Kardashian West and Victoria Beckham connect with Chinese consumers over recent years, conducted the brand launch in her own way — a physical runway show, followed by a livestreaming session where viewers can “see-now, buy-now.”

    The results were outstanding, according to a spokesperson from Helen Lee. Despite not disclosing sales numbers for its own brand, the spokesperson said that 23 million viewers tuned into the session, which yielded over 221.7 million yuan ($33 million) turnover in total. The brand has contributed seven looks out of 48, including Viya’s runway look.

    Jing Take:#

    Recently, articles that draw comparisons between Viya and the other top livestreamer Li Jiaqi have been circulating on WeChat and Weibo. The central message is clear: Li trails behind Viya judging by both viewership and conversion rate. Evidently, the latest report by newrank.cn and CBN Data shows that Viya’s total sales in August reached around 140 million yuan, while Li’s sales was about 87 million yuan.

    However, they might have different focuses in mind. As China’s annual online shopping bonanza Double 11 Festival draws near, Li has been leaning heavily on the cosmetics and skincare products he plans to sell on that day. As for Viya, her swift move into designer fashion makes her stand out among the sea of Taobao apparel sellers, and also opens doors for international collaborations.

    The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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