Retail Express
Foo & Foo Sets Eyes on China With 50 Stores Planned for Next Three Years
2023-10-16
Foo & Foo, the Los Angeles-based fashion label founded by Elizabeth Hilfiger, is looking to open more than 50 brick-and-mortar stores, as well as a full-fledged e-commerce business, over the next three years in China via a partnership with theImmersive, a brand development joint venture founded by DFO and New Accolade Group... Foo & Foo’s American-made versatile basics offer a kind of edge that speaks to the Olivia Rodrigo generation, and the aesthetic is resonating in China as well, according to Hilfiger, daughter of Tommy Hilfiger.
“We’ve seen an increasing growth of our customer base in Asia, particularly the Chinese market, where the youth population and next-gen are coming out with the most creative visions and shared vision for what we do,” she said. The brand’s distressed thermal T-shirts, bungee cord skirts, slouchy jeans and sweatpants are largely priced under $200, and top out at under $500. T-shirts and easy layering pieces can run around $80.
Meimei Ding, chief brand officer at theImmersive and founder of DFO, said her team believes “Hilfiger’s creativity and inclusivity will build a strong youth community not just for China, but globally as well, and we are committed to supporting her with our expertise and resources.”Ding said the brand’s first store will be located in one of China’s key retail cities, either in Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu, and the following retail roadmap will focus on provincial capital cities across China such as Shenzhen, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Changsha.
Foo & Foo was founded in 2017 after Hilfiger graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. The brand has presented two collections during New York Fashion Week and has been worn by “It” girls such as Bella Hadid, Stella Maxwell and Georgia May Jagger. DFO presented the brand for the first time in March, and since then the pace of development “has been very fast, just as the pace of the Chinese market,” according to Ding.
“Chinese youth is drawn to her strong DNA, which comes from her Californian roots and is expressed through her playful tops and reconstructed denim. For the Chinese market, we are working with her to create styles that resonate even more closely with the Chinese youth community, including drawing on Chinese cultural elements,” added Ding. DFO is a Shanghai-based brand accelerator for global fashion brands in China with services across wholesale, communication and strategy. Its clients include Christian Wijnants, System, Stine Goya, Fiorucci, Tibi, Joseph, Études and GCDS.
New Accolade Group is a label founded by the team behind Chinese streetwear retailer INXX, which has more than 150 physical points of sale across China. The company provides retail roadmaps for designer brands in China, including brick-and-mortar, outlet and key online channels.