Chanel and Starbucks top list of China's most powerful fashion and lifestyle brands

Chanel, Starbucks and Cartier rank as the top three fashion and lifestyle brands among mid- to high-end consumers in China, according to a major new report.

The report, produced by China’s leading fashion business platform Luxe.CO, ranks the top 100 premium brands for mid-high end consumers in China. The rankings are based on a uniquely detailed analysis of data from sales in China, mentions and searches on Chinese social media platforms and search engines, and a survey of mid-high end Chinese consumers.

The study comes as China’s middle-class is rapidly overtaking America’s to become the largest in the world.

The study reveals that American and European brands still dominate fashion in China. The top 10 brands are:

1. Chanel

2. Starbucks

3. Cartier

4. IKEA

5. Nike

6. Adidas

7. Louis Vuitton

8. Uniqlo

9. Dior

10.  Burberry

The wide-ranging study also reveals that:

-    American and European brands still dominate among Chinese consumers, with 90% of the top 100 brands coming from America or Europe, but newer Chinese entrants make the list too.

-    Older brands hold most sway among China’s mid-high end consumers. The average age of the top 100 brands is 76 years. But while European brands mostly hail from the 1930s, most top American brands were founded in the US heyday of the 1950s.

-    Some brands have significant potential to grow, with brand awareness far in excess of their current sales ranking in China. Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen and Victoria’s Secret are the brands with the highest growth potential on this basis.

-    Chinese consumers are not tied to luxury brands, with the top 100 list including a mix of high-end brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dior, alongside high-street value brands such as IKEA, Uniqlo and Zara.

Alicia Yu, founder and CEO of Luxe.CO, said:

“With China’s middle-class now the biggest in the world, it’s more important than ever that brands understand what makes China’s consumers tick.

“Our research shows that China’s consumers love the heritage of Europe’s and America’s most famous brands.

But there’s a warning here too - the Chinese brands that make our list are younger on average. The world’s top brands will need to keep upping their game if they’re to hold on to their dominant position.”

-    The report rates the performance of 186 international brands in total. Rankings are calculated from a weighting that includes: annual sales attributed to Chinese consumers, searches on Chinese search engine Baidu, follower numbers listed by brands’ Weibo pages (China’s equivalent to Twitter), and results from an online survey with a sample of 964.

-    Luxe.CO is China’s most influential online media platform, providing business information and intelligence for Chinese luxury fashion and lifestyle creatives, entrepreneurs, investors and consumers.

-    For analysis of the size of China's middle-class see Credit Suisse: Global Wealth Report 2015, which suggests the size of China’s middle-class overtook America’s in late 2015. For analysis of China’s growing fashion industry see Boston Consulting Group: Capturing the Dynamic Growth of China’s Fashion Market, which suggests that growth in China’s fashion market will account for around 30 percent of global fashion market growth in the current five-year period.

To download a copy of 《Global Brands Top 100 2015》,  please click here.

（if can not open the link properly, please contact yhfang@hualizhi.com for full report)

The top 100 brands in full：

1.           Chanel

2.           Starbucks

3.           Cartier

4.           IKEA

5.           Nike

6.           Adidas

7.           Louis Vuitton

8.           Uniqlo

9.           Dior

10.         Burberry

11.         Gucci

12.         Tiffany

13.         Hermes

14.         ZARA

15.         Prada

16.         Bulgari

17.         Armani

18.         Muji

19.         Givenchy

20.         Coach

21.         Fendi

22.         Saint Laurent Paris

23.         Ferragamo

24.         Dolce & Gabbana

25.         Valentino

26.         Bottega Veneta

27.         Lego

28.         Chow Tai Fook

29.         Victoria's Secret

30.         Van Cleef & Arpels

31.         H&M

32.         Swarovski

33.         UGG

34.         New Balance

35.         Michael Kors

36.         Versace

37.         Calvin Klein

38.         Chloe

39.         Jimmy Choo

40.         MCM

41.         Ralph Lauren

42.         Puma

43.         Zegna

44.         Samsonite

45.         Ferrero

46.         Balenciaga

47.         Mont Blanc

48.         Chaumet

49.         Alexander McQueen

50.         Marc Jacobs

51.         Godiva

52.         Tory Burch

53.         Levi's

54.         Lanvin

55.         Under Armour

56.         Tommy Hilfiger

57.         Alexander Wang

58.         Celine

59.         Jack Wolfskin

60.         Kenzo

61.         Gap

62.         Folli Follie

63.         Pandora

64.         Costa

65.         Tod's

66.         Bally

67.         Hugo Boss

68.         Loewe

69.         Kate Spade

70.         DKNY

71.         Vera Wang

72.         Shanghai Tang

73.         Dunhill

74.         Miu Miu

75.         Columbia

76.         Abercrombie & Fitch

77.         Tom Ford

78.         Lindt

79.         Forevermark

80.         Max Mara

81.         Rimowa

82.         Leica

83.         Ports 1961

84.         Christian Louboutin

85.         Diesel

86.         Graff

87.         Shiatzy Chen

88.         Longchamp

89.         Moschino

90.         Club Monaco

91.         Tumi

92.         Moncler

93.         Roger Vivier

94.         Victoria Beckham

95.         Nine West

96.         Furla

97.         Agent Provocateur

98.         Topshop

99.         Harry Winston

100.       Chopard