Three months after Alexander Wang sold minority stakes to two Chinese investors — fashion conglomerate Youngor Group, and venture capital firm Challenjers Capital — the Chinese American designer is finally ready to talk about his China ambitions and beyond.
Wang said in an interview with WWD that he has explored many “traditional and untraditional routes” to take “this family business into the new chapter of where I saw the brand going” ever since he left Balenciaga in 2015.
“We spent a good amount of time pre-pandemic really looking at investors from all over the globe. The idea of getting in touch with Challenjers and Youngor really came from the fact that I wanted to break out of the traditional fashion system and conversation around distribution and category expansion,” he said.
Wang said he was first impressed with Challenjers’ entrepreneurial spirit.
Founded in 2014 with dual currency funds in Chinese renminbi and U.S. dollars with a cumulative asset management scale of more than 10 billion renminbi, or $1.26 billion. Challenjers has invested in many well-known consumer brands, including Genki Forest, one of China’s most popular soda drink brands, as well as more than 200 start-ups so far.
“The fact that they created this beverage brand and has become one of the largest beverage brands in all of Asia is just something that was really fascinating to me. And given their gaming background, it also just seemed very intriguing in terms of how they saw our business through a different kind of lens in terms of how we could look into the future,” Wang said.
He was later introduced to Youngor, a multifaceted conglomerate with businesses in apparel, property development, investment, textile manufacturing and global trade. It’s the partner of the Norwegian performancewear label Helly Hansen in China, and it has invested in the high-end golf lifestyle store S+G, and the American streetwear brand Undefeated.
After a few delays due to the pandemic, Wang closed a deal that, according to him, made sense for both sides.
“They’re really on call for whatever we need in terms of introduction and things like that, but there’s no licensing or any kind of manufacturing deals that came with the investment itself,” he said.
When asked if the brand is open to additional investment, Wang said he loves “always meeting new people and having conversations. But in terms of investors, we’re very happy with where we currently are.”
He also clarified that all the new store openings worldwide, such as the pop-up opened last week in the Miami Design District, are funded by the brand’s own profits, not by investor money.
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One of the key focuses following the Chinese investment is new customer acquisition.
Wang said in an effort to make the brand appeal to a wider demographic, the brand recently launched its first bodywear collection, which comes with a much lower price point. The bodywear range competes in the same market segment as brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
He is also looking to explore new distribution channels, as well as business opportunities in other kinds of avenues. “I felt specifically in China with how quickly concepts and entrepreneurial projects develop over there, I just thought that was the perfect place to really put our focus in terms of expansion,” he said.
He believes that the high-profile collaborations he has done with McDonald’s, Pepsi, H&M, Uniqlo and Adidas served as a training ground for him to understand where the fans exist, at what levels they can participate, and what categories they want to see.
“With each of those collaborations, it was really testing a new kind of conversation around category expansion. With underwear and loungewear being the first ones, we are looking at those that are more in the consumer space. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s very exciting,” he said.
He confirmed that a comprehensive China strategy is in the works.
According to Wang, the brand on average opened one new store a month in China last year and is adding four more in the coming months. The brand has 19 stores in the Greater China region as of now, which is the same amount the brand has in Japan, South Korea and Singapore combined.
The brand’s experiments with more diverse storytelling also paid off, especially when it comes to courting the young and affluent, Xiaohongshu-obsessed Chinese shopper.
Earlier this year, it hired Chinese model Liang Xiaoqing to promote the brand’s hobo bag in a series of videos. Dubbed the “queen of Taobao modeling” for her ability to change between different poses in split seconds, Liang helped the brand make headlines across Chinese local press. The move was seen as a genuine attempt to pay tribute to China’s unique internet culture.
“I always love bridging cultures as a Chinese American growing up in California. My family’s from Shanghai. My mom currently lives in Shanghai. I’ve traveled back and forth all over, that was my entire childhood. I love seeing how different cultures have their unique elements and then also the parts that we do share in common.
“When we go into our content creations, for me, it’s always about a culture clash. I think specifically with some of the most recent TikTok videos we’ve done, it would probably be surprising to people who wouldn’t have seen Alexander Wang make those choices. But that’s the whole point. To surprise and to delight and to bring new contexts to how we can share ideas and creativity,” Wang said.
Continuous lockdowns in China have imposed serious challenges on the brand. There also is the ongoing controversy the designer faces in the U.S. over allegations last year of sexual assault — which he has consistently denied. These factors could easily lead to a conclusion that the brand is struggling. But Wang claimed that on the business side, at least, his company “has been the strongest it’s ever been.”
“We’ve grown about 80 percent in the last two years. China alone has been triple-digit growth, close to 150 percent. So I’m just very grateful to all the people who have supported the brand and allowed me to keep creating and doing what I love to do. It’s been a real blessing,” he said.
Heji Shin, courtesy of Alexander Wang
Looking beyond China, Wang said the brand is looking to double down on the European market in the next two years, with new stores planned for London and Paris.
“Having worked there for a short amount of time, the European market is a highly important one to me, especially for global recognition,” he said.
North America, which already represents a big chunk of the brand’s business, will also see more Alexander Wang stores popping up in Toronto and Los Angeles and a permanent location in Miami in the near future.
“These are the key cities where we really feel like the customers are. We have a good amount of data on where the customers are ready to engage with the brand. We want to be there for them,” Wang added.
The other thing that he looks forward to next year is the premiere of the Netflix reality show “Bling Empire New York.”
“I’m very excited about the New York edition. I know a few people that are on it. I mean, not super well, but I know them obviously just from being in the industry. I think it’s been an incredible exposure for Asian Americans on the big screen. I hope to see more of it,” he said.
Asked if he would like to join the series one day, Wang said: “You know, I’m always open to having a conversation.”
Source: WWD