Over the past 30 years China has been a key pillar of manufacturing in general and even more of fashion manufacturing, but the last times has put the colossus under pressure. Nowadays Italy is the nearest competitor in fashion manufacturing , producing an eight of Chinese average output, but staying far far away from the surprising percentage of China, that yield the 60% of the world’s shoes and the 43% of world’s clothing. However Zhongguo is facing a storm that could lead to the loss of its primacy: the arrival on the scene of cheaper sourcing hubs in Africa and Asia and the always higher production costs, together with long term…
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The Cult of Counterfeits
China is going to be one of the next luxury producing countries. It will develop its own brands and will conquer a substantial portion of the luxury market backed by the purchasing power of the ubiquitous Chinese consumer. This is a strong statement, but a closer look at emerging Chinese brands shows the opposite: the typical Chinese entrepreneur has a tendency to imitate rather than create, an attitude which could explain the impressive success of a “sector” that makes up 8% of Chinese GDP: the flourishing counterfeit business. Let’s take a short trip to Shenzhen, the capital of Chinese fashion. Just next to the train station, the naïf western tourist…
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Suit 101: The types of suit
Note: Suit 101 is a series dedicated on the finer side of menswear. Last week, we spoke of the suit as if there exists only one kind of suit. In fact, there are different kinds of suits that some guys may not have even heard or know about. As per usual, team BS4F will take you through an educational journey to further furnish your knowledge about suits, starting from… 1. The single breasted suit The single breasted suit is the most common form of suit. Its ubiquity lies in its practical nature — after all, it is much better to fiddle with one row of buttons than two, no? There…
