"Shanghai" Lei Fuyi: Bringing Chinese Dragons to Fashion

China does not lack the support of funds, not to mention the lack of consumers. What is lacking is the patience for fashion ideas and brand cultivating. It is considered that the only “Shang Hai” in the world that has a Chinese brand luxury brand has integrated the Chinese Dragon and Double Happiness characters into the Western fashion world.

After "Shang Hai" won the favor of the Western fashion industry, he went to Beijing.

Some people regard the birth of Shanghai Beach and its way to the world as the beginning of China’s indigenous luxury brands. Its brand president, Lei Fuyi, is a typical Frenchman. He has a religious fanaticism about traditional culture. Perhaps this is what makes “Going to the Beach” adhere to the oriental elements and go global.

Feng Shui-like French

Lei Fuyi said that his very Chinese-speaking name came from Mr. Feng Shui. During the interview, he constantly emphasized this point to show his understanding of Chinese traditional culture. He lived in Hong Kong for more than a decade. The apartment he lived in was told by people that there was water in the mountains and there was excellent feng shui. Then, when he was renovating his office in Hong Kong, he once again invited his feng shui master who had no doubts.

“My office was on the second floor and I could have seen a beautiful sea view. But later Mr. Feng Shui said that he had to pay attention to the back of the mountain, so he suggested putting the office back and I did it, but unfortunately I couldn’t see the sea. It's up."

Now, Lei Fuyi, who has already taken the name of “Going to the Beach”, still wears “Upper Beach” clothes every day to attend various occasions. Ask him if this dress is for propaganda needs. He resolutely answered: "No!"

He said, "I like to go to the beach. Since I took over the brand, I haven't had a tie yet. 'Going to the beach' liberates the man from his tie." As he said, he also painted on his hand over his neck. The appearance of being uncomfortable with a tie.

He joked that the reason why he wears "to go to the beach" every day is that he can "use his power" to add his favorite design elements, so that he can wear his favorite one every day. Clothes.

A nearly crazy move

In fact, Lei Fuyi can walk another "Golden Avenue" on the road of luxury goods. Before coming to Shanghai, he had been the president of Piaget Asia Pacific and he would return to Europe as his successor. But then he suddenly made a friend think that he was “crazy”. move.

“I found my boss at Richemont Group and said that I know you have a brand on the beach. The development is not very good. I want to try it.” Lei Fuyi stayed in his favor. Asia. The first thing he did after his appointment was to turn a potential opponent into his own design director.

Joanne Ooi is a Chinese-American. She was born in Singapore and grew up in the United States. She does not speak Chinese at all. She has always loved China's cheongsam and has always wanted to use fashion design to find her roots in China.

After she got rid of her original legal work, she was ready to show her skills in the fashion industry. This really poses a threat to “going to the beach” because Joanne Ooi put her shop on the “Shangmao” Hong Kong flagship store. opposite.

Lei Fuyi did not deliberately ignore such provocations as most people did. After being introduced by a friend, he generously invited Joanne Ooi to his shop and asked her to give advice. Joanne Ooi pointedly said bluntly, “This is a high-priced Chinese-style department store. It is for foreigners to buy souvenirs. It cannot enter the fashion world at all.”

Such straightforward confession made Lei Fuyi overjoyed. He felt that he had found a partner who could work together to turn things around. In this way, in the three months after his arrival, Lei Fuyi employed Joanne Ooi as the creative director of “Going to the Beach” and turned his friends into friends.

After that, Lei Fuyi officially embarked on the road to build Shanghai's Shanghai luxury brand. He said, "China's culture is great. Everyone knows this, so there is no need to copy anyone. This is what I want to tell someone through 'Going to the Beach'."

Cultivating brands requires patience

After Lei Fuyi’s arrival at Shanghai’s “Beach”, he did not cut off his own complexes for watches. He wanted to create a watch in this new brand and make his dream come true. So he personally participated in the design of a "beach" watch.

"We will not give it a high price, but it is absolutely fine." Lei Fuyi said with that watch. The watch is very large, the dial is concise, the figures are clear, and the minimalism is obvious. "This is made in China. Most people use the word made in China as a shy thing. I'll be proud of it." Lei Fuyi said.

Lei Fuyi has been leading the one-China brand for more than ten years in the international luxury goods industry, so he can easily see where China's lack of its own luxury brands is.

“In the initial period of my acceptance of 'Shang Hai', the biggest difficulty turned out to be to allow Chinese consumers to recognize the brand. Because people have already established a certain style, luxury is Western.” Lei Fuyi said that this is One of the psychological barriers to the success of Chinese brands.

Again, it is the vision of Chinese entrepreneurs. "Anyone who does business wants to make money as soon as possible. That's not wrong, but it takes time to develop a brand into a luxury brand. This requires entrepreneurs to be less aggressive and profitable." In the eyes of Lei Fuyi, China There is no lack of financial support, not to mention the lack of consumers. What is lacking is the patience for fashion ideas and brand cultivating.

The only luxury brand in the world with a Chinese logo has incorporated Chinese dragons and double happiness characters into the western fashion world. Just like Lei Fuyi himself, he has a pure European descent but is convinced of the mysterious feng shui of the East. “I hope that 'Going to the Beach' can become a clothing that people can wear on any occasion, not just a souvenir with Chinese symbols that can be placed there.” Lei Fuyi does not shy away from doing “for the beach” advertising.