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Tag: Shanghai Tang

  • Shanghai Tang and the Ritz-Carlton hotel collaborate on tea set

    Shanghai Tang and the Ritz-Carlton hotel collaborate on tea set

    Luxury fashion label Shanghai Tang and the Ritz-Carlton hotel are collaborating on an afternoon tea set inspired by the Ritz-Carlton hotel’s rich heritage with a modern twist.

    Celebrating Shanghai Tang’s 25th anniversary this year, the afternoon tea set transforms the brand’s aesthetics and craftsmanship into edible works of art. The Chinese-inspired afternoon tea set boasts a combination of both savoury and sweet delicacies.

    “I incorporated more Chinese elements into the Shanghai Tang afternoon tea,” said the firm’s executive pastry chef. “Ingredients such as red dates and lychee that are often seen in Chinese desserts were used, for example, to highlight Shanghai Tang’s Chinese legacy.”

    As part of the label’s 25th anniversary celebration this year, Shanghai Tang and the Ritz-Carlton hotel are thrilled to team up, said Shanghai Tang’s creative director Victoria Tang-Owen.

    “The Silver Jubilee tea set pays tribute to the brand’s 25 years of heritage and serves up a delicious taste of Shanghai Tang’s authentic and disruptive spirit with every bite.”

    The three-tiered afternoon tea stand is shaped to mimic the birdcage – an iconic collectable in Chinese culture. The four savory bites and six desserts are especially designed to highlight modern Chinese aesthetics and Shanghai Tang’s signature motifs.

    Shanghai Tang’s Silver Jubilee Capsule Limited Edition is a key source of inspiration for the afternoon tea sets.

  • Look more inside to Shanghai Tang Pacific Place

    Look more inside to Shanghai Tang Pacific Place

    A “plethora of paints and fabrics that radiate warmth” are at the core of the redesigned Shanghai Tang Pacific Place boutique. Design house Stefano Tordiglione Design (ST) oversaw the executive design and project management of the revamped 154sqm space, which opened last November. The project took six months to complete. Shanghai Tang is a privately owned, modern luxury brand which fuses current fashion design concepts with Chinese-inspired elements steeped in history. It is renowned for its use of bold colours, often contrasting, in fashion and homewares.

    Taking the lead in fine tuning the selection of materials, fabrics and colours, the design team created what creative designer Carlotta Turini describes as “a multi-sensory shopping experience to mirror the richness and beauty of Chinese culture”.

    Among the features are the changing rooms and home section, with the use of famed Jim Thomson wallpapers, giving the design an ‘Asiatic flavour’, with alternative wall coverings and racks fine tuned to create a sense of comfort within the shopping centre.

    The womenswear area has curved walls and a soothing beige fabric contrasted with bright paint, while the menswear area is elegant, warm and cozy, designed with dark brown wood and clean lines.

    These areas are united through a relaxed central seating area featuring art deco furniture.

    “To promote fluid movement through the space, the walls have niches features to provide attractions to the eye throughout the corridor as customers move between retail sections,” says Turini.

    The team had to interpret the original design drawings, developing a unique concept that is now demonstrated throughout the store.

    Efficient project management was vital to the success and on-time completion of the Shanghai Tang Pacific Place redesign.

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  • Shanghai Tang goes back to its roots

    Shanghai Tang goes back to its roots

    Shanghai Tang, recently acquired by Chinese entrepreneur Chen Danxia and Lunar Capital, goes back to its roots with the appointment of Victoria Tang-Owen, the daughter of the visionary founder David Tang, as Creative Director.

    Together with the appointment of Victoria to rebuild on her father’s legacy, the brand will continued to be led by the CEO Maurizio De Gasperis, former Managing Director of the brand.

    The headquarters will remain in Hong Kong, and has just welcomed a new General Manager of Global Retail, Elisabetta Bazzini, with extensive experience in Asia working with a number of luxury fashion companies including Gucci, DFS, Versace and Max Mara.

    Leveraging the heritage of the Chinese luxury brand, Victoria is set to reinterpret Shanghai Tang’s unique brand aesthetics.

    Shanghai Tang is the first Chinese authentic contemporary luxury brand founded in 1994 by Sir David Tang, and thereafter under Richemont’s ownership for almost two decades.

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  • Shanghai Tang sold to Chinese Lunar Capital fund

    Shanghai Tang sold to Chinese Lunar Capital fund

    Chinese luxury fashion label Shanghai Tang has been acquired by Chinese investment fund Lunar Capital. The new owner specialises in growing mid-sized Chinese firms, already holding a range of clothing brands. Their acquisition signals a new direction for the brand, which has just opened a flagship store on JD’s luxury platform TopLife, the brand’s first domestic online retail space. Shanghai Tang’s creative director Massimiliano Giornetti will be resigning following the handover.

    The rapid turnover just one year after its acquisition by Italian clothing firm A. Moda, Alessandro Bastagli, and Hong Kong private equity firm Cassia Investments follows disagreements between the buyers. The brand was purchased last year from Swiss luxury goods firm Richemont Group, one of the brand’s original investors and owners since 2008.

    Shanghai Tang is thought to be China’s first contemporary luxury brand, and pulled in estimated sales of US$45.57 million this year.

  • The first chapter of Shanghai Tang’s new story

    The first chapter of Shanghai Tang’s new story

    Shanghai Tang presents the first chapter of its new story through the 2018 S/S collection.

    Ownership and direction of the iconic brand, founded by the late Sir David Tang in 1994, was acquired by Alessandro Bastagli, Shanghai Tang’s new Executive Chairman, and private equity fund Cassia Investments. A marriage of Chinese tradition and the finest Italian craftsmanship, Shanghai Tang is now manufactured in Italy to ensure the highest quality of products and excellence of techniques and materials.

    Massimiliano Giornetti, renowned creative director with a global recognition, is the ‘Project Supervisor’ of an international Chinese, Italian and French team to reinvent the first chapter of Shanghai Tang’s new story.

    Shanghai Tang Spring-Summer 2018 collection reflects the new stylistic concept undertaken by the brand. It is a triumph of colours, fabrics, cut,  and lines, which shows the attention to details and quality that Made in Italy is renowned for.

    The preview of the Shanghai Tang’s collection held in the Entertainment Suite of The Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. It found the top management welcoming guests and proud of a collection aimed to mark a new era and the global launch of the brand.

    A tale of traditional Chinese elements merged by a contemporary spirit and a cosmopolitan, international creative vision. With an undertone of novelty, these elements are auspiciously united by the “Shou”, Chinese symbol for longevity, which features on buckles of belts and bags and appears in both jewelry and prints.

    The new Shanghai Tang captures a vision of art, mood and street culture through a unique stylistic language that portrays an ineffable sense of what it means to be ‘contemporary’.

    Silk is the symbolic element of the Chinese millennial culture and plays an emblematic role in the collection. Deployed in innumerable variations, the material becomes the bridge between Italy and China whose two souls are now harmonized in the brand.

    The cultural and semantic Chinese imprinting is revisited in the new qipao that is turned into the modern “little black dress” with a playful mix & match of fabrics. The metamorphosis involves motifs of bold butterflies inspired by antique embroideries and is embodied by imperial peonies.

    “Shanghai Tang does not only appeal to Chinese customers – I believe the mandarin collar, and qipaos with a new design, would attract customers worldwide,” Alessandro Bastagli said, adding that he was a fan of the brand and had more than 15 suits from Shanghai Tang, including the one he wore during the launch of the S/S18 collection.

    The Chinese cultural symbols distinctive of Shanghai Tang find new sophisticated relationships with the Western world, expressed in a more effervescent, global, cosmopolitan language, all with a decidedly more contemporary aesthetic.

    The advertising campaign of the collection features a late nineteenth-century villa on the cliffs of Sorrento, combining Anglophilia with Greco-Roman classicism, blended in turn with an exotic garden of tropical plants, the 60’s décor and design evoke the cult movie “In the Mood for Love”.

    The delicate mysterious and fluid relationships between the three young figures —iconic He Cong, Estelle Chen, and model Will Samways — unwinds along dreamy escape, through vivid and brilliant colors, against the backdrop of seascapes infused with light and lost in a distant haze.

    The styling of this collection was curated by Lucia Liu, who embraced the elements of dialogue and cultural fusion of Shanghai Tang.

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  • Richemont asia pacific rocket sales

    Richemont asia pacific rocket sales

    Asia Pacific has continued double-digit growth for heritage brand owner Richemont for its third quarter to the end of December.

    Total sales in the quarter increased by 7 per cent at constant exchange rates and by 1 per cent at actual rates over the same period a year earlier.

    Retail sales were mainly driven by the group’s jewellery maisons and specialist watchmakers, especially in Asia Pacific, where growth was led by Mainland China, Korea, Hong Kong and Macau.

    A rise in sales in Japan was supported by strong growth from the watchmakers and a favourable currency environment, says Richemont. Sales there reached €294 million (US$354 million), up 5 per cent at constant exchange rates but down 6 per cent at actual rates.

    Asia Pacific quarterly sales were €1.18 billion, up 11 per cent at constant exchange rates and 5 per cent at actual rates.

    Underpinned by solid performances in both jewellery and watches, overall retail sales maintained strong momentum, recording 13 per cent growth. Jewellery shone with an 11 per cent increase.

    Other businesses posted stable sales, with growth notably from Montblanc, Chloe and Lancel. Excluding the impact of the sale of Shanghai Tang, the other businesses would have had moderate growth.

    Sales over the nine months to the end of December grew by 10 per cent at constant exchange rates and by 7 per cent at actual exchange rates.

    Richemont’s portfolio of international “maisons” covers three segments: jewellery (Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Giampiero Bodino), specialist watchmakers (A Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Officine Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin, as well as the Ralph Lauren watch and jewellery JV), and other businesses (including Alfred Dunhill, Azzedine Alaia, Chloe, Lancel, Montblanc and Peter Millar).

    Richemont also holds a 49 per cent equity-accounted interest in the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group.

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  • Global expansion plan from Shanghai Tang

    Global expansion plan from Shanghai Tang

    Hong Kong fashion brand Shanghai Tang is to go global with stores in Paris and Milan as well as more cities in Mainland China over the next two years.

    Bought by Italian textile businessman Alessandro Bastagli and other investors on June 30, the company will also expand its online sales channels, Bastagli said in Hong Kong. As the brand’s executive chairman, he was in the city last week to introduce Shanghai Tang’s first collection after the takeover, designed by international designers and made in Italy.

    Bastagli says he was attracted to the brand by its Chinese flavour. It was established in 1994 by the late Hong Kong businessman David Tang. Richemont Group bought a stake from Tang in four years later, and the company was sold to Bastagli and Cassia Investments, a Hong Kong-based consumer-focused private equity fund, on June 30 at an undisclosed price.

    Bastagli says he decided to invest in Shanghai Tang as he believes the company has further room for growth.

     

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  • Richemont sells Shanghai Tang

    Richemont sells Shanghai Tang

    Richemont has sold Hong Kong-based dressmaker Shanghai Tang, showing that a Chinese name still doesn’t have the same ring to luxury shoppers as a French or Italian one.

    Italian fashion entrepreneur Alessandro Bastagli and private equity fund Cassia Investments Ltd. bought the brand, one of the first Chinese fashion labels to seek a global presence, according to a statement Monday. It’s the first sale of a luxury unit by Geneva-based Richemont since 2007, and follows a pledge by Chairman Johann Rupert in November to fix or sell underperforming businesses.

    “The disposal of Shanghai Tang is a logical step,” Rene Weber, an analyst at Vontobel, said in a note. “The brand was neither material in terms of sales nor of profit.”

    Shanghai Tang attracted stars such as Nicole Kidman and Kate Moss with its 1920s-inspired dresses — some costing more than $2,000 — but struggled to gain a broader following in the west, while consumers in China have preferred western luxury brands. In a ranking by researcher Hurun of the top fashion brands for Chinese women, Shanghai Tang ranked 10th, behind nine European brands including Chanel, Dior and Gucci. It didn’t show up on the top 10 for men, which was led by Giorgio Armani.

    Richemont acquired a controlling stake in Shanghai Tang in 1998, a year after sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the U.K. to China. It bought the rest in 2008. The luxury company is revamping its portfolio, having merged its Net-a-Porter online unit with Yoox SpA in 2015 after disposing of Italian penmaker Montegrappa in 2007. It now owns 18 brands, including Cartier, Montblanc and IWC.

    Richemont didn’t disclose the price for Shanghai Tang, one of four labels that Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mario Ortelli said in 2013 he expected might be sold. The others were Dunhill, Chloe and Azzedine Alaia. Richemont said that year that it decided against any divestments, and has since reconsidered. Its shares were up 0.7 percent at 15:04 p.m. in Zurich.

    The company has restructured Dunhill and rejuvenated Chloe’s management with a new creative director. Other small Richemont brands include Purdey, a maker of luxury shotguns, and Lancel, a French pursemaker that the company considered selling in 2013.

    Sir David Tang, who now writes a column in the Financial Times, started Shanghai Tang as a bespoke tailor shop in 1994, combining Chinese and western design influences and expanding into accessories and housewares. While the brand attracted buzz about China’s growing cultural and design influence around the turn of the millennium, when its form-fitting qipao dresses were worn in Wong Kar-Wai’s film “In the Mood for Love,” its Mandarin collars never caught on in a big way in Europe or the U.S.

    The original Shanghai Tang location in Hong Kong closed in 2011 due to high rents, and the brand also shut a New York shop. The fashion maker has 32 stores currently. Rival Hermes International has provided competition with its Shang Xia brand since 2010.

    Cassia, which focuses its investments on consumer companies, is based in Hong Kong. Bastagli is the chairman of Italian fashion producer and distributor A. Moda SpA, and of Lineapiu Italia, a maker of luxury yarn. A.Moda’s clients have included Versace, according to its website.

  • Richemont Asia stores set for cull

    Richemont Asia stores set for cull

    Feeling the pinch from a tough trading environment, luxury goods retailer Richemont has announced restructuring measures, including the closure of stores.

    Richemont Asia sales have declined despite a 26 per cent increase in sales in Mainland China.

    Global sales fell 18 per cent in April, and the company reported a 23 per cent drop in full-year profit.

    Richemont says it is cutting costs in its watch sector and plans to consolidate its global retail presence, particularly in Mainland China, while investing further in jewellery.

    Richemont owns brands including Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Chloe, Dunhill, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lancel, Montblanc, Piaget, Roger Dubuis, Shanghai Tang, Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef & Arpels.

    “In the near term, we are doubtful that any meaningful improvement in the trading environment is to be expected,” said chairman Johann Rupert, revealing plans for Richemont store closures across its brands.

    Richemont’s operating profit in the year ended March was $2.06 billion, down from $2.67 billion because of the cost of restructuring measures initiated to counter the Asia Pacific downturn. Full-year revenue edged up 6 per cent to $11.08 billion, helped by favourable exchange rates.

    “Our concerns over geopolitical risks and the impact on the behaviour of our clients proved justified,” said the company.

    “Trading conditions in Hong Kong and Macau remained difficult. Only mainland China showed good growth.”

    Richemont’s final quarter was hit by slower tourist spending in Europe after terrorist attacks, while its Hong Kong business continued to bear the brunt of a strong currency which, combined with a slowdown in Chinese growth, deterred mainland tourists.

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  • Jeweller Plukka to list Down Under

    Jeweller Plukka to list Down Under

    Hong Kong jeweller to celebrities Joanne Ooi is heading to Australia to raise cash to expand her jewellery retail brand Pukka internationally.

    Pukka is set to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in October and Ooi is in Sydney and Melbourne this week drumming up institutional support for her high end, handcrafted jewellery designs which have already caught the eye of celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Miranda Kerr.

    Ooi, a former creative director at Chinese-inspired luxury fashion brand Shanghai Tang, created Pukka back in 2011 in partnership with Hong Kong restaurateur Jai Waney. It has a limited range of core designs in stock and a catalogue of made-to-order lines.

    Ooi and Waney work directly with renowned designers – including names like Bernard Delettrez and Sidney Chung – to create exclusive pieces for sale on Pukka’s online stores.

    One third of the shares in Pukka will be listed in Australia, raising an anticipated AU$10 million which will be used to fund expansion into the US.

    While the brand has focused online for its first three years, it opened a single retail outlet in Hong Kong’s Landmark Atrium earlier this year.

    “There is no substitute for a woman to be able to see and touch fine jewelry in person,” Ooi said in a recent interview with CNBC. “[We found that] offline transaction values are much higher than online purchases.”

    Unlike many Hong Kong based design and retail businesses, it is targeting expansion in the west, rather than Mainland China.

    “[Expanding into the United States] is the most economically efficient mode of branding and marketing a global luxury brand,” Ooi told CNBC.

    “Branding among fashion opinion leaders in the United States confers a level of credibility and authority, which is difficult to achieve by just marketing in the Asian market.”

    Pukka’s jewellery does not come cheap. Its most affordable line is $300 and its most expensive circa $150,000.

    The Australian IPO is fully underwritten by advisers KTM Capital.

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  • Shanghai Tang launches fragrance range

    Shanghai Tang launches fragrance range

    Hong Kong born luxury fashion label Shanghai Tang is expanding from fashion and homewares into the fragrance business.

    While Shanghai Tang, now part of French based Richemont Group, has offered scents for some years, this week’s launch takes it into the top tier of parfumeries.

    The Silk Road Fragrance Collection, the company says, “conjures up the spirit of adventure through a sensory journey from East to West – reflecting the essence of the brand which fuses Chinese with Western fashion”.

    “Inspired by the exotic landscapes, rich colors and sense of adventure of the Silk Road, our master parfumier has created for Shanghai Tang a captivating collection of precious fragrances… infused with all the mystery and sensuality of the Silk Road.”

    The parfumier is Carlos Benaim, a past winner of the prestigious American Society for Perfumers Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the world of fragrance who has created signature scents for brands including Armani, Carolina Herrera, Prada and Maison Martin Margiela.

    Drawing on his personal travels in China, Benaim designed the collection to pay tribute to the grandeur of Chinese culture through a suite of eight multi-layered, unique scents – five for women and three for men. Each highlights one or two exceptional ingredients that evoke the romance of the ancient caravans carrying Chinese treasures along the Silk Road to the western world.

    Each fragrance is housed in precious bottle that prominently features the Shou. This Chinese symbol of longevity is cited as one of the Five Blessings: longevity, wealth, health, love and virtue.

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  • Shanghai Tang flagship launches 360 tour

    Shanghai Tang flagship launches 360 tour

    Two years ago, Richemont-owned luxury fashion brand Shanghai Tang relocated its flagship from the historic Pedder Building into a new location off the usually beaten path of die-hard shoppers.

    The decision was purely financial – the building’s owners ramped up the rental so much, the brand could not justify the overhead; apparently Abercrombie & Fitch considered the investment more palatable.

    The new flagship is located on 1 Duddell St, not far from Pedder St as the crow flies, but a location arguably so obscure most foreigners, as opposed to locals, struggle to find it.

    This week, Shanghai Tang has solved that problem, creating a 360 panoramic online journey through the flagship, accessible online from anywhere in the word.

    The high resolution view  is hosted by Google. Users can use their mouse or trackpad to zoom in on various displays and turn a full circle on each of the store’s three floors.

    “Whether or not you have had the chance to visit us in central Hong Kong, we are proud to introduce our first 360 online virtual tour of our Shanghai Tang Mansion,” the band said in an email to its fan base this week.

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