In 2024, Taobao Fashion and Douyin’s e-commerce platforms successively rolled out livestreaming events showcasing high quality and stylish womenswear. Brands such as ChicJoc, Keigan and Marius captured the industry’s attention with their GMV figures surpassing market projections.
Competition in the womenswear market targeting female customers ages 26 to 40 and around 50 is fierce. With product homogenization rampant, the success of these brands hinges on a common denominator: fabric. By sourcing fabrics from the same suppliers as international brands, they have appealed to a discerning consumer group seeking a balance between budget-conscious and upgrade-minded shopping and are growing in a consumer landscape dominated by “affordable alternatives,” all thanks to their emphasis on “high quality, premium price.”
Winter coats from Marius, ChicJoc and Keigan that claim to use the same fabric as the iconic Max Mara Teddy Bear style.
This winter, Max Mara’s classic Teddy Bear coat has again become a dominant look for the high-end Chinese consumer. Yet, despite sharing similar fabrics and a price range of about 6,000 renminbi (about $822), these “Teddy Bear”-style coats aren’t all from the same brand.
By using vague descriptions to highlight the Italian-imported fabric that is allegedly of the same origin as international brands, this strategy has swiftly cultivated a clear understanding among women who seek smart consumer choices. On the official website of ChicJoc, there are even pages that explicitly identify the global fabric suppliers with which it claims to collaborate, while in Keigan’s livestreaming sessions, hosts repeatedly assert that the fabric is sourced from the same producer as a renowned international brand.
On the official website of ChicJoc, there are pages that clearly identify its global fabric suppliers.
As these brands emphasize fabric, craftsmanship, and silhouette, these core womenswear elements are consistently reinforced in consumers’ minds as key, sparking relentless debates in the industry. On one hand, individuals begin to ponder the true essence of the fashion business. On the other, optimistic voices arise, asserting that Chinese brands have reached a new starting point — where high-quality fabric and craftsmanship will inevitably become the standard for all brands, shifting the focus of competition in the next phase back to design.
The “Right Time and Right Place” for a Boom in Womenswear
From the sudden store closures of pioneering internet celebrities Zhang Dayi and Zhou Yangqing, to the rapid rise of brands like ChicJoc and Keigan with the support of the platform’s official “Super Fashion Launch” IP, the tales of these rising and falling Taobao clothing brands all unfolded last year.
Keigan — which was founded by fashion influencer Zhou Dudu and architect Jin Hao — opened its store on Taobao in 2011, spearheading the trend of Taobao brands transitioning toward high-end fashion.
ChicJoc, founded in 2015, is the brainchild of Lou Chen, a graduate of Donghua University, China‘s top institution for textile and apparel studies, which has produced renowned designers such as Uma Wang. His wife, Wei Yujing, is also a fashion designer.
Marius, which debuted in 2019 as a Weidian (a Chinese e-commerce platform for small businesses and individuals), was cofounded by Douyin influencer “Lao Ma”(Ma Rui) and Zhang Lei. Prior to founding Marius, Ma Rui was a logic engineer at a state-owned enterprise and is affectionately known as the “Fabric Goddess” for her expertise in fabrics.
Ma Rui with her team.
Unlike their predecessors such as Zhang Dayi, the founders of this generation of Taobao brands do not overly rely on their personal IPs to drive traffic to their stores at the initial stage. Taking Marius as an example, from the outset the brand established a professional central pattern room, purchased international-standard equipment, and launched an offline showroom in the same year their Taobao store went online. This was followed by the completion of a product research and development center, strategic acquisition of a high-end garment manufacturing factory, and a multichannel layout with multiple brands in the pipeline. This operational approach is more akin to traditional brand management, yet it boasts a notably faster growth trajectory compared to traditional ones.
The luxury goods industry is experiencing a downturn, resulting in significant vacancies in commercial spaces. Meanwhile, emerging brands have yet to fully capitalize on this market opportunity. Facing this challenge, brands with inherent supply chain advantages are poised to embrace an unprecedented “golden time for development.”
Taking ChicJoc as an example, from a garment company registered in Jiangsu to a brand management company established in Shanghai, this womenswear brand that started as a manufacturing factory has, strictly speaking, a history of less than a decade. In the past two years it has opened 50 offline stores, including units in prestigious high-end shopping centers such as Deji Plaza in Nanjing and Henglong Plaza in Shanghai.
Starting in 2024, the brand embarked on overseas expansion, opening two stores in the U.S. last month: one at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles and another at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Prior to its official foray into international markets, loyal overseas customers consistently generated annual sales volumes of $4.1 million to $5.5 million, accounting for 3 percent of its total annual sales.
On one hand, these brands cater to practical consumers who seek cost-effective alternatives. On the other, the global market is under pressure, and this has significantly shortened the gap between Chinese brands and international supply chains, making top-quality European fabrics more accessible to them. Under such advantageous circumstances, womenswear brands with an average customer order value of about $410 are seeing a rebound despite the challenging market conditions.
How Far Can Fabrics Propel Chinese Brands?
The higher quality of the fabrics has led to steady growth in the customer base. ChicJoc boasts a repurchase rate exceeding 65 percent, with monthly sales topping 200,000 units. During a six-hour livestream in October, the brand achieved strong sales, including one product surpassing the 10 million-yuan mark; three products breaking the five million yuan barrier, and 12 products exceeding the million-yuan threshold. Ultimately, the transaction volume exceeded 64.2 million yuan ($8.8 million), setting a new record in the live streaming category of Taobao’s apparel stores.
Returning to the product as the core and winning consumer recognition for the brand by fulfilling market demand is undoubtedly a leap forward from the previous marketing-centric, traffic-dominated approach. However, it is evident that fabric alone cannot fully support a “great product.” A mature brand needs continuous innovation and keen insight to navigate through business cycles. Moreover, design capability is an indispensable aspect that cannot be overlooked.
Unlike brands such as ChicJoc, Keigan, and Marius, which claim to consumers during live broadcasts that the fabrics used for their “Teddy Bear” coats are sourced from the same suppliers as international ones, another Chinese brand, Icicle, has taken a different approach. In 2016, the company acquired Kaijie from Jiangsu Province, a key supplier to MaxMara. Additionally, when Icicle established its design center in Paris in 2013, it hired several designers and patternmakers who had previously worked for prominent international brands.
At the spring-summer 2026 Première Vision exhibition held in Shanghai last month, Ye Shouzeng, one of the founders of Icicle, stated that during September and October, the brand’s clothing sales had increased by 20 percent, and the proportion of selected Italian materials used in its collections had risen from 25 to 50 percent. He also admitted that even during difficult times for the industry, he still attends the Première Vision Paris Show every year to observe fashion trends and select high-quality suppliers, thereby upgrading the fabrics the brand uses.
Florence Rousson, the chairman of the board of Première Vision, also said in an interview with WWD China that about 1,100 exhibitors will participate in the Première Vision Paris Show this year, maintaining a similar scale and potentially even expanding. Creative directors of core brands based in Shanghai and its surrounding areas, particularly those of mid- to high-end and even luxury brands, will pay close attention to the Première Vision show.
Additionally, she revealed that the Première Vision Paris Show’s high-end creative workshops, which aim to honor traditional craftsmanship, will focus on the application of traditional crafts in contemporary contexts and pioneering workshops that produce rare, non-industrially mass-produced products, inspiring the industry with creativity.
Rousson presented a list to WWD China detailing some of the exhibitors from the Maison d’Exceptions, a showcase of high-end creative workshops. The list boasts collaborators of the couture lines of international brands such as Giorgio Armani, Balenciaga, and Dior, including Anne Gelbard, a workshop renowned for its craftsmanship. It also features Solstiss, a lace workshop that supplies to Hermès and Alexander McQueen, as well as Antoni Mogin’s workshop, which collaborates with Burberry and Swarovski, among others.
The vibrancy of international exhibitions and institutions acts as a bridge between China and the world, providing the industry with insights and channels. In the future, we may witness a significant uplift in the product quality of many Chinese brands, not only in the realm of womenswear, but also in menswear and other categories, with the potential emergence of more industry dark horses. However, the immediate next step could be to forge collaborations with leading international workshops and designers, thereby integrating world-class craftsmanship to attain new levels of excellence in design and production.
Editor’s Note: China Insight is a monthly column from WWD’s sister publication WWD China looking at trends in that key global market.
