Here I am wearing my suit from suit from Principal M. at the Kerry Center hotel.
Month: December 2014
Mark Werts on Showroom Shanghai
Mark Werts, the founder of American Rag Cie, one of the most interesting multi-brand retailers in the world, founded in Los Angeles in 1984, visited Shanghai recently and attended Showroom Shanghai (æ—¶å ‚ï¼‰, a rising trade fair in that city. Stylites works quite a bit with The HUB, a Hong Kong-based trade fair, but there are several events somewhat like this rising in the region to try to capture the boom in local designers, the rise of multi-brand stores, and the increasing appetite of local customers for small and medium sized foreign brands. Another interesting fair in Shanghai that is also gaining in strength is On Time, organized by Thomas Thompson and others.
On Pop-ups at the Four Seasons
Sanjiv Hulugalle has done more than most hotel general managers to make sure the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing stands out in a crowded luxury landscape, as this Jing Daily article reports. “I’ve been across the globe. In reality, there is a consistency based on people wanting great service and experiences. In China you are seeing a surge of travelers and at a scale that’s unique to the rest of the world; you have people who want to experience things for the first time, but you also have people who have traveled a lot globally and want a luxury experience in their own country.†Discussing the pop-up shops, Sanjiv continues: “The idea for pop-ups started small. Now people are lining up to get a slot. It’s not a huge revenue generator. It creates a buzz. This place is packed compared to six to eight months ago.†When asked to comment on whether a pop-up shop concept would be considered off-brand for a luxury property the General Manger believes, “When you talk from a brand positioning perspective, we as a hotel are very much based around creating experiences for our guests, not only personalized, but unique, that the guest may not have the opportunity to experience anywhere else in the world.â€