Recent business trend of fashion market is indicating that China will overtake the US as the world’s largest fashion market by 2019. Many luxury labels already depend heavily on Chinese customers, who have for some time been the world’s biggest buyers of luxury goods. The wealth of China’s nearly 1.4 billion people is rapidly multiplying, creating legions of new consumers with disposable income to spend on things such as sports, entertainment, and of course, clothes and shoes. China is poised to reach a milestone that signals how the rebalancing of economic power in the world is reshaping industries with it.
It’s shaping the way the fashion industry operates. Italian label Ermenegildo Zegna, for example, now looks to China, not the US, as the place where it tests new products before deciding whether to roll them out around the world. Sports brands such as Nike and Adidas are investing heavily in their Chinese businesses, as the growing middle class has more leisure time and money to devote to exercise and fitness. Under a moderate scenario of growth, China is expected to add a number of consumers and spending power roughly equivalent to Germany’s current economy by 2025.
