Last month, the Fashion Crossover London team travelled to Guangzhou, one of China’s capital cities to meet our retail partner, Modern Avenue Group. Only a two-hour train ride from Hong Kong, Guangzhou is the up and coming fashion city in China, which makes it the perfect location for discussing collaborations and the direction of future projects with Modern Avenue Group.

With over 30 years experience in fashion retail; Modern Avenue Group (stock code: 002656) are an international business that includes fashion, accessories, beauty, cosmetics, leather bags, premium footwear, jewellery, watches, art auction and bond business in the debt capital market.

The group focuses on cross-border online business and operates hundreds offline across Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Their stores include luxury shopping malls, luxury multi-brand buyer shops, Hong Kong and Macau designers select shops, airport exclusive license luxury brand stores, international designer stores and a fashion e-commerce platform.




Our team visited one of Modern Avenue’s multi-brand buyer shops, 01 Men. By staying up to date on all the key trends 01 Men are able to grown within fashion circles. They have three shops in China, including Ghangzhou Parc Central, Shenyang Shoe and Hangzhou. 01 Men’s roster of stocked brands is extensive, to say the least. The list ranges from Marc Jacobs to Iceberg to MSGM and DSQUARED.



01 Men’s senior buyer, Lang Di Lin (LD) understands how the China market works and their target customers alike. She has extensive marketing skills to introduce new brands to create a new stereotype in an ever-evolving fashion industry. Having graduated from Central Saint Martins with an Master degree in Textile Futures, the Alumni takes risks as she knows what the key things are when it comes to presenting something innovative to China that is a lot more different, edgy and fashionable than what they are used to.

LD and her team travel to both Milan and Paris Fashion Week annually to source the high potential brands to introduce into the Chinese Market. Last year they visited the White Show, one of Milan’s biggest official trade shows, and the Capsule Collection and Tranoi in Paris, where they discovered the French brand, Maison Kitsuné who are now selling in 01 Men. LD is bold and daring when it comes to bringing new brands into the Chinese Market. She believes the importance of acknowledging what the customer needs and can modify and enrich their tastes and styles.




During our visit, LD was hosting a fashion event in Guangzhou with Maison Kitsuné, who are doing their Asia tour where they are visiting fashionable cities such as Taipei, Singapore, Shanghai and most recently Guangzhou with 01 Men. Founded in 2002 by Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki, the French brand is divided between two countries, France and Japan, and two trades, music and fashion. Their brand gives off a timelessly elegant feel and creates a range of distinguished clothing with immense attention to detail.


The event was a huge success and played host to a range of stylish VIP customers and key media professionals. The timelessly tasteful crowd went perfectly with the intricately decked, naturally minimalist set up. LD speaking in front of a variety of significantly important media guests augmented the wholesomely fascinating vibe, allowing the occasion to be an enormous achievement.

 

01 Men plan to open to more collaborative events with both international brands and support young emerging designers, which will allow them to create more opportunities in the changing Chinese Market. The manufacturing process in the East is not usually known to cater for personal brands; however how fashion is seen and formed there is rapidly evolving. Their vision for the future retail experience will help create an engaging consumer experience and a bespoke atmosphere both offline and online.

Us here at Fashion Crossover London are looking to further enhance our relationship with 01 Men through collaborations and projects in the future. Being a bridge which creatively connects the East and the West provides us with a strong foundation when it comes to promoting and engaging with emerging designers with the fashion industry both here and on the other side of the world. We also heavily support Central Saint Martin Alumnis, meaning we understand how important it is to build a connection with individuals who are going to be apart of the future generation of fashion.