What Happened: Fashion company Peacebird, primarily known for its shirts and suits, has teamed up with local designer label Susan Fang. The latter is renowned for its unique fabrications and otherworldly aesthetics, and this latest collection combines the Peacebird logo with elements of Fang’s style. It includes seven items, retailing between $125 (RMB 799) and $314 (RMB 1,999).
Pieces from the Peacebird x Susan Fang collection. Photo: Peacebird’s Weibo
The Jing Take: Peacebird has been growing in popularity among the young generation through collaborations with foreign designers. It has already cooperated with PEPI, Dutch designer Mikey Wormack, and French designer Coralie Marabelle. Undoubtedly, such news generates considerable traffic on social media: the hashtag #The cool collaboration of Peacebird(#太平鸟神仙联名) has 22.87 million views on Douyin.
In addition, association with local designers has become another strategy to show its prestige. Xuzhi, Calvin Luo, and other Chinese designers have all created work with Peacebird. Shushu/Tong is another outstanding example — Peacebird launched 13 pieces with the local designer brand last year, and the series sold more than 17,000 pieces on Tmall.
But affordability is crucial for good sales as well. Take this partnership with Susan Fang: the price tag of the abstract-print full skirt (抽象印花伞型半身裙) from the designer is roughly $908 (RMB 5,768). You can now get an item with the Susan Fang logo for $125 (RMB 799) from Peacebird — a fraction of the price. It should not come as a shock that, so far, four pieces from this collection have already sold out.
Besides sales, these homegrown designers’ creative power and originality can inject fresh energy into the enterprise. Susan Fang is known for developing an entirely new technique dubbed “Air-weave,” which allows a piece of clothing to transform freely to the wearer’s body.
Many women in the mainland adore it for its fairytale-like beauty. It’s an extraordinary method, one that has attracted China’s Gen-Z consumers and promoted fashion as an industry of innovation. (Again, no surprises here: before, the designer had worked at Kei Kagami, Céline, and Stella McCartney, so her credentials were assured.)
However, whatever the nature of the collaboration, both parties must understand each other thoroughly — and share the same values. If they start from the same place, the partnership will make more sense, will last longer, and their businesses can grow to a new level rather than simply being buoyed by a temporary marketing gimmick.
The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.
