Connecting+Empowering The Wider Fashion World | Luxe.CO in 2019

February 21,2020

It has been almost seven years since Luxe.CO was established and, since then, it has adhered to its mission of "Connecting Global Fashion Innovators and Empowering Chinese Brands to Grow". Doing so has opened up a unique path. From the establishment of Luxe.CO in 2013, to launching Orange Bay University two years ago, to launching FASHION.VC this year, Luxe.CO has built a complete and comprehensive service platform for the fashion industry that integrates "information services, business education, and a venture capital service". At the same time, it has succeeded in cultivating an open and interconnected ecosystem based on a combination of fashion, capital, and technological innovation.

Luxe.CO was deeply involved in the Chinese fashion industry throughout 2019, when it continued to build closer ties with the most outstanding entrepreneurs, managers, investors, and innovators. In parallel, it was successfully launched in France, Japan, and other important global fashion hubs by undertaking a variety of research projects, teaching and industry exchange activities.

The 24 most important tasks completed by Luxe.CO in 2019 will be reviewed below based on five aspects: "Luxe.CO’s Overseas Footprint", "Luxe.CO’s Offline Activities", "Major Fashion Industry Exhibitions and Large-scale Forum Cooperation", "Orange Bay University Fashion Business Education" and "Fashion Venture Capital Services ".

Luxe.CO Overseas Footprint

Special Report On The 87th MICAM Milano International Footwear Exhibition (February)

Luxe.CO was invited to visit the 87^th MICAM Milano International Footwear Exhibition in Milan, Italy, from February 10 to 13. As one of the world's three major professional footwear exhibitions, it attracted more than 1,390 exhibitors and more than 43,000 visitors.

Special Lecture In Istituto Europeo di Design ( February )

On February 20, Ms. Alicia Yu, President of Orange Bay University and Founder of Luxe.CO, was invited by the Istituto Europeo di Design to give a special lecture on "Italian Luxury In China" and "Fashion Entrepreneurship" to graduate students of fashion marketing in Milan.

Pitti Uomo Florence Men's Fashion Week Series Report ( June )

The 96^th Pitti Immagine Uomo Men's Fashion Week was held in Florence, Italy, from June 11 to 14. This event attracted 30,000 guests and 18,500 buyers from more than 100 countries, According to official figures, more buyers from France, Turkey, Hong Kong, Belgium and Russia attended than ever before.

The highlights of the show were when China was invited to create the largest guest country project in history, and Luxe.CO was invited to participate in and conduct several in-depth visits, including a special visit and in-depth talks with the founders of the Italian luxury brand, Brunello Cucinelli.

Visit the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (June)

In June, Luxe.CO was invited to fly to France to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Beer, food, beauty products, cars, and other consumer brands have been frequent guests at this festival, and global technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Instagram have also been active participants in recent years. Luxury giants such as the LVMH Group and the Kering group have recently been new additions to the festival.

Special Report On The 88th MICAM Milano International Footwear Exhibition (September)

The 88^th MICAM Milano International Footwear Exhibition was held from September 15 to 18, which also coincided with MICAM's 50^th anniversary. The exhibition attracted a total of 1,303 footwear companies and 44,076 visitors, 60% of who were from overseas.

English Newsletter subscription for the global fashion industry (September)

Besides being one of the most important strategic markets for the global luxury fashion industry, China is also the fastest-changing market with the most complex consumer groups. Therefore, founders, CEOs and senior executives of overseas fashion luxury brands are seeking an objective, professional and timely information platform to understand more about this market.

In response to this pain point, Luxe.CO launched a monthly English newsletter called "CHINA FASHION INSIGHT" in September this year, which was sent to more than 500 industry executives and brand representatives around the world through internally-directed invitations.

"China Fashion Forum" (October)

Luxe.CO joined hands with Business France to hold the “China Fashion Forum” on October 2nd 2019, in collaboration with a large number of Chinese and French professionals and executives. Luxe.Co and the Business Investment Office of the French embassy in China jointly released a report entitled “Thorns and Flowers - The Way to enter the China Market” in this forum, in which they introduced the fashion industry chain and market structure through a Chinese lens to the French fashion circle for the first time.

Luxe.CO Japan Field Trip (November)

As one of the top five fashion capitals of the world, Tokyo not only gathers first-class designs and brands, but has also developed a sophisticated fashion industry chain, which is an integral part of global fashion. In November, the Luxe.CO team flew to Tokyo to visit the business giant, Itochu Fashion System, fabrics giant Asahi Kasei (旭化成), garment company ADASTRIA, the diversified fashion New Robin Group, as well as fashion icon, Yoshiko Ikoma, and Professor Hideo Mori, Vice Chairman of UNIFA, for in-depth discussions to understand different aspects of the fashion industry in Japan.

Related Articles:

LuxeCo Field Trip 1：Through 4 Japanese Fashion Companies

LuxeCo Field Trip 2: Japan’s Universal Fashion Concept Offers Fashion Choices To a Wider Audience

**Launched The English WeChat Public Account “LuxeCo Global” Beta Version (December)**

Luxe.CO launched an English website (en.luxe.co) at the end of 2017 in order to better disseminate the voice of China's fashion industry to the world, and to provide an improved communication platform for global fashion brands and industry organizations. It also launched an English WeChat public account entitled LuxeCo Global to enable WeChat English readers to better understand the Chinese market and corresponding global fashion industry reports and insights.

Luxe.CO Offline Activities

Luxe.Co Global Fashion Innovation and Investment Forum 2019 (April)

The "Luxe.Co Global Fashion Innovation and Investment Forum" was held in Beijing on April 12, 2019, when leading fashion entrepreneurs, investors, managers, and designers gathered to discuss China, innovation in the global fashion industry, investment issues, and future trends in fashion M&A. Since 2015, Luxe.CO has held a series of high-level forums in Beijing, New York, London, Milan, and other cities, bringing innovators and decision-makers together to implement the vision of "connecting global fashion innovation".

Luxe Talk (May-September)

There have been 26 sessions of "Luxe Talk", four of which were consecutively held in the Beijing SKP RDV bookstore from May to September. These talks covered topics such as the protection of ancient architecture, film production, architectural space design, and earth art festivals.

Major Fashion Industry Exhibitions And Forum Cooperation

The 34th SPINEXPO Shanghai (September)

What new breakthroughs and problems were encountered by enterprises at the front end of the industrial chain last year? Luxe.CO invited representatives of the yarn industry to share their views and opinions at the 34th SPINEXPO Shanghai in September.

Shanghai Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2020

Luxe.CO continued to serve as the chief media partner of the MODE Shanghai Trade Show in Shanghai Fashion Week in Spring/Summer 2020, participating in the most active first-line exhibitions, showrooms, forums, and various events. It also provided the global fashion industry and market with first-hand business views and authoritative observations. During the fashion week, Luxe.CO also hosted the following three “MODE TALKS”:

“Insight of China's new generation of men’s fashion consumption” on October 11
“How can a designer brand create an influential crossover event?” on October 12
“The pain and opportunity of sustainable fashion.” on October 14

The 2nd China International Import Expo, Shanghai (November)

A 6.1H Quality Life Section and a 6.2H High-end Consumer Goods Section were launched for the first time at the 2nd China International Import Expo, which was held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, 2019, and attracted many international brands and luxury groups including LVMH Group, Kering Group, L’Oréal, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, Unilever, etc. Luxe.CO sent a dedicated team to cover the Expo and launched a series of in-depth reports.

Goldman Sachs China Conference 2019, Shenzhen

The Goldman Sachs China Conference 2019 was held in Shenzhen from November 5 to 6. Alicia Yu, Founder & CEO of Luxe.CO, was invited to attend the conference as a guest speaker to share her insights on the topic of "Fashion, Apparel and Consumer Observation".

China International Fashion Retail Industry Summit

The "China International Fashion Retail Industry Summit", organized by the Chain Store & Franchise Association (CCFA), was held in the Bellagio, Shanghai, from December 3-4. The summit brought together the first line of fashion retail brands with high-end networking, guest panel speeches, hotspot discussions, brand promotions, and project presentations. Nearly 300+ brands and more than 600 retail leaders and executives attended this summit.

Luxe.CO was also invited to attend, and Alicia Yu, the Founder of Luxe.CO and President of Orange Bay University, delivered the keynote speech entitled "Fashion, anything is possible". The Fashion Director of Luxe.CO, Elisa Wang, hosted a talk with the founders of newly-emerging fashion brands and shared her latest insights into the new generation of Chinese fashion consumers.

Xiamen International Fashion Week (December)

During the Xiamen international fashion Week from December 6 to 9, Luxe.CO was invited as the official media partner for in-depth coverage. Alicia Yu, the Founder of Luxe.CO, participated in the fashion forum of "FED SHOW" and communicated in depth with guests and the audience on the theme, "Rising of Guochao (国潮)". Being rooted in the unique geographical characteristics of the southwest coast of China, the Xiamen International Fashion Week focuses on the youth, representing the core fashion consumption force from the post-1985 to the post-2000 generation. The fashion week consisted of four sections: MIX PARK, TRENDY UP, FED SHOW and the Youth Fashion New Power List, focusing on issues related to youth, such as the "rejuvenation of traditional brands" and the "innovation and inheritance of young brands". The aim of this event was to create the first fashion platform that can be “Seen, Experienced, Discussed and Consumed” in China.

Orange Bay University Fashion Business Education

Orange Bay University The Fifth Senior Management Course (March-June)

The 2019 Spring Semester of Orange Bay University, the fashion business school founded by Luxe.CO, officially started on March 22. The Senior Management Course was upgraded to version 3.0 based on the original two core courses ("Fashion Business", "Luxury Strategy and Innovation"), with the addition of two more courses: "Cognition and Analysis" and "Creativity". Orange Bay University welcomed the fifth batch of new students since its establishment in the fifth session of the Senior Management Course, including founders of emerging fashion brands, Senior Executives of fashion enterprises, Design Directors and Senior Investors from Guangdong, Shandong, Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan.

Italian Fashion Study Week (October)

On October 7, 2019, during the "Italian Fashion Study Week", Orange Bay University led the students on a visit to two Italian fashion cities, Milan and Florence, where they had a chance to communicate with the brand managers, designers, artists, and curators of top-level design Colleges and Universities, headquarters of luxury brands and Art Museums, to better understand Italian luxury brands, the fashion industry chain system, and to fully experience Italian culture and art, design aesthetics and lifestyle. The Orange Bay students also visited the Istituto Europeo di Design, Politecnico di Milano, the headquarters of the fashion trade show, WHITE Milano, the fashion and art co-work space, BASE, headquarters of the fashion and luxury boutique store, LuisaViaRoma, in Florence, the home design e-commerce Archiproducts’ Milan showroom, Montblanc's leather production center in Florence, Ferragamo's "Sustainable Thinking" Exhibition at the Museo Salvatore, the workshop of the Italian eco-friendly bag brand, La Milanesa, the Milan Brera Art Museum, Prada Foundation Milan headquarters, and the Uffizi Art Museum in Florence.

Behind The Scenes of The Italian Fashion Industry | OrangeBay"Italian Fashion Study Week" Part 2

Orange Bay University Special Course (September- November)

Orange Bay University launched a series of special courses focusing on three themes, "DTC brand", "Street Fashion" and "Fashion Entrepreneurship", in September, October and November 2019, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and retail partners in related fields for intensive study and in-depth discussions.

The Official Opening of Orange Bay First Teaching Base (November)

The first teaching base of Orange Bay University was officially opened at the end of November at BEI Zhaolong, Sanlitun, Beijing, as the main venue for senior management courses, specialized courses and industry exchange activities.

Fashion Venture Capital Services

Fashion.VC officially launched, and the 4th Fashion Roadshow was successfully completed.

The popularity of fashion entrepreneurship and investment in China continued to rise in 2019 and emerging cutting-edge fashion and lifestyle start-up brands, fashion technology and innovative projects clearly needed more sustainable, in-depth and systematic services and support. Therefore, Luxe.CO formally launched a fashion accelerator called Fashion.VC with the aim of creating a unique platform to discover and accelerate entrepreneurial fashion projects by cooperating with investment institutions, commercial real estate and large fashion enterprises.

Fashion.VC held four consecutive fashion entrepreneurship roadshows from June to October. The team selected dozens of innovative brands in apparel, jewelry, personal care, fitness, gifts, children's wear and other fields, and a number of fashion and technology projects with great potential took the stage. More than 30 investment institutions and commercial retail partners took part in the selection.

InnoBrand Fashion Entrepreneurship Competition 2019

Established by Luxe.CO in 2015, InnoBrand is the only entrepreneurship competition that is focused on the "fashion and lifestyle industry" in China. The final of the Fifth InnoBrand 2019 Fashion Entrepreneurship Competition was held in Beijing on November 29, 2019, when twelve teams from all over the country submitted their design concepts, product features, business and team presentations to the judges.

Fashion Investment and Financing Report At Home and Abroad

In 2019, Luxe.CO China Investment Weekly covered a total of 180 domestic fashion and lifestyle investment articles, including fashion brands, fashion e-commerce, beauty and skincare, F&B, fitness, hospitality and travel, interior design and toys, cultural creativity, fashion technology and other related fields.

In addition, Luxe.CO reported a total of 741 financings and M&A events for overseas fashion companies as of December 24, 2019.

INNOVATION DRIVES FASHION FORWARD