Seven For All Mankind: Successful China Brand Buzz 101

LA denim brand ’7 For All Mankind’ recently launched a new Beijing boutique and with plans for another 3 stores to open within the year, Seven is set to make waves amongst China’s socialites and fashion-forward alike.

7FAM, part of the VF brand family, recently held a party to preview their Spring/Summer 2010 collection which attracted the attention of over 300 pop stars, models, business elite and socialites. The event was capped with famous Taiwanese actress Lin Zhiling (the face of China Airlines) posing a pair of custom designed jeans, which were not only handmade but emblazoned with over 8000 Swarovski crystals!

As the brand is famed for its limited edition jeans, the one off creation of the ‘Zhiling special edition’ not only still caters to the brand image but gives it a localized prestige. Chinese consumers in Tier One cities are ridiculously brand savvy. A wide knowledge of Western and Japanese brands, plus a rising desire to set oneself apart from the (fake) LV/Gucci set means that new prestige brands have an opportunity to do well in this fashion focused market. However, these brands should be wary not to carry any sense of entitlement into the Chinese market.

In America and Europe the 7FAM has often relied heavily on its official and unofficial celebrity endorsements. Our boy Jermaine explains why he thinks 7FAM will do well in China, “7 for all mankind gives people an impression of luxury. This is quite different from the image of other jeans brands, which are causal and popular. Thus, the product distinctiveness can be a competitive power. Furthermore, Chinese youth are quite keen on pursuing western celebrities as their idols.”

However, 7 FAM have done well not to simply rely on their endorsement from US celebrities and their partnership with Lin Zhiling certainly seems the perfect fit. Her looks and figure emphasis the fitting nature of the jeans but also her star power is strong enough to be judged on the level of the American celebrities.

Levi’s have long since pushed their ‘Traditional American’ denim but offset it with endorsements from a whole host of Asian superstars, from HK bad boy Edison Chen to Korean J-pop sensation BOA.

A quick poll of popular denim brands on Kaixin conducted by enovate busy bee, Yuki, shows that the traditional American brands Levi’s & Lee remain pervasive and popular with young Chinese for “not only being as a classic denim brand, but also stand[ing] for American spirit, that of independence, freedom, adventure and sexiness”.

However, dissimilar to Levi’s and similar to American Apparel 7FAM has forgone cheaper production costs in using Chinese factories to uphold a luxury brand image of being a true American (see LA) export.

Furthermore while we may expect Levi’s to be the staple for younger groups who frequent fashion sites such as 1626 or MCC, one can expect 7FAM to be snapped on the profiles for those who use more exclusive fashion networking sites like P1.cn or Moko.cc.

7FAM will have to work hard to keep their name on people’s lips and not fall victim to the fickle fashionistas changing tastes but as of right now they are red hot.