Chinese Womenswear Brand ICICLE is Expected to Open a Store in Osaka

ICICLE, a mid-to-high-end clothing brand of the Shanghai Zhihe Fashion Industry Group (“Zhihe Group”), will open a store in Osaka in a few days, which will be the first store of the brand in Japan.

It is reported that the store is located at F6 of Hankyu Department Store in Umeda, Osaka. It will offer women’s ready-to-wear clothing and accessories at a retail space of about 50 square meters. It is said to be 100% funded by the Japan branch of Zhihe. This store heralds ICICLE’s further expansion into the Japanese market, where the brand plans to open 4 additional stores in the next 3 years.

The selling points of ICICLE in Japan include: Paris design, premium fabrics made in China such as cashmere and silk, sewn in the self-operated factory of ICICLE, in compliance with sustainability goals, and remarkable quality-to-price ratio. The brand is known for “the same quality of European luxury brands but with half of their prices.”

Founded in 1997, the Zhihe Group is known for natural, simple, refined and modern designs. Using natural fabrics to meet the needs of the contemporary urban people, it has become an important member of high-class ready-to-wear clothing brands in China. The Zhihe Group also covers the entire fashion supply chain from design, manufacturing, logistics, retail to franchising.

In recent years, the Zhihe Group has been seeking to expand into the overseas markets. The company established a subsidiary - ICICLE PARIS MODE - on 77 Avenue de Raimon Poincaré in the 16th arrondissement of Paris in 2013. It also set up the Zhihe Paris Design Center that year to introduce world-class experts and creative talents.

In 2018, ICICLE PARIS MODE acquired Carven, a well-known French womenswear brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, in the hope that the acquisition would help the Zhihe Group expand into the European and other overseas markets. One year later, ICICLE opened its first overseas flagship store on Avenue George V, Paris. In the next 5 years, the company plans to open 20 stores or more in some of the best-known fashionable cities in Europe, such as London, Milan and Berlin.

As of today, the Zhihe Group has opened 270 stores in China. Its sales reached EUR 217 million (about RMB 1.66 billion) in 2020. Also, the company has opened 3 ICICLE stores in Paris. The time-honored store of Carven it acquired was redecorated and reopened in September.