“Rise of Guochao” has been a key term in the fashion industry’s development in recent years. Numerous Chinese local brands have leveraged this trend to become “internet celebrity” brands on social platforms. Young consumers’ acceptance of Chinese culture is much higher than in the past decade. National pride and confidence make more young people willing to try and use Chinese fashion brands. This is an era of vigorous development for Chinese local fashion brands, as well as a time where survival of the fittest showcases the value of brands.
Established in 2016, the Chinese clothing brand Guaxin has gradually emerged in the wave of “Guochao” with its blend of various ethnic cultural elements and the use of traditional oriental crafts. This has made Guaxin a well-known Chinese national brand among Guochao enthusiasts. However, as Guaxin gained popularity, online doubts about the brand also increased. Is the design monotonous and lacking innovation? Is there no differentiation from other brands, with poor core competitiveness? Is it a fast fashion brand disguised as an ethnic design?
In response to online controversies and the numerous questions from netizens, a Global Times Fashion Channel reporter conducted an in-depth interview with Guaxin brand founder and design director A Xin.
Reporter: Many people got to know Guaxin through social platforms. Can you talk about the brand’s journey before becoming known as an “internet celebrity brand”?
A Xin: Many people indeed got to know Guaxin through social platforms. Before the advent of these platforms, there was no such thing as an “internet celebrity brand”. Our brand started long before this, as early as 2007. We only joined some social platforms in 2018. By then, we had already accumulated a number of fans. The concept of “Guofeng” (Chinese style) was relatively unknown to many before this, as our brand was quite niche. Social platforms have a wide reach, so through them, people gradually came to understand “Guofeng”, and realized that Chinese style could be presented, worn, and designed in such a way. Whether we’re called an ethnic brand or an internet celebrity brand, our original intention is “to make the world fall in love with Chinese beauty”. As long as we achieve this goal, we don’t mind what we’re called.
Reporter: What are the inspirations behind Guaxin’s designs?
A Xin: Chinese culture is profound and nearly all-encompassing. Whether it’s Tang poetry, Song lyrics, or Hanfu, these all belong to “Chinese style”. “Chinese style” also includes many traditional crafts such as embroidery, batik, printing, and Chinese knots. These are all ways of expressing “Chinese style”. Embroidery is just our entry point. I am from a minority ethnic group, and the Miao people are particularly fond of embroidery. It’s something we excel at, which is why we chose this entry point. Through this, more people can learn about embroidery and intangible cultural heritage, and discover that these methods can make clothes so beautiful, encouraging more young people to like this design style. So, embroidery is prominently featured in our clothing. However, many of our clothes do not have embroidery. These non-embroidered designs may not be as eye-catching and might be overlooked. Therefore, besides embroidery, we have many other “Chinese style” clothes.
Reporter: People often think of dragons and phoenixes when it comes to Chinese embroidery. How do you address concerns about repetitive design elements?
A Xin: This is a preconception. When people see things like dragons and phoenixes, their first impression is that this represents “Chinese style”. When they see these elements, they might wonder why they are used again. In fact, we have many other elements besides dragons and phoenixes, such as the lion dance, cranes, kylins, tigers, and IPs like Nezha and Sun Wukong, as well as other elements like Kun and deer. However, people see dragons and phoenixes and think Guaxin only has these two elements. Some fans see cranes and associate them with “riding cranes to heaven”, thinking these clothes are only for the dead. But cranes are a sacred animal in China, traditionally seen as the vehicles of immortals, and only they are worthy of immortals. In ancient times, high-ranking officials wore clothes with crane patterns, as did many empresses. Phrases like “carefree as a crane” describe elegance, and “pine and crane, long life” symbolizes longevity. Some netizens have limited views, but this shows that we haven’t done enough. We should work harder to promote these traditional cultures so that more people understand that Chinese culture encompasses more than just dragons and phoenixes, but also many auspicious patterns. This is one of our goals.
Reporter: Many people say that they don’t see innovation in the form of embroidery. How do you respond to that?
A Xin: Clothing is flat, and crafts like embroidery are meant to break that flatness. This is what we have been doing. For instance, we incorporate transparent designs into clothes. Besides embroidery, we also have many “small but beautiful” designs, which people may not have noticed. Embroidery is just a medium. People born in the 80s and 90s prefer to use symbols to express their inner selves. In our designs, we have also used many other forms of expression. For example, we used a line from a Tang poem, “Lantian sunshine brings out the beauty of jade, Zhuangzi dreams of butterflies”, and made jade into buttons for clothes. We have also used cloud motifs, making them transparent and hollowed out. Embroidery itself has many techniques, such as gold couching embroidery, Su embroidery, and Miao embroidery. We have used many such techniques in our clothing. I think some people may not fully understand us. Guaxin has many more styles and designs waiting to be discovered. We hope to give everyone more time to get to know us and discover “Chinese beauty”.
Reporter: What are the different consumer groups for Guaxin?
A Xin: Guaxin has three consumer groups. The first group is offline consumers. They mainly purchase through physical stores, such as those on Qianmen Street in Beijing, Ancient Culture Street in Tianjin, Taiping Old Street in Changsha, Muslim Street in Xi’an, and stores near the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. Offline consumers are primarily people born in the 60s and 70s, as they prefer to touch the fabric and try on clothes in person. Online consumers are mainly people born in the 80s and 90s, whose shopping habits have shifted to mobile and faster purchasing methods. These consumers prefer unique and exaggerated designs, Guochao elements, and styles that represent their own ideas. Our future target consumers are those born in the 2000s. For example, our “little dudou” product sold very well and is still out of stock, with many people waiting for it. So, the post-2000 generation is the consumer group we aim to attract in the future.
Reporter: How do you feel about imitation and copying of your designs?
A Xin: Initially, we felt it was somewhat flattering because they were copying Guaxin’s designs, which means they were promoting Chinese beauty. However, later on, we realized the negative impact, as they used lower-quality materials and reduced embroidery costs to control expenses, resulting in poor quality products. This behavior tarnishes the reputation of Chinese style. It makes consumers think that Chinese-style clothes are of poor quality, damaging the perception of Guaxin and Chinese style in general.
Our popular designs are easy to imitate, but some of our customized clothes cannot be copied. We also launch new designs very quickly, so imitators can’t keep up with our pace. Moreover, Guaxin’s fans are very loyal and recognize our brand. Each of our clothes has a unique code, and your name can even appear on the clothing, which imitators cannot replicate. This is our core competitiveness. We also have high-end clothes, purely hand-embroidered by Miao embroiderers, costing from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand yuan, with long production periods. These high-end products are also impossible to imitate.
Reporter: Why do you act as the brand’s spokesperson and model?
A Xin: Initially, this approach saved costs for our creative brand and allowed us to promote our new clothes immediately. I am the spokesperson for Gu A XIN, an ordinary person without the height or physique of a model. The clothes I wear are the same as those that customers receive, what you see is what you get. This builds credibility on social platforms. Furthermore, if models are hired, they can be hired by others as well, making it difficult to protect our brand. My own photos serve as a trademark. For women’s and children’s clothing, we do hire some models but prefer using ordinary people. This makes the clothes more relatable and shows that the photos represent the actual product