關注社會:中國時尚品牌嶄露頭角

Chinese fashion has come a long way since the days of monotone Mao suits. Zhou Chengjian, a rags-to-riches entrepreneur, has played a big part in that sartorial journey. He is chairman of Metersbonwe, the fashion retailer that arrived on the map when Millward Brown Optimor, the research agency, selected it as one of the global brands with the most growth potential. Not only that, its brand is said to be more valuable than Calvin Klein. Can that be true?

距離穿着單調中山裝的日子，中國時尚已經走過了很長的路。周成建，一個白手起家的企業家，在這條服裝發展的道路上發揮了很大作用。他是時裝零售商美特斯邦威(Metersbonwe)的主席，該公司因獲研究機構華通明略(Millward Brown Optimor)評選爲最具增長潛力的全球品牌之一，而在時尚界脫穎而出。不僅如此，該品牌估值據稱高於CK(Calvin Klein)。果真如此嗎？

For anyone wanting to build a brand in China, retail fashion is a good place to start. China is the second-largest clothes market in the world after the US, according to Euromonitor. And people in China are spending more on clothes than on rice and soya milk. Clothing sales grew by a quarter last year, 40 per cent faster than overall retail sales. That has given rise to a number of fashion houses with European-sounding names, from Semir and Septwolves to Giordano and Metersbonwe. As these brands go, Metersbonwe has done well. It was one of the first to go national: 4,000 shops. Its cheap casualwear makes it the most popular brand with China's students. Sales growth has averaged a third each year since 2007.

對於任何一個想在中國建立品牌的人來說，零售時裝業是一個很好的起點。據市場研究機構歐睿國際(Euromonitor)稱，中國擁有僅次於美國的第二大服裝市場。中國人在服裝上的開銷超過大米和豆奶。去年服裝銷售額增長了25%，比整體零售增長快40%。這令一批聽上去帶有歐洲色彩的時裝店名（從森馬和七匹狼，到佐丹奴和美特斯邦威）迅速崛起。在這些品牌中，美特斯邦威表現不俗。它是第一批從地區走向全國的品牌：擁有4000家分店。其平價的休閒裝，令其成爲中國學生人羣中最流行的品牌。自2007年以來年銷售增長平均達33%。

But then along came the likes of Zara, H and M and Uniqlo in China, which are challenging Metersbonwe on the financial front. It might have twice the number of shops globally of, say, H and M, but it makes just 10 per cent of the Swedish group's earnings. It is true that shifting large volumes of tracksuits and T-shirts has supported operating margins just below those of international peers at about 15 per cent. But even each of Metersbonwe's most upmarket shops generates 14 times less revenue than H and M's shops in China.

然而隨後在中國又出現了像ZARA、H and M和優衣庫(Uniqlo)這類品牌，在財務前線上向美特斯邦威發起挑戰。比如說，美特斯邦威可能擁有雙倍於H and M的全球分店，但僅有該瑞典品牌集團盈利的10%。沒錯，大量銷售運動服和T恤爲其支撐起15%左右的運營利潤，僅略低於國際同行。然而，即使在美特斯邦威最高端的門店，其營收也比H and M在中國的分店低14倍。

Mr Zhou is one of the most ambitious of China's fashion retailers, with aims to take his brand global within three to five years. But it is probably going to be a long march.

周成建是中國最雄心勃勃的時裝零售商之一，他的目標是在三到五年內將自己的品牌推向全球。但這可能是一個漫長的征程。