Hermes To Launch New Chinese Brand

In the fashion industry (and, increasingly, in a industry), the phrase "Chinese craftsmanship" is usually an implied pejorative. Fairly or unfairly, things that are made in China are generally assumed to be less well-made than those manufactured in Europe or the us, and much has been made over a handful of Chinese product recalls which have been announced for lethal dog food and baby formula or lead-filled toothpaste. And once Hermes says that they're going to launch a Chinese-designed, Chinese-manufactured luxury brand, surely they jest, correct? Wrong. Hermes never jests. According to Women's Wear Daily, the new brand, Shang Xia, will be helmed by a head designer from the Chinese landmass, feature products made from Chinese materials and techniques and grow autonomous from the design influence of its legendary parent company. Of course, is it time to reevaluate our preconceived thoughts about Chinese-made goods? Developments in Chinese fashion probably are not extrapolated out to anticipation about more mundane Chinese exports, but considering how strongly so a number of our forum members feel about their favorite brands freelancing manufacturing to Asia, it's still a phenomenon worth discussing. In her oft-quoted book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, Dana Thomas explains some unfortunate, well-hidden facts about Cookware fashion manufacturing. As it turns out, many of those "Made Hermes Kelly flat bag 35 Black Swift leather Silver hardware in Italy" or "Made in France" tags on the most popular bags are technical issues at best. As is the case with lots of consumer electronics, cars, appliances and other consumer things that boast a "Made in the USA" label, most of the components that type in the manufacture in our purses are made overseas, often in China, before they're shipped to their final assembly destination to obtain their finishing details and the all-important tag. Some brands still do all of their manufacturing where they say that they do, some save the Western european manufacturing for runway pieces and outsource the more mundane things to China and some do it all overseas.