This report looks at the following areas:
- The market size of fashion clothing, accessories and footwear, including noteworthy segments and channels (eg ecommerce ‘white labels’ and outlets) and changing trends in the market.
- The competitive landscape of the market, including challenges and future opportunities for different types of brands (eg fast fashion brands and luxury brands).
- The fashion consumption habits of consumers in Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities (eg categories of fashion products purchased in the past year, changes in budgets, purchase channels, clothing preferences in different scenarios), including their purchase factors and preferences for engaging with fashion brands; an exploration of the direction of product innovation and precise marketing strategies based on consumer insights.
Fashion is no longer simply a form of personal self-expression. Seeking more than outer beauty alone, consumers are aspiring to craft whole lifestyle aesthetics and searching for a sense of cultural belonging.
Blair Zhang, Senior Analyst, China Insights
Market Definitions
Fashion includes traditional fashion products and broader fashion trends. Traditional fashion mainly refers to product categories such as clothing, shoes and accessories, with a focus on luxury goods, fast fashion, traditional fashion brands, trendy brands and generic brands. Broader fashion trends include the various aspects of a fashionable lifestyle such as designer toys, music concerts and exhibitions.
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Executive summary
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Definition
- What you need to know
- Industry trends
- Competitive landscape
- Consumer demand
- Future opportunities
- What we think
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Market trends
- Industry trends
- Global fashion market expected to improve slightly in 2025, with low single-digit growth mainly driven by non-luxury goods
- The Chinese market is resilient, possesses long-term growth potential
- Overview of China fashion consumer market trends
- Outlets gain traction
- Graph 1: purchase channels for fashion products (offline), 2023-24
- Highly cost-effective white label products gain momentum, as ecommerce nurtures phenomenal new market demand
- Growth of marketplace ecommerce has peaked, while content-driven ecommerce models continue to evolve
- Graph 2: purchase channels for fashion products (online), 2023-24
- Gold holds wide appeal as consumers look for hard currency and reassess what holds value
- Competitive landscape
- International brands face shrinking market share in the mass fashion (non-luxury) sector
- Graph 3: retail share of non-luxury apparel brands (top 20), 2013-23
- The balance of power in fashion shifts as consumers become the new source of fashion trends
- High-income women and the younger generation seek out homegrown brands
- Graph 4: brand preferences for everyday fashion consumption, 2025
- Foreign premium streetwear brands exiting the market with domestic affordable streetwear brands are on the rise
- International fast fashion brands focus on enhancing efficiency and building cultural networks of ‘international localism’
- Luxury goods consumption is declining
- Significant price differences between domestic and foreign luxury goods exacerbate difficulties in China’s luxury retail market
- Consumers lack confidence but desire still high
- Graph 5: desire for luxury goods – desire a lot, 2023-25
- Restrained advance: Brunello Cucinelli and Ralph Lauren’s strategy to break through in the Chinese market
- Second-tier luxury brands cut prices to win back consumers and mitigate the economic downturn
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Consumer demand
- Affordable alternatives take hold: value differentiation and reshaping
- Low appetite to spend makes cost-effectiveness a leading purchase factor
- Graph 6: purchase factors when shopping for clothing, accessories and footwear, 2024
- Build distinctive brand equity by being design-driven and resonating emotionally
- Graph 7: purchase factors when shopping for clothing, accessories and footwear, by monthly personal income, 2024
- Graph 8: purchase factors when shopping for clothing, accessories and footwear, by age, 2024
- Domestic brands seize new opportunities to get ahead of the competition
- Graph 9: attitudes towards fashion consumption, 2023-24
- Focus on core categories such as footwear, handbags, inner layers and jewellery, using a multi-tiered approach to tap new opportunities in the premium market
- Graph 10: maximum budget for a single item in the next 12 months, 2024
- Graph 11: purchase intentions in the next 12 months, 2024
- Affordable luxury items redefine consumers’ perception of quality
- Touchpoint diversification: communication, interaction and cultural resonance
- Broadening forms of engagement see consumers more willing to pay for ‘fashion + X’
- Graph 12: fashion brand engagement preferences, 2025
- International and homegrown fashion brands live stream their shows
- Awaken all the senses: niche formats such as stage plays, poetry and podcasts become a ‘second runway’ for fashion brands
- Curated retail transforms shopping spaces into venues for cultural discourse through the thorough integration of commercial real estate and fashion retailing
- Graph 13: purchase channel and brand engagement preferences, by monthly personal income and gender, 2024
- Major exhibitions build cultural narratives though a visual exploration of brand history, art and craftsmanship
- Bring fashionable lifestyle experiences to the masses
- Showcase new lifestyle philosophies through gourmet food to lower the barrier to trying new fashions and tempt a wider range of potential customers
- Graph 14: fashionable lifestyle preferences, 2024
- Entertainment economy boosts consumption and influences fashion trends
- Harness popular youth culture to drive new forms of consumption and business models
- New era of fashion live streaming enables immersive marketing
- Graph 15: purchase channels, 2024
- Meeting consumer needs in diverse settings drives new trends in fashion
- Graph 16: coat choices for different scenarios in autumn and winter, 2024
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Future opportunities
- New forms – cater to non-standard demand to unleash consumption potential
- Maximalism is back, with the market for bag charms that make a vibrant and personal statement exploding
- From aesthetic to ugly: ugly shoes are a new force in the fashion industry
- Harness designer toy culture: carve out new channels with the emotional value of toy IP
- Guzi stores are the ‘new darling’ of Chinese fashion retailing
- Dressing for intense or serene people: emotional freedom through fashion
- Graph 17: mentions of ‘bow’ (蝴蝶结/蝴蝶节) on social media, 2023-24
- A fashion awakening among the ‘silver generation’ means brands must cater to both younger and older audiences
- Graph 18: attitudes towards fashion, by gender and generation, 2024
- New pace – long-termism appeals more strongly to consumers
- Appeal of long-termism in the fashion industry strengthening among consumers
- Graph 19: mentions of ‘sustainability’ (可持续性) and ‘long-termism’ (长期主义) on social media, 2023-24
- Rise of new shopping philosophies: the emergence of ‘long-termist’ products and ‘companion brands’
- Sustainability revolution the antidote to fast fashion
- New narrative – engage consumers with a common cultural language
- From TikTok refugees to travel in China: new pathways for Chinese fashion to align with international trends
- Use authentic ‘Eastern languages’ to engage in dialogue with local and global consumers
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Appendix – methodology and abbreviations
- Methodology
- Abbreviations
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