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?
距离穿着单调中山装的日子，中国时尚已经走过了很长的路。周成建，一个白手起家的企业家，在这条服装发展的道路上发挥了很大作用。他是时装零售商美特斯邦威(Metersbonwe)的主席，该公司因获研究机构华通明略(Millward Brown Optimor)评选为最具增长潜力的全球品牌之一，而在时尚界脱颖而出。不仅如此，该品牌估值据称高于CK(Calvin Klein)。果真如此吗？
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.
对于任何一个想在中国建立品牌的人来说，零售时装业是一个很好的起点。据市场研究机构欧睿国际(Euromonitor)称，中国拥有仅次于美国的第二大服装市场。中国人在服装上的开销超过大米和豆奶。去年服装销售额增长了25%，比整体零售增长快40%。这令一批听上去带有欧洲色彩的时装店名（从森马和七匹狼，到佐丹奴和美特斯邦威）迅速崛起。在这些品牌中，美特斯邦威表现不俗。它是第一批从地区走向全国的品牌：拥有4000家分店。其平价的休闲装，令其成为中国学生人群中最流行的品牌。自2007年以来年销售增长平均达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' most upmarket shops generates 14 times less revenue than H and M's shops in China.
然而随后在中国又出现了像ZARA、H and M和优衣库(Uniqlo)这类品牌，在财务前线上向美特斯邦威发起挑战。比如说，美特斯邦威可能拥有双倍于H and M的全球分店，但仅有该瑞典品牌集团盈利的10%。没错，大量销售运动服和T恤为其支撑起15%左右的运营利润，仅略低于国际同行。然而，即使在美特斯邦威最高端的门店，其营收也比H and M在中国的分店低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.
周成建是中国最雄心勃勃的时装零售商之一，他的目标是在三到五年内将自己的品牌推向全球。但这可能是一个漫长的征程。