California Apparel News

China typically makes the world’s clothes, but Los Angeles residents Tony Zhang and Frances Harder plan to turn that arrangement upside down.

Zhang’s Los Angeles–based company, Platform Apparel Inc., a division of Shanghai-based manufacturer Newel, plans to design clothes in California, which then will be sold across China. Zhang and Harder, a Platform partner and founder of nonprofit entrepreneurial-education group Fashion Business Inc., will collaborate with Los Angeles–based freelance designers making juniors and juniors-contemporary fashions. After being designed in California, Platform’s fashions will be manufactured in China and sold on shop floors in booming Chinese cities.

The novel business plan comes at a time when the communist country is embracing once-forbidden consumerism. Some of America’s most prominent apparel and accessories companies, including Levi Strauss & Co. and Gap Inc., are extending their fleets of retail stores in a country that is home to 22 percent of the world’s people.

Zhang believes that he has an advantage even over high-profile companies that are bullishly investing in new projects in China. He’ll be wholesaling clothes to already established retailers in China. Also, with intelligence from Chinese and international trend forecasters, he knows what Chinese youth want, he said. It’s fashion with an international look.

For youth in Chinese metropolises Shanghai and Guangzhou, California has an exotic, international flavor. But Platform will not make the surf looks or the premium denim that California made legendary. Rather, Platform will focus on fast fashion with a juniors-contemporary look. “They’re looking for inexpensive brands, their own version of Forever 21,” Zhang said. Harder said that American businesses do not pay enough attention to Chinese ventures. “It’s crazy that we don’t export more to China with goods and talent. They love ‘made in America,’” she said.

For last year’s test run, Zhang and Harder put out a call for designers through FBI. In May, Platform will start looking for designers for its upcoming projects through open calls for talent through Platform, FBI members and advertisements in periodicals, Harder said. FBI is reimbursed for marketing efforts through its channels, and Platform pays rent for events held at FBI offices in the California Market Center in Los Angeles.

The freelance designers are paid with an upfront fee and later with residuals from store sales. They also gain an introduction to the world of Chinese business. Zhang also hopes to use this project to build bridges between Chinese businesses and California’s creative community—and to shake the reputation for piracy of Chinese businesses. “We respect local designers,” Zhang said. “We pay for local work.”

Designer Kiernan “Kairo” Lambeth worked on the first Platform venture last year. He runs Black Blue Studio in Los Angeles and worked in the past as a designer forQuiksilver, American Eagle, Pacific Sunwear and Kellwood Co.’sshort-lived retail project Lamb & Flag. Lambeth spent two weeks on the Platform project, making sketches, designing and sourcing. After submitting designs, Platform created prototypes, and the company’s buyers picked their favorite items from the line. Platform manufactured 35,000 units of a color-blocked blazer that Lambeth designed.

While the creative process was similar to working with a private-label division of an American retailer, Lambeth noted differences. “I’m learning what the Chinese customer wants,” he said. “It’s different. Things don’t translate exactly. It’s a learning curve to understand their market.”

Platform will sell its fashions in China’s second-tier cities, which are still massive by American standards. “We’re catering to the true Chinese customer,” Lambeth said. “It’s a little slower. You have to get out of your head and cater to their aesthetics.” For example, Chinese consumers prefer more details on their clothes. They also demand brighter colors.

Mark Werts, owner of the prominent Los Angeles–headquartered American Rag Cie. specialty chain, is a frequent visitor to China. He also noted that the Chinese market is filled with challenges and opportunities because of its history.

“The next 100 years belongs to China,” Werts said of China’s economic potential. “But there’s no similar retail model for a country that was, for 70 years, communist.” The communist-run People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949. The hardline government only started liberalizing the economy in the late 1970s. The liberalization produced an economic boom that has been skyrocketing for more than 15 years.

Many Chinese shop for clothes at department stores, which is where Platform will sell its California-designed apparel. In China, there are also some multi-brand stores. And Western companies doing business in China typically build boutiques with Chinese partners. Levi’s runs 600 franchise and company-owned stores in China. Last month, Gap announced opening six stores in China. New York–based accessories brand Coach Inc. opened 13 stores in China last year. It currently operates 117 stores there.

While American companies forecast great success in China, Chinese fashion will chart its own course, said Pauline Cheung, a Shanghai-based correspondent for fashion trend-forecasting and analysis company WGSN. “Foreign” fashion is still very influential, but the market is already shifting, she said. “Young people are also deeply rooted in their culture and tradition, as well. Some still like to support local, independent design,” she said.

She also said if the rewards are great in Chinese markets, so are the workloads. “As a new brand opening in China, a lot of legwork needs to be done to help gain popularity among the young Chinese, who have so much choice in the market and accessibility to online shopping. You need to be adaptable and desirable to their lifestyles. They gain and lose interest quickly. There is a need to make noise to tell its target audience that they are here. China is a huge market, and there is a lot of competition. You need to be able to stand out, educate and connect with your customer,” she said.

The Chinese economy has limits, too, said Clayton Dube, executive director of the University of Southern California’s U.S.-China Institute. “The Chinese economy is slowing, and the housing bubble, especially in China’s second-tier cities, is all too evident. But people are still spending on restaurants, clothing and experiences,” he said.