Following the launch of the China Designer Program in November 2022, Mytheresa, a leading global luxury fashion e-commerce platform introduced the capsule collections by the four selected designers to the brand’s customers in April 2023.
International brands that have succeeded in China will likely share that understanding local culture, values, and preferences and delivering innovative initiatives are the foundation to win over Chinese luxury consumers. This is even more true after the pandemic as there have been profound behavioral changes among young Chinese consumers. They look for ways to feel and look differentiated with customized and limited-edition products.
After launching its Mandarin website back in 2016 to make the brand more accessible to Chinese customers, Mytheresa’s team has hosted events and activities to stay on top of mind with Chinese luxury consumers.
But with the China Designer Program, Mytheresa aimed to go further by shining a light on emerging Chinese fashion designers. It is the brand’s first-ever initiative that solely focuses on Chinese talent. Michael Kliger, CEO of Mytheresa highlighted that the selected designers would “have access to the brand’s global audience and platform.”
The panel of judges, including Ye Ming Zi, CEO of Guoye Culture and Mytheresa Brand Ambassador; Chuxuan Feng, Editor-in-Chief of Huasheng Media Group; Fil Xiao Bai, a renowned stylist and fashion KOL, and Tiffany Hsu, Mytheresa Vice President of Womenswear and Kidswear Fashion Buying selected four talented designers Didu, Jacques Wei, Susan Fang, and Xu Zhi to debut the program.
In addition to receiving global exposure through a media partnership with T Magazine China and the brand’s combined 2 million followers on its Chinese and international social media channels, the designers and their creations were celebrated at the launch event on April 18th, 2023 in Shanghai.
In this interview with Tiffany Hsu, the Vice President of Womenswear and Kidswear Fashion Buying at Mytheresa, The Luxury Conversations learned about the inspiration behind the China Designer Program and her take on it.
Tiffany Hsu – Vice President of Womenswear & Kidswear Fashion at Mytheresa
TH: We wanted to add Chinese designers to our brand portfolio for quite some time now as we have really seen Chinese design talents evolve and grow in sophistication and quality tremendously over the last years. To make sure that we pick the right names, we came up with the idea of inviting some of the most knowledgeable and experienced minds from within the world of luxury fashion in China to come together and choose the most suitable brands to become a part of the Mytheresa family.
TH: Susan Fang, Jacques Wei, Didu, and Xu Zhi all fit into the Mytheresa brand portfolio in terms of their high luxury positioning as their outstanding design skills are matched with impeccable craftsmanship and quality. Lastly, they are all based in China.
TH: Working with these new-generation Chinese designers and really watching and collaborating with them through all the stages of developing their exclusive capsules for us is truly inspiring.
Through the China Designer Program, Mytheresa has once again demonstrated its commitment to creating the finest edit in luxury with creativity and collaboration.
