"Big brand is the absolute leader of trend wind direction" this industry rule is turning over. When China's luxury consumption market is closely associated with big brands' bombshell publicity, logo worship, flaunt wealth and other words, it also quietly breeds fertile soil for minority designer brands.

Consulting firm Bain & Co. recently released 'global luxury market monitor report spring 2019' in conjunction with Fondazione Altagamma, the Italian luxury goods association. China's gen Z consumers in their early 20s are emerging as a powerful force in the luxury goods industry, according to the report. Standing in the Z generation leads the consumption tide of the moment, young, bold, confident, trend... More and more consumers are keen to try new things and enjoy fashionable clothes. To this end, niche designer brands increasingly become young people "a little toe can be to the fashion."

Zhang peiying, honorary consultant of China luxury alliance, told China business daily that at a time when mass consumers cannot afford luxury products with high prices, niche brands with appropriate cost performance and unique characteristics can exactly meet the needs of young consumers.

As a member of generation Z, zhang told China business daily that compared with luxury brands, niche brands have more sense of design and are cheaper and less likely to hit the same shirt.

Bain partner and report co-author Federica Levato pointed out that niche emerging brand will cause great impact to the luxury industry, "they will challenge a mature brand, to product more creative ways to promote the brand development, its influence may involve all aspects of business, eventually to conversation with customers have a more direct and more durable."

In the industry, the rise of niche designer brands has something to do with the changing business rules. Once niche and circle layer of designer brand, is striding into the "flow era". Today, niche designers are moving from fashion week and catwalk to weibo, taobao and little red book. Today, when social media and KOL(opinion leaders) become the tools of choice, young people are more willing to pay for brands, designers or their idol. For example, a designer popular logo KKtP coat worn by popular singer CAI xukun triggered a large number of fans to "seek links" in the comments section of weibo. The designer platform ICY has teamed up with the Palace Museum to release a designer collaboration called "lucky clothing returns to fashion", which has attracted a large number of web celebrity bloggers to represent it.

In addition, imported consumption has given birth to small and beautiful overseas international brands, which have become popular in China. Personalized and diversified demands of users have promoted the internationalization reform of fashion department store industry.

In order to attract the flow of customers, get flow, department stores continue to attract niche designer brands to enter. China business daily reporter learned that in some high-end department stores, niche designer brands occupy half of the shopping center. In particular, in the last year or two, niche designer brands seem to be expanding more actively in the domestic market. Isabel Marant, Thom Browne, Acne Studios and so on all entered benchmark shopping malls and opened image stores or flagship stores last year.

In addition, suning fashion department store group also announced to face the world, carry out strategic cooperation with international fashion niche brands, build a global supply chain network, and constantly introduce emerging brands to meet the public's pursuit of fashion.

In addition to traditional department stores, e-commerce platforms are also starting to promote niche designer brands. Since the addition of e-commerce features to instagram, a large number of independent designers have risen rapidly on instagram, and they are followed by a large number of fashion fashionistas because some of them are fashion bloggers themselves. That includes, of course, the famous luxury e-commerce site net-a-porter. It is worth mentioning that net-a-porter, which only sells luxury goods, has selected seven independent designer brands from ins and put them on the official website since the end of may this year, believing that what they value is not only the design of designers, but also the large number of fans of designers' bloggers.

In a changing market, however, the future of designer brands remains bleak. For example, while the turnover of the Swedish designer brand Acne Studios doubled between 2013 and 2016, it has slowed since 2017. As a result, Acne Studios publicly revealed its intention to sell 70-80 per cent of the brand in July last year, while in May Hong Kong's i.t. group completed its 10.9 per cent acquisition of the brand. Zegna has also acquired Thom Browne, the designer label. But for designer brands, selling stakes to big brands is also fraught with uncertainty, and if performance remains poor, it will be the first to be sold when big groups need to transform. Designers Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane were among those sold by kering.

Industry insiders say that a large number of new designer brands appear every year, leading to greater competition. The current development of designer brands is not mature, and the market share is still relatively low. The low-price strategy of fast fashion and the youth of luxury products are also factors hindering the development of designer brands.

At the same time, industry insiders warned that good ideas alone are not enough to support the sustainable development of a brand. Reasonable product mix, stable supply chain, accurate audience analysis and detailed sales channel planning are all aspects that need brand thinking besides shining creativity.