'Luxe' Manufacturing and Production in China

[Lena]

does anyone have knowledge of which western 'luxe' labels
are already been manufactured in China?

thanks in advance

 

[spiralsnowman]

Not sure if it counts as luxe, but much of Kate Spade is.

 

[meowmix]

i saw some joseph sweaters and i think they were manufactured in taiwan... not china china... but well, republic of china
did a little googling and stumbled across a blog about this... apparently armani is part of the mix?

Many luxury brand customers have developed an almost arcane adherence to the brand values of uniqueness and authenticity derived from place. It is the ostensible idea of an historic solidity, a departure from the more peripatetic attention to fashion and seasonal remodelling of consumer brands, that serves to distinguish the specific identity of luxury brands. Many luxury brands rely on the fact that they do not look externally for inspiration, that they only need look to their place of origin, of manufacture. Place, whether it is Tuscany or London, is what DIFFUSION argues contributes to the soul or essence of a brand and delineates it. So what happens when a luxury brand decides that place is no longer such a source of inspiration?

While consumer brands everywhere continue to seek to manage ever diminishing margins as they ride the wave of affordable affluence, luxury brands across all categories have, or are considering, moving manufacturing to global factories like China for much the same reason as their lesser counterparts.

Interestingly the move to “Made in China” seems to be coming from the franchisees of many of these luxury brand owners, rather than brand owners themselves. While many luxury brand owners such as JPTodd have avowedly rejected outsourcing manufacturing, others have embraced it. This new place label “Made in China” is already being borne by a swath of companies in Europe and the US, including Steiff, Coach, Kate Spade, Paul Smith and Armani, who have already shifted some of their manufacturing to mainland China. In Australia, much of the Oroton Group’s stable of brands has already migrated to the far east. And according to Bear Sterns it’s a trend that is showing no sign of abating. For example, they estimate that by 2010, 50% of all US manufacturing could be outsourced and the new place of manufacturer is likely to the be the global factories in China and India.

Which begs some questions: Do companies confuse country of origin with country of manufacture and believe their consumers can’t tell the difference? How will consumers be able able to tell the difference between the output of brands all manufactured in the same country? What will the nuances be? What do they believe consumers are motivated by – product or price? Do they only see value displayed by logo and name rather than quality? How do they value their brands on the balance sheet? What risk assessment do firms make of the effects on the brand associated with outsourced manufacturing? What account do they make of the the risks inherent in sharing manufacturing techniques and skills with potential competitors? How can product delineation and quality be preserved in the global factory?

For luxury brands the idea of place is critical to the identity, authenticity and uniqueness (we call this the “specificity”) of a brand (otherwise why would counterfeiting exist?). Place provides an aesthetic counterpoint to the “generic” of the chain. The authenticity of a product, as Virginia Postrel notes in her book The Substance of Style, is determined by purity, tradition and the aura of history – all elements that are determined by place and which can define a luxury brand. Yet, these brand owners are willing to re/place and subsume identity, determine authenticity only by logo and destroy uniqueness with an authorised non-specificity (authorised counterfeit) - all because it preserves margins and retains profit.

We think the idea of specificity is being overlooked by many brand owners and demands a careful rethink of current brand strategies, built on strong customer recognition derived from place of origin and manufacture.

source: http://diffusionblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/replacing-place-specificity-of-luxury.html

 

[purechris]

I remeber an article somewhere that quoted Mr Bertelli saying they were looking at manufacturing there.

Catherine Malandrino, while she may not be luxe but definitely on the higher end of contemporary, manufactures in China......and it's mostly crap for the price.

 

[faust]

Donna Karan is manufactured in Hong Kong.

To clarify, Lena, you mean manufactured completely or in part, like we've discussed in other threads?

 

[copper]

the label 'made in china' has such a stigma.

i have seen people roll their eyes and throw something down in disgust when they see that it is made in china

personally, i much prefer to support 'made in australia' brands (not OROTON obviously! ) and i like to buy european brands which have reputations for quality and craftsmanship

i dont like the idea of the consumer being lead astray as to where the item is actually made, i think it is fraudulent.

 

[Lena]

To clarify, Lena, you mean manufactured completely or in part, like we've discussed in other threads?

completely or in part.. i needed a database for an article which may not even happen now faust..
still it will be cool to have all China manufactured (or partially manufactured) companies in a tFS database

copper, personally i have nothing against China manufactured goods, if/when they fullfil retail price and basic quality standards

*meowmix, purechris , faust and copper, thanks for taking the time

 

[faust]

completely or in part.. i needed a database for an article which may not even happen now faust..
still it will be cool to have all China manufactured (or partially manufactured) companies in a tFS database

copper, personally i have nothing against China manufactured goods, if/when they fullfil retail price and basic quality standards

*meowmix, purechris , faust and copper, thanks for taking the time

Ah, Ok. I think it will be harder to get the list of partially produced stuff. Anyway, I did get a confirmation that parts of Ann Dem's manufacturing process is outsourced to China. Basically they send the samples/cuts and the fabrics there, the parts of the garment are produced and sent back to Belgium/Italy for putting the garment together/finishing.

 

[Caffeine]

the label 'made in china' has such a stigma.

i have seen people roll their eyes and throw something down in disgust when they see that it is made in china

personally, i much prefer to support 'made in australia' brands (not OROTON obviously! ) and i like to buy european brands which have reputations for quality and craftsmanship

i dont like the idea of the consumer being lead astray as to where the item is actually made, i think it is fraudulent.

that's sad and apparently some people just assume that China makes poor products since it makes some stuff for Walmart. It's so ignorant.

TSE cashmere is produced in China. I assume most of the nice cashmere is produced in China as Inner Mongolia is where those animals grow

Versace has some stuff made in China. BCBG Max Azria as well. Some Japanese brands produce clothes partially in China and then label them as made in Japan......especially those clothing that requires lots of handwork such as embellishments, crochet, and laces.

 

[meowmix]

a little story about my encounter with this...
went shopping once with my grandmother and picked up this beautiful sweater (the brand has totally slipped my mind)... it was cashmere with some embellishments. the quality was very good and i assumed it was europe manufactured, but when i went to look at the tag for size, i noticed 'made in china' and to be honest, my first reaction was a hint of relunctancy to buy it... but really, it was a beautiful sweater... the details, the quality of the cashmere. my grandmother on the other hand freaked out... she has a huge grudge against all goods made in china in whole or part.

 

[Miss_Frou_Frou]

a little story about my encounter with this...
went shopping once with my grandmother and picked up this beautiful sweater (the brand has totally slipped my mind)... it was cashmere with some embellishments. the quality was very good and i assumed it was europe manufactured, but when i went to look at the tag for size, i noticed 'made in china' and to be honest, my first reaction was a hint of relunctancy to buy it... but really, it was a beautiful sweater... the details, the quality of the cashmere. my grandmother on the other hand freaked out... she has a huge grudge against all goods made in china in whole or part.

yes the made in china label does hold some stigma to it for some. Some think "made in china" = cheap labour and lower quality. I guess it depends on the item. I read somewhere that Australian couture designer Richard Tyler ( who resides in the USA ) visited China and was totally astounded by the technology and workmanship over there . He was saying that "made in china" is not what it was years ago. It is well ahead of its time apparently.

I bought Sass & Bide Jeans when they were made in Australia and now they are made in China. I still like the jeans. They fit great. Though I don't like paying the same price for them when they are now made in China ! That really irks me .

Then there are Tsubi jeans ( another Australian label of jeans ) that I buy.They are expensive but they are made in Australia and I am willing to pay that as I understand that workmanship and labour would cost more than what it would cost if the jeans were made in China. I think when you also purchase a certain label i.e. an Australian label or a French label, you would much prefer and expect that the item is made in their home country and to see made in China on a label really would turn me off from buying the item in some respects.

When I visited Disneyland, I didn't buy any Disney merchandise because they were all made in China. I wanted to see " made in the USA" on Mickey mouse. Not made in china ! If it were Hello Kitty that would be a different story.

 

[Rodrigo Lorenzo]

Realistically I buy according to the product. If I look at an item and think the value for this item is just according to the work I assume went into it I buy. If not I leave the item in the store. I do not like Made in China items but so many companies are outsourcing part of the manufacturing proces you really do not know wat you are being these days unless you make it yourself or by from small indie designers. I tell you this once I get this pattern down pack. I will never buy another pair of jeans again. But then the denim may be made in india and not italy ........Lose LOse situation.

 

[jun3machina]

/\ as far as electronics go, i'd rather they be made in china. if anything i stay away from anything "made in the U.S.A" as i relate that with crappy quality, if anything.

dooney and bourke mnufacture in china, and im pretty sure Banana republic and coach do some of their stuff too.

 

[tott]

^ I went into Banana when I was in SF, and *everything* I looked at was made in China. They might manufacture elsewhere as well, but a large part is def. made in China.

 

[Grill]

I want to state that I am not against China as a country, chinese people - their heritage or culture -but that I am opposed to their current government and its policies and that I do not want to support it by buying products made in China. Their record on human rights abuses (including systematic executions, use of torture, forced terminations), environmental pollution on a vast scale and animal welfare (beating dogs to death if the owner does not posess a license) - makes me not want to buy products made in China. Quality doesn't really come into it - I haven't noticed that the quality of their products is any worse than those produced for example in Eastern Europe. I was surprised to see that the new Biba line fronted now by Bella Freud is produced in China another reason not to admire this re-launch!

I was shocked when I was shopping at Neiman Marcus in the US how many luxury goods and goods including fur trims were Chinese manufacturered. In the UK people would not accept fur goods of Chinese origin because we are well-informed about how animals can be poorly and cruelly treated there.

 

[augustus]

I understand the emotion(?) involved whenever "Made in China" labels pop up...but sometimes it is rather upsetting that people can not accept that China can produce highest quality of goods, too.

As for as human rights are concerned, I must point out that, yes, the mainland Communist Chinese do not have wonderfully clear and clean records but so do many other countries we perceive as "democratic" and "fair"... There are so many things PRC has to work on but it is very unfair, I still think. What about the meat industry here in the US? Are they anything less cruel towards the animals?

I respect and agree the fact that when we purchase a expensive luxury item, we would prefer it to stick to its origin: French designer to France, shoes from Italy....but in a world as small as today and cooperations trying to cut the costs for more profits, it's very difficult and the Chinese workers should really not be blamed for the frauds of the business decision makers. When it comes to making these luxe goods, they don't even know what they are making for or how much it sells

Sometimes I wonder, given the imho, glorious history of Chinese texiles, why do people consider fabric the Chinese make inferior nowadays...? I must conclude that a nation's prestige is the diplomatic capital, and terrible images of PRC really turns off the efforts of the craftsmen in China and everywhere else.

TSE is a Hong Kong Label, I think. So it would make sense for the cashmere to be manufactured in China...

 

[Artemis]

BCBG, Versace, and D&G are made in China. The TAGS are made in Italy though, so technically they aren't lying. Sort of...

 

[starz1]

I suppose we should just all accept that even though China is run very bad (with they way they treat animals in general, and animals on fur farms) we should look at the positive side, like how some of their clothing companies are light years ahead of the rest of the world as far as making top quality clothing for low wages than other countries. If its good enough for D&G, isnt it good enough for all of us here at the fashion spot?

 

[thesiren]

so, where the garment ultimately is finished is the deciding factor in what goes on the label (either made in italy or made in china)?

 

[belletrist]

Ive just bought the Burberry runway umbrella (black with check inside lining) which is not that cheap (170 EUR).
And the nice surprise was, when I was at home, the little "made in china" tag
Which is sad

I assume there aren't any jobless people in England