The It Bag Goes Unisex in China

Today Chinese millennial men are looking beyond beauty. The It bag market is the next step to make their style statements heard. Photo: Dior. Illustration: Haitong Zheng/Jing Daily.

Actor Feiyun Chen endorsing the hand case from Dior x Rimowa’s collaboration. Photo: @Dior’s official Weibo.

A street snap of actor Xiao Zhao wearing the GG Supreme messenger bag went viral. Image: Sina China

The term It bag is often perceived as heavily feminine. Across the globe, women have long been the key demographic to success in the It bag business, and China is no exception. The much-diffused internet slang “包治百病,” appropriates the ancient Chinese medicine saying of “cure guarantee” in a pun to spell “bags cure all types of illness” in today’s context. Yet it’d be naïve to exclude Chinese men in this fashion frenzy. As gender norms continue to relax among the Chinese youth, sporting an It bag is increasingly indispensable to the total look of a Chinese male fashionista. A “unisex” shopping trend, embodied by behaviors like men buying women’s bags or women buying men’s bags, is on the rise.
In the November Beijing launch party of the Dior x Rimowa’s collaboration, Chinese male celebrities dominated the stage. Actors Feiyun Chen, Han Dongjun, and Lin Yi were all there to wear and promote the collaboration’s cross-body hand case. Sean Gao, a marketing manager based in Hong Kong, told Jing Daily that the hand case is already in his wish list. “I like it because it has a strong, firm look, and it is gender-neutral. In my day-to-day, I usually do shoppers because a shopper is not specifically designed for men or women,” he said. A quest for the more gender-inclusive design was the underlying sentiment.
But there have also been a rising number of Chinese men, straight or gay, that are opting for women’s bag, regardless of the gendered indication. Eric Liu, a Shanghai-based fashion blogger, told Jing Daily that he buys from the women’s bag section because the men’s section usually lacks choices. Unlike Sean, Eric doesn’t think the designer’s gendered intent as important. “The first made-for-women bag I bought was Marc Jacob’s Snapshot. It has a gender-neutral look and a cool chain design. As a straight man, I don’t feel embarrassed about wearing a bag designed for women because no one has pointed that out,” Eric said. However, he admits that most of fashion’s big names still have a limited offering of men’s bags. In his opinion, the existing choices are either too “street,” too utilitarian, or simply not fashionable enough.
Deny it or not, China’s fashion scene is undergoing an accelerated transformation of gendered identity. The number of male fashion bloggers on Chinese social media is spiking, boosted by now widespread “Little Fresh Meat” male idol phenomenon. On Weibo and Little Red Book, popular hashtags such as #男生怎么穿 (what men wear) and #实用男包推荐 (practical men bag recommendation) give a sneak peek into the country’s male fashionista community, although the so-called “practical” style tips often gear towards choices that are more trend-forward than practical. From posting about everyday tote, utility pouch, to logo-laden fanny packs, Chinese men fashionistas pursue the It bag just as fervently as women do.

The “It bag” dude community on Little Red Book. Photo: LRB screenshot.

In the West, the general implication for “unisex bag” still leans on the talk of utilitarian backpacks or, at most, a weekender bag for elegant occasions. An It bag for men is reserved for a closed and exclusive circle of urban fashionistas. In China, however, owning fashion-forward, big-name bags is a much more mainstream practice among the millennial men. Thanks to the broad gender fluidity trend in fashion, many old-time It bags for women now have launched their men versions: Fendi‘s Peekaboo, Dior’s saddle bag, Loewe’s Puzzle bag, Louis Vuitton‘s Soft Trunk collection, to name a few. According to social posts, some Chinese women also opt for these men’s versions for a more oversized, effortless chic look.

Dior’s China brand ambassador Junkai Wang wearing the brand’s iconic Saddle Bag. Photo: @Dior’s official Weibo.

A series of media images in China have injected this sense of gender fluidity among the youth, blurring their boundaries of traditional masculinity and femininity. In early 2018, the Chinese TV talent show “Idol Producer” gave rise to a wave of K-pop-style male idols wearing a chest-pack, neon-color jacket, bleached hair, and earrings. While delicate-featured male idols proliferate, young Chinese women are buying more power suits and increasingly attracted by a “girl boss” identity. In October 2018, Japanese condom brand Okamoto published a post titled “Boys buy bags, girls buy condom” on its WeChat account, saying that the ratio of women buying condoms on its e-commerce had risen from 30.6 % to 40.1% during November 2016 and June 2018.
In a country where systematic gender inequality and traditional family norms still persist, these signs of youth social changes would have all be seen as culturally outrageous just a decade ago. But today, even the adjective Chinese millennials use to praise women and men have radically changed. For example, the more relevant way to compliment a woman is to say she is “very alpha” instead of “very pretty.” To praise a man, they are adopting languages like “fashionably coquettish” (骚气 in Chinese). Though the notion of “coquettish” is often associated with an overtly flirtatious woman in the West, it refers to the androgynous cool appeal of a modern Chinese male idol.

In beauty, big names such as Givenchy Beauty, Estée Lauder, and Guerlain have tapped young androgynous idols Jackson Yee, Wang Kai, and Yang Yang to capture the Chinese beauty consumers, now both female and male. But Chinese millennial men today are looking beyond beauty. The It bag market is the next step to make their style statements heard.
In 2019, a Gucci bag “the GG Supreme messenger bag” has been closely associated with actor Xiao Zhan, as the street snap of him wearing that bag got viral on the Internet. Celine, the French house mostly known for its women’s bags, appointed male idol Li Jian to carry the brand’s logo handbag on the September issue of Elle Men. Are these bags marketed to their female fans, or style inspiration for the fans’ boyfriends, or other Chinese men? Perhaps the answer is not important. What is important, is to have something that is “It” and cool enough to put on. oa here

Gucci launches Mickey Mouse-themed collection for Chinese New Year

(Harmony Korine/Gucci)

Gucci has celebrated the upcoming Chinese New Year by releasing a Mickey Mouse-themed capsule collection.
The annual festival, which falls on Saturday 25 January this year, will mark the Year of the Rat.
Gucci has paid homage to the annual observance by creating a range of clothing and accessorises featuring Walt Disney‘s “True Original”, Mickey Mouse.

The playful, brightly-coloured collection intersperses classic Gucci pieces with new designs, and includes women’s and men’s clothing, shoes, jewellery, watches, leather bags and sunglasses.
Gucci announced the launch of the range with a playful campaign, shot by photographer Harmony Korine at Disneyland Resort in California.

The campaign stars actor and Gucci ambassador Ni Ni, actor Earl Cave and designer, stylist and poet Zoë Bleu, capturing them as they enjoy the rides and spectacle of the amusement park.
In one of the photographs, Ni Ni poses alongside  Mickey Mouse wearing a red floral silk ensemble, wearing a bag over her shoulder embossed with an image of the cartoon character.

In a press release, Gucci states that the “colourful energetic imagery” of the campaign photo shoot looks like photographs you would find on holiday postcards.
“The eclectic, surreal spirit of today’s Gucci is perfectly at home in the fantasy world of Disneyland,” the fashion house adds.

A “key” aspect of the range, the Italian fashion house states, was the development of a new material, the “Mini GG Supreme canvas with Mickey Mouse print”.
“This print has been introduced in reference to a House fabric from the ‘80s, and the original design, colour and look has been reproduced with high-definition digital printing,” Gucci says.

Items in the range that feature the Mini GG Supreme canvas material include handbags, shoes and luggage, while the theme has been developed in several different sartorial styles across the women’s and men’s clothing.

Other pieces in the collection include silk accessories, a baseball cap, a fedora hat, a Gucci Grip watch and “special sunglasses for Chinese New Year that reference the colours used in the rest of the collection”.
The range will be made available to purchase online and in-store from Friday 3 January.
Last summer, Asos teamed up with Disney to launch clothing collection inspired by the live-action remake of The Lion King.
The range featured a variety of clothing ideal for festivalgoers, including waterproof jackets and Simba-themed bucket hats. oa here

How a fake car parts scam could cost drivers thousands

Luxury items aren't the only things that are counterfeited

Counterfeit spark plugs with the potential to destroy engines are at the centre of an automotive industry sting.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says 60 per cent of spark plugs bought through dodgy online sellers have been verified as fraudulent parts designed to fool consumers.
Expert recreations of packaging and part appearances mean people may not know parts are fake until cars stop working.
A spokesman for the FCAI says spark plugs sold as genuine Honda, Mazda or Toyota items have the potential to “melt and cause extreme engine damage”.

Mazda and Honda owners have been targeted by the scam. Source: Supplied

But representatives of those popular car brands said they had no record of fake spark plugs ruining engines in recent months.
The problematic parts follow a run of fake components seized in Australia including wheels that shatter when they hit a pothole, brake pads made of asbestos and oil filters that do not protect engines from damage.
Overseas examples include brake pads made from compressed grass.

 

Counterfeit spark plugs (right) can be indistinguishable from genuine items (left). Source: Supplied

Tony Weber, chief executive for the FCAI, says motorists and technicians should be careful when sourcing automotive parts.
“The best way to avoid a fake? Make certain your parts are purchased from the authorised dealer network,” Mr Weber said.
“We have experts examining the packaging and spark plugs and even they can barely tell the difference. You won’t know it’s a fake, until it’s too late.”

oa here 

Gucci’s First Live-streamed Show on Weibo Draws 16 Million Viewers

Gucci in November will open a new concept store in Beijing and launch its makeup line in China.

Giovanni Giannoni/WWD

 

GUCCI’S CHINA VIEWS: Some 16 million viewers connected on Weibo to see Gucci’s spring 2020 show, marking the first time the Italian brand had live-streamed its show on the Chinese platform. According to Weibo, views until now, including playback, totaled 22 million and 179,000 viewers posted a live comment. Likes totaled 421,000.

Held in Milan on Sept. 22, the show for the first time was certified carbon neutral, organized according to the ISO 20121 international standard that defines the sustainability of an event by measuring its environmental, social and economic aspects.

Gucci has a number of projects lined up in China. Following the opening on Sept. 16 of a store at the sprawling Plaza 66 shopping mall in Shanghai, the company will open a new special concept store at Shin Kong Place in Beijing on Nov. 6. That month, Gucci will also launch its new makeup line in China. As reported, Gucci sold more than 1 million lipsticks in the first month since the Alessandro Michele-designed line dropped in May. The lipstick line was launched exclusively on gucci.com on May 4, followed by a roll out in New York and in selective doors worldwide, backed by a major digital push.

Gucci has been upping the ante on its social media platforms. According to Tribe Dynamics, the data firm best known for tracking earned media value, in August, Gucci ranked first out of the top 10 fashion brands, recording more than $26.7 million in earned media value. This was a 2 percent increase over the previous month. Chanel was listed as second in the ranking, reporting more than $23.5 million in earned media value, a 7 percent decrease. Dior ranked third, totaling $21.8 million, down 7 percent, followed by Louis Vuitton, totaling $18 million euros, a 17 percent decrease. Saint Laurent, on the other hand, was up 4 percent, totaling $11.3 million.
Gucci also scaled another list. With its 36.9 million followers on Instagram, it is the number-one fashion brand on that platform, overtaking Chanel, which has a following of 36.8 million. oa here 

 

Border Patrol seized fake NBA championship rings valued at $560,000

 The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency busted a counterfeit shipment of National Basketball Association championship rings at Los Angeles International Airport. This crackdown comes before the sport’s pre-season start on Sept. 30.

 Photo credit Fox News

In a press release sent out Wednesday, the federal agency reported there were 28 rings seized that violated protected trademarks and designs for 11 NBA teams. The report also noted that if found genuine, the seized rings would have an approximate manufacturer suggested retail price of $560,000.

The discovery was made by U.S. CBP officers working in the airport’s cargo operations department. During an enforcement exam, the officers found the shipment had arrived from China and had a final destination in Arizona. 

 Photo Credit Fox News

“The rings were found inside of a wooden box, with the apparent intent to be sold as a collection,” the report elaborated. “The quantity and estimated MSRP value of counterfeit items seized are clear indications of the profits that are involved in the illegal trade of counterfeit NBA championship rings.”

This seizure valued at over half a million dollars comes at a time when businesses and the U.S. government are trying to curb intellectual property theft from china.

In China, Even Luxury Goods Authentication Services Are Being Faked

August 29, 2018 TFL

image: derodeloper

A central part of the premise of luxury consignment platform The RealReal is its dedication to ensuring that the Chanel bags, Alaïa frocks, and Manolo mules you are buying are real. The San Francisco-based site touts itself as “the leader in authenticated luxury consignment.” Rival Vestiaire Collective similarly boasts about its grade-A offerings, which are “expertly checked for 100% quality and authenticity.” Even eBay has made inroads in this realm, introducing a network of brand experts to its service in order to verify the authenticity of goods being offered for sale in its marketplace.

Given the rise in demand for authentic second-hand luxury goods, paired with the ever-increasing sophistication of counterfeits (so much so that some fakes are 99 percent identical to the real thing), it should come as little surprise that services dedicated to weeding out the fakes are on the rise. The trend has made its way to China, which is – on one hand – the source of more than half of the world’s counterfeits, as well as full-blown fake Yeezy and Supreme stores.

On the other hand, China is also home to an ever-growing population of big-spending millennials who are not interested in anything but authentic luxury goods and are willing to pay handsomely for


With such a mixed hand at play, Chinese startups are popping up in an attempt to fill an important void: Telling the difference between the real and the fake. As noted by Jing Daily last year, one startup, Zhiduoshao launched an iPhone app in March 2017 to help users authenticate luxury goods. On Zhiduoshao – which means “how much it’s worth” in Chinese – users can upload photos of their luxury goods to the app, and an expert will give his/her feedback as to the authenticity of the product.  

The app’s founder and CEO, Xu Shichen, said that his company is seeing “a rise in authentication demands,” particularly as parts of the Chinese population begin to a exhibit growing acceptance of the second-hand luxury goods market, which is currently popular in first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, but is spreading to Tianjin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xiamen (the big second-tier cities) and beyond.

The rise of the second-hand luxury market has been slow to catch on in China in part because of authentication concerns. As a spokesman for the China Resale Goods Trade Association said in 2016, even well-meaning shops have unknowingly stocked huge selections of counterfeits “due to their inability to authenticate the products.” Yishepai, an online luxury goods authentication platform, revealed that in 2016, only 40 percent of the goods they examined were real.

Maybe unsurprisingly, given China’s position as one of the more problematic global players when it comes to the protection of non-native intellectual property, no small number of the authentication services that are meant to be separating the bona fide luxury goods from the counterfeits are fake, themselves. In many cases, the seemingly authentic sites are copying the names, website layouts, and the imagery of more established authentication services, such as Zhiduoshao.

The scheme runs even deeper, according to China’s state-run China Youth Daily website, with companies offering up sham courses for individuals who would like to be trained as expert authenticators, something of a growing profession in China. The publication revealed this spring that a number of companies have begun offering classes “that promise to teach people to become an expert” in just a matter of days.

Such classes, according to China Youth Daily, are often fraudulent in nature, with Zhang Chen, a luxury bag authenticity expert at the Beijing Price Certification Center, emphasizing, “The process of identifying authentic luxury goods is particularly complicated because it requires a wide range of knowledge and experience.” Chances are, that knowledge takes more than a few days to acquire. 

OLINK

How small U.S. firms fight off floods of Chinese knockoffs

In this case, they are real. But many brands like sunglasses company 100% find themselves in an uphill battle against cheap knockoff products that come from China. (100%/Yahoo Finance)

Two months after the new model of sunglasses came out in May, knockoffs started popping up.

“It was amazing,” says Ludo Boinnard, CEO of 100%, a California-based eyewear company whose popularity has ballooned in the past year. “Two months!”

It was the second time this had happened. Just over two years before, the motocross-rooted company turned to cycling eyewear, and the fakes sprung up in early 2017.

For a small, up-and-coming company looking to gain market share — 100% has fewer than 30 employees in San Diego — there’s an aspect of flattery at seeing facsimiles, both branded with the company logo and unbranded, show up in the marketplace. But it’s also the source of stress.

“They just started to show up. It’s been just exponential; we used to see a lot of Oakley knockoffs but we never paid much attention because we were not in that world. Sometimes you’d see the Facebook and [Instagram] ads with the fake Oakleys,” said Boinnard. “Now, because we’re in the eyewear business, we’re more aware of what’s going on and it’s insane.”

Incidents like these have been going on for a long time, as domestic intellectual property (IP) is co-opted and duplicated with lesser materials abroad, either to be sold as cheap counterfeits, fraudulently, or as something of a generic.

The ongoing trade conflicts and back-and-forth tariffs with China have largely been about the President’s interest in closing the trade deficit, but intellectual property has also been at the forefront of U.S. complaints: China has been guilty of ripping off American tech in the past. (The U.S. has long said that theft of intellectual property, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, has cost American companies billions of dollars.) 

In the discussions of IP by China, the focus has often been on the theft of technology and electronics, often via foreign ownership restrictions that require U.S. companies to show their cards to China or a Chinese corporate partner if they want to operate there. But while a simple copy-paste for consumer goods like sunglasses may not pose the same security risks or enormous financial damage of a complex tech algorithm, it does significant damage to a company.

The potential harm to the company has a few layers. The simplest is that they take away business, as some people will buy the cheaper knock-off on eBay or China’s Ali Express for $25 instead of $150 from an authorized retailer. Many companies and brands suffer from this issue, from Ray-Ban to Gucci to Apple earpods.

Sometimes people know it’s a fake, but mistakenly believe they are getting the same product from the same factory simply with a different logo, or maybe the factory stayed open an extra day off-contract. (This is not the case for 100%, which sources from France and Italy only.)

But the fakes are sometimes sold at full price to unsuspecting consumers, which for sports sunglasses that require shatter-resistance, can cause serious injury. Other times, “people think they’re getting a deal,” said Boinnard. Unfortunately, the lower prices for knock-offs usually means that there isn’t a budget for R&D or safety testing.

“One of the first occurrences is one guy who called and said, ‘I’m very unhappy about your product, I was injured by it,’” said Boinnard. He sent photos of the cracked product and cuts of his forehead, and the company told the guy to send the product. It turned out to be fake. “He bought it full pop on a Chinese website,” said Boinnard.

In other instances, he said, people import fakes and sell them at events — at full price.

“They have the experience of touching and feeling it and saying ‘oh this product is crap,’ which hurts us at a different level,” he said.

A game of ‘Whac-a-mole’

For the most part, 100% contracts out the job of enforcing design patents and IP to Red Points, a firm based in Barcelona that has the technology to crawl the web for design infringement. The company told Yahoo Finance’s sister site TechCrunch that catches around 200,000 fake products for sale every month. Tools like reverse-image search help, as many listings use the company’s actual product photos.

“We have it automated and we have a clear message to all our distributors – if you find a link to a fake please send it and that email gets forwarded to Red Points,” said Boinnard. If there’s a question of legitimacy, the company does have to manually look through flagged products to make the final judgment, something that costs time and money. “It’s a whac-a-mole kind of business,” he said. 

Ethan Wolff-Mann

Senior Writer

Yahoo FinanceAugust 29, 2018

WeChat Being Used by Counterfeiters to Build up their Fraud Chain

Cashing in on the price difference between luxury goods sold in China and overseas, Daigou (代购) – aka. overseas purchasing agents – have long bought goods on behalf of consumers in China. But, as the Chinese government puts in place new measures to boost domestic spending, many luxury brands have lowered their prices in China, bringing them in line with global price points. Consequently, the role of a middleman like Daigou has been threatened, and a career as an overseas buyer has become increasingly unsustainable.
Now, the overseas purchasing business is evolving in a different, darker direction, coined “Daigou 2.0″. Targeting consumers who are looking for luxury goods at a steal, counterfeiters from China are now providing fake goods under the guise of authentic Daigou vendors.


According to an investigative report by the Chinese state media People’s Daily on August 7, which was trending on China’s social media platform Weibo, luxury goods counterfeiters employ a variety of techniques to disguise the true origin of their products, such as paying insiders for production batch codes to reprint onto packaging, giving consumers the illusion they will be able to verify the authenticity of the item
Another common trick, according to the People’s Daily report, is known as ‘gold plating (镀金)’, referring to a practice of shipping the counterfeits abroad first to obtain overseas shipping documents and entry certificates, in an attempt to prove the product has been bought overseas.
Earlier this year, Jiangsu policemen seized more than 80,000 pieces of counterfeit luxury makeup from WeChat vendors in the city of Suzhou, who had been creating products imitating brands like Dior, MAC and Fresh. The total worth of these products was more than 1.5 million USD (approx. 10 million RMB), according to the local police.
In Jiangsu’s case, the main suspect confessed to purchasing barrels of cheap fragrance from Guangdong province, bringing the manufacturing costs to only 15 cents (1 RMB) per 50 ml bottle of counterfeit perfume. These fake products are then labeled with luxury brands, and sold at upwards of 30USD (200RMB) per bottle, leaving room for a huge profit margin.
The presence of trusted Daigou agents in this process can add a layer of credibility to the counterfeiters. In turn, the high profitability offered from selling fake luxury goods has motivated many traditional Daigou agents to participate in this illegal business. In recent years, the livelihood of Daigou agents has been adversely affected, as the Chinese government implements measures such as lower import tariffs on luxury goods, encouraging international brands to lower their China prices.

Recommended ReadingAlibaba’s Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts Appear to Pay OffBy Yiling Pan

An overseas Chinese student, Li, who admits to helping to sell fake luxury goods on WeChat, told Jing Daily, “the profitability now is attractive, and it’s hard to recognize the difference between counterfeit and real goods.”
She continued, “we don’t handle the manufacturing process of any product, but deliver them to clients. We then keep a certain percentage of the profits from every client we bring in.”
The intimate nature of WeChat as a one-on-one private messaging tool now serves as a shortcut for counterfeiters to strike deals.
“There is a huge loophole in the current law enforcement for the punishment of WeChat vendors” commented one Weibo user. “Wait, I think I might have bought a counterfeit product,” said another, demonstrating the widespread distrust shoppers now have for buying luxury goods via WeChat.
Both luxury cosmetic brands and WeChat itself are taking actions to prevent counterfeiting. Many high-end cosmetic brands like Estée Lauder, SK-II, La Mer, and Sulwhasoo now offer to recycle their customers’ empty skincare bottles for small rewards, leaving less room for Daigou to collect empty packaging. WeChat also claims to have punished more than 72,000 vendors selling counterfeit goods and shut down 875 counterfeit-related mini-programs.
Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

$70M of fake Nike Air Jordans seized in Newark from China

They looked like thousands of generic shoes without any logos or labels.
But that was just the start of the ruse.
Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested five individuals charged in a scheme to import more than $70 million in counterfeit Nike Air Jordans through Port Newark from China.
The sneakers were manufactured to resemble various editions of Jordans, which typically retail for $190, but without any identifying markings so they would not be flagged by customs officials, authorities said. Fake logos were allegedly added to the shoes after they came through the port, and then the footwear was sold to people throughout the U.S.

Real Air Jordans. (Nike)

The five -- Miyuki Suen, Jian Min Huang and Kin Lui Chen, all of New York, and Songhua Qu and Fangrang Qu of Hicksville, N.Y. -- are accused of importing at least 42 shipping containers between 2016 and 2018, bringing in an estimated more than 380,000 pairs of sneakers. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.
It is not an uncommon scam, officials say.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection last year seized $1 billion in counterfeit goods, and inspectors say they frequently come across shoes, handbags and other consumer goods that appear generic because there are no identifying brand names affixed to them. Those logos and names are then added after the items pass through customs, they said.
In one case, a shipment of Timberland boots had an insert glued over the logo on the bottom of the boot. An inspector discovered the ruse with a flick of a knife on the heel-side of the shoe.

By Ted Sherman

tsherman@njadvancemedia.com

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

LINK

Much Growth in Luxury Handbags as LVMH Makes Gains

LVMH shares soared after its sales of luxury goods beat analyst estimates, proving its resilience to an industry slowdown and giving a boost to struggling competitors.

The stock closed up 4.5 percent to 164. 10 euros Tuesday in Paris, after gaining as much as 5.8 percent, the highest price since the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks that provoked a drop in tourism and demand for luxury goods. Third-quarter sales rose 6 percent on an organic basis, beating the 4 percent expected by analysts. Increased demand for leather goods and fragrances fueled growth, with Asia improving significantly, the company said.

LVMH led gains in stocks such as Burberry Group Plc and Kering SA, the owner of Gucci. The luxury industry had been grappling with weaker demand in Asia, exacerbated by a slowdown in tourism to Europe following terrorist attacks. Last month Richemont, the maker of Cartier, warned that first-half earnings fell about 45 percent amid a slump in demand for Swiss watches, and Hermes International SCA abandonded a long-term sales growth target.

“The strong performance of the fashion and leather goods division and commentary about improvement in Asia should be taken positively for the soft luxury industry as a whole,” Zuzanna Pusz, an analyst at Berenberg, wrote in a note. 

For a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of LVMH’s results, click here

LVMH said better results in Asia boosted sales growth at its biggest segment, fashion and leather goods, to 5 percent, the fastest pace in more than a year. Revenue from perfumes and cosmetics also bested estimates as Louis Vuitton introduced seven namesake fragrances.

In mainland China, sales picked up from mid-single-digit percentage growth in the first half to mid-teens in the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said on a conference call. Chinese nationals were very active buyers both in and outside China, but it wasn’t clear whether this trend would continue, he said. Performance in Hong Kong also improved, while still in decline, the CFO said.“Hong Kong is still in negative territory,” Guiony said. “We were mid-teens negative and are mid-single-digit negative now.”

Richemont, which also owns fashion and accessories brands like Chloe and Alfred Dunhill, advanced 3.6 percent in Zurich. Swatch Group AG, the maker of Omega and Longines watches, ended the day up 4.1 percent. Hermes added 1.4 percent in Paris and Kering, whose Gucci brand is on the comeback trail, gained 1.5 percent.

The luxury industry has been suffering from a drop in tourism in Europe after last year’s terrorist attacks and the March airport bombing in Brussels. Demand for expensive timepieces has been hit the hardest lately. In July, Swatch reported its lowest first-half profit in seven years as demand cratered in Hong Kong, France and Switzerland.

-bloomberg.com