Bartholomew Harte explores a recent consumer trend in China which is moving towards casual wear in the fashion world.

1. Fashion Focus:
China Replaces
Luxury with Casual
WearBartholomew Harte

2. The consumption of luxury goods, also
known as “capital” depending on the
specific culture at hand, holistically relies on
the various ways in which consumers utilize
purchasing power in the market. As this is
culture specific, different brands or
companies signify their own implications at
both micro and macro levels.

3. In other words, brands can imply an
individual’s class, social status, and ways
they interact with the economic market,
further underlining the idea each
transaction is a meaningful choice instead
of simply buying articles of clothing.

4. Recently, purchasing articles of clothing and
shoes from sports based brands instead of
luxury companies has proved to be the
newer, more symbolic form of social capital
across Chinese society among middle and
upper middle class families.

5. A primary reason that has fueled Chinese
consumers to purchase casual wear instead
of luxury goods President Xi Jinping’s multi-
year campaign. In this campaign, President
Xi Jinping primarily addressed citizens to
lessen the consumption of luxury goods. As
a result, this widespread announcement
from other public officials has hurt sale
numbers of Pernod Ricard, Hugo Boss and
BMW.

7. On a national level, Nike’s sales in China are
strong and continue to be on the rise, with
their numbers increasing 7 percent in the
past six months. On June 6, the massive
athletic brand publicly announced it will
collaborate with the Chinese Ministry of
Education to train up to 7,000 physical
education teachers across the country.

8. Sales in Greater China for Adidas grew 38
percent to €2.47 billion ($2.79 billion) last
year and now account for about 15 percent
of global revenue. Last year, the world’s
second-largest athletic brand opened more
than 500 Chinese stores. In addition to the
9,000 stores across the country, Adidas also
wants to add another 500 this year alone.

9. With Nike’s upper management officials
maintaining a health and fitness discourse, this
also represents another factor which has
attributed to sports brands such as Nike and
Adidas growing in popularity in the Chinese
socio-economic environment. “Today’s generation
is the least physically active in history and we can
help change that,” Nike President and chief
executive officer Mark Parker said in a statement.

10. Although the Chinese sports industry is still
relatively undeveloped, this does not necessarily
mean individuals are not interested in becoming
healthier.The fitness industry had an 84 percent
increase from 2009 to 2014.

11. With Beijing hosting the Winter Olympics in 2022,
it does indeed seem everyone from public officials
to the latest fashion trends based on functionality
are pointing to casual sports wear as the new way
to flaunt style.