From Runways to Livestreams: How Chinese Brands Are Turning Global Visibility Into Domestic Power

After two intense months of back-to-back tests during China ’s “Golden September and Silver October” retail peak, local fashion players are redefining how to balance globalization and localization, narrative and conversion.

The End of the Scale Myth

For much of the past decade, China ’s apparel industry has been dominated by a “scale-first” mentality. Speed was the weapon; size, the defense. Brands raced to expand through new stores and soaring stock keeping units — using quantity as the main measure of success.

That strategy worked in an era of rapid economic growth. But as China’s market matures and competition shifts from expansion to retention, the marginal benefits of scale have sharply declined. Digitalization has also transformed the landscape: in an age of endless scrollin