Bosideng bets on building global brand(2)

China's Hugo Boss

"Hugo Boss is a potential competitor," Zhu said, referring to the globally renowned menswear brand.

"It's a hard and long process to reach that level, say three to five years, but it's achievable," Zhe said.

What surprises Zhu and his team is that Bosideng has been so popular abroad.

"It is beyond our expectation that consumers here have shown an interest in Bosideng, and that sales have been better than expected," Zhu said.

Unlike domestic stores in which down jackets for men and women are mainly on display, the two-story store has all categories of Bosideng-branded men's clothing, including T-shirts, sweaters, coats, trousers and shoes. Most are priced from 85 pounds for a shirt to 375 pounds for a coat, and sometimes higher.

More than 500 customers visit the store every day. They are divided into two groups: one is made up of local British people, and the other comprises people from North America and the Middle East.

"We target male customers who are older than 30," Zhu said.

Compared with July, when Bosideng opened the store, sales revenue has risen 30 percent in November, said Zhu, who declined to disclose exact figures.

"We expect to recover the cost in two to three years," he said.

Bosideng's confidence in growing sales and establishing its reputation in the UK comes from its "complete localization".

"We implement localization into every detail of our business," Zhu said.

Bosideng's UK branch has more than 30 employees. Everyone except for Zhu is a local person.

Bosideng hired one of the most prestigious designers in the UK, Nick Holland, and also one of the top 15 tailors in the country, to make sure the clothes are tailored properly for Westerners. It also has an experienced menswear expert in the UK as the store manager.

Except for the down jackets, all the goods are made in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

"It's a challenge to bring Bosideng into the UK and grow with the market," said Craig McKelvie, store manager of the Bosideng UK store, who worked for the famous department store Harvey Nichols as menswear manager before he joined Bosideng.

But "I know what the market wants," he said.

Besides the in-house management, McKelvie's job is also to make sure the goods are right for the market, working together with the designer on the research and development and design and promoting the brand image of the company.

"I have confidence in building Bosideng into a luxury brand, a brand that provides Western customers different choices than Hugo Boss," said McKelvie, who cited the local famous designer, the iconic building Bosideng owns in the UK and its long-term commitment.

It is estimated that every day, the population flow around the Bosideng building is more than 30 million people, thanks to the nearby subways.

Maria Maria is one of the nine sales employees in the store. "We all are local," said Maria, who has worked for Moss Bros, one of the oldest British menswear brands, for three years.

"We love being with Bosideng. We have the same quality of goods as Hugo Boss, but the prices here are much lower," she said.

It was suggested to Bosideng that it change its brand name to a Western one when it decided to enter the UK, but the company refused to do so.

"We are a Chinese brand, and we are proud of our Chinese name. We insist on using the name, and will never change it," Zhu said.

And more than that, Bosideng expects to make the Chinese factor appealing to Western customers.

"We add red into many of our pieces, and we are going to launch some other series into which Chinese facial paintings and shadow play themes are infused," Zhu said.

Rights of Light

"It's very difficult to do business in Europe. Besides promoting branding and sales, there are so many other things that we have to be cautious about," Zhu said.

He cited the English "Rights of Light" as an example. The UK property was a three-story building, and when Bosideng decided to add another three stories, the company ran into trouble.

Arguing that the new building would affect the way they get lighting, "our neighbors came to ask for compensation under the Rights of Light", which was in accordance with local law, Zhu said.

"But unfortunately, we didn't know anything about it."

Armando Branchini, executive director of Altagamma, Italy's luxury goods association, reportedly said it is likely a trend that Chinese companies will buy foreign brands and also try to create Chinese luxury brands worldwide.

But Chinese companies have had limited success buying well-known Western brands and expanding abroad.

Fosun Group, a conglomerate, failed to take a significant stake in Prada, when the Milanese group decided to raise funds by listing in Hong Kong instead.

In another case, in January 2010, Li Ning Co Ltd, China's major sportswear maker, opened a US flagship store in Oregon, but closed the store the following month.

"We have to be extremely careful," Zhu said.