Posts Tagged ‘trends’

fashion | stussy in shanghai? ::

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

:: Shanghai’s streetwear scene is about to get a little more crowded. Urban threads superpower Stussy appears to be setting up shop on the corner of Changle Rd. and Shanxi Rd.

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I wonder if similar brands will soon be touching down in Shanghai (or Beijing) to take advantage of the growing global demand for streetwear. And will local Chinese consumers react favorably to Stussy’s arrival? There seems to be a lot of growth potential in this market especially with the upcoming 2009 Shanghai X Games happening April 30th – May 3rd.

This follows a recent announcement by high-end streetwear retailer ACU (also located on Changle Rd.) saying it will be closing up shop from early May 2009 until the end of summer / early fall for re-branding and an enhanced sales environment.

Hopefully an official announcement leaks from Stussy soon.  //

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[ is a guest contributor on 56minus1]

trends | mobile female gamers? ::

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

:: over the past 6 months or so I have noticed a very obvious increase in the number of women I see using portable gaming devices (SONY PSP, GameBoy, etc.) in Shanghai, especially on the subway. Is this something new? Anyone else noticing this?  // AjS

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trends | hybrid shanzhai’s ::

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

:: I came across this pair of shoes worn by a woman on the subway today in Shanghai. I know Puma has done some cross-branded efforts with BMW (and Ferrari), but this just can’t be the result. Hybrid shanzhai’ing?  // AjS

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the best of parkour in china ::

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

DannyYungOnParkour:: I have always been a fan of parkour and free-running, so I was thrilled to (literally) crash into a group of local teenagers / 20-somethings yesterday parkour’ing near People’s Square in Shanghai – it was great. I tried stopping one of them to find out more information, etc. but all of them were too busy jumping over stuff to talk to me…fair enough.

Later in the evening I got online to see what more I could learn about parkour in China, and, to my surprise, I came across several online Chinese parkour groups / communities / forums – they all start linking to each other after a while, but if you’re interested, start with these: City Monkey (Beijing based), Love Parkour (爱跑酷, national), China Parkour & Freerunning (national), Guangxi Parkour, Parkour Jilin, Ningxia Street Culture Union, Fujian Parkour, TNT Parkour Club (Nanjing based), etc.

Also, see below for a series of superb parkour videos from practically every corner of China. I have to admit, I was entirely unaware of the depth and breadth of parkour culture in China – it’s exciting to see how Chinese youth have taken to it. From what I gather, it’s only been around in China for a few years. Either way, very cool. Oh, and get this, parkour is translated in Chinese as 跑酷 (pao2 ku4), how great is that?! It’s perhaps my new favorite word.

Lastly, the marketer in me notices that there is zero brand presence (maybe that’s a good thing?) in any of this content; seems like a massively missed opportunity to connect with an edgy, emerging (i.e. trendsetting and influential) subculture in China. // AjS

in Xinjiang…

in Beijing…

in Hunan (inside a dorm room at the Hunan Industrial University), H/T to Youku Buzz

in Xian…

in Shanxi (maybe also Xian)…

in Nanjing…

in Chengdu…

not sure where, looks to be in Western China and appears to be a soldier or police officer of some sort…

location unknown…

in multiple locations (Beijing, Nanjing, Qinhuangdao, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Fujian, Xian, etc.)

in Shenyang…

in Guangxi…

in Wuhan…

in Jinan…

in Yunnan…

in Yangquan…

in Tianjin…

in Wushan…

in Hangzhou…