news

on august 29, a beijing business daily reporter found that the store of carven, a women's clothing brand under zhihe, located in the south district of taikoo li sanlitun, beijing has been closed. the store in skp, beijing, was also closed this year. currently, there is only one store left in beijing, wangfu central, and the store of the brand in skp, chengdu, has also been replaced by zhihe, a brand of the same company. not only that, carven has also stopped the membership points system since this year, and both new and old products are sold at a discount. industry insiders pointed out that carven comes from france and is mainly oriented to the european market. only by restoring its influence in its home market can it grow in china. however, in the mature fashion market of france, it is difficult for carven, which is struggling, to revive. at present, it may be a reasonable move to choose to reduce the scale of the brand.

points reset to zero and stores closed one after another

carven, which was born almost at the same time as chanel, is closing stores and offering discounts. on august 29, a beijing business daily reporter visited and found that the carven store previously located in the south district of sanlitun taikoo li has been closed. recently, with the adjustment of the sanlitun business district, many light luxury women's clothing stores have withdrawn, such as sandro, maje and self-portrait. but for carven, this is not the only store it has closed recently. the store on the underground floor of beijing spk was closed this year; the carven store in chengdu skp was also replaced by the same company brand zhihe this year.

in addition, consumer xiao ai (pseudonym) posted a screenshot on xiaohongshu, saying that carven sent a text message to members earlier this year saying, "starting from january 30, 2024, carven will stop the member points system, and offline store purchases and online purchases will no longer generate points." xiao ai told the beijing business daily reporter that she has not purchased from the brand since then and her points have been reset to zero.

the manager of carven wangfu central store explained to the beijing business daily reporter that "the above sms about stopping points is a system of clearing points once a year". as for whether points can be earned from purchasing products at present, the manager said that products with a discount below 10% cannot earn points. the reporter saw in the store that most of the products in the store are having end-of-season activities, and the 2024 models have a 30% discount. the clerk also said that if you need the old models, there will be more discounts, but they are not on display in the store and can be transferred. the official customer service of carven tmall flagship store told reporters that "the points system has ended in july and the online store has subsequently cancelled the points system".

a beijing business daily reporter communicated with carven's parent company, the carven group, over the phone about the reasons for the store closures and other interview questions, but no response was received as of press time.

the french brand filed for bankruptcy in may 2018 and was handed over to the paris commercial court by the holding company to look for a buyer. due to a shortage of suppliers, carven was forced to cancel orders for its 2018 spring and summer collection worth millions of euros in early 2018 due to production delays. while carven's revenue fell to 21.5 million euros in 2017, it also had a debt of up to 40 million euros. in october 2018, shanghai zhihe fashion industrial group co., ltd. acquired the debt-ridden carven for 4.2 million euros through its french subsidiary, and reorganized it into zhihe carven group in 2020, with its headquarters in paris.

easy to acquire, difficult to operate

after the acquisition, carven presented itself with a more cautious and low-key image. according to the acquisition plan, most of carven's employees will stay, but creative director serge ruffieux is not included. on november 5, 2018, ruffieux officially announced his resignation through instagram, and the brand's own design studio will take over the creative work. for many years afterwards, the chicco group did not find a suitable successor for carven, and the direction of carven's reshaping of its brand image was not determined.

it was not until february 2023 that the brand announced that british designer louise trotter would be the new creative director. she was previously the creative director of another french fashion brand, lacoste, and her first collection after joining carven was released during the paris fashion week in september 2023. the brand's new products for 2024 will also be designed by louise trotter. carven staff said that after the change of designer, the products will focus on minimalist style.

but judging from consumer feedback, the new designer has not captured the hearts of the original fans. a beijing business daily reporter searched for carven on xiaohongshu and found that many consumers complained that the design was not as good as before after the change of designer. a ms. wang (pseudonym) from guangzhou told the reporter, "originally this brand was a paradise for 'short people', but now the style has become ordinary. the salesperson recommended to me that last year's old models were 50% off, but the good-looking styles were gone."

in terms of store expansion, according to fashionnetwork's report in 2019, the chicco group plans to open 40 new stores for carven in the chinese market in the next two years. although the brand's official website has not yet announced the specific number of stores, in reality, carven has not opened many stores. in the two years since the acquisition, it has only opened three stores in high-end shopping malls such as chengdu ifs and shenzhen mixc. carven's french ceo once said about this speed of store opening, "you need to have a clear positioning in the entire chinese market before you can expand like a shower head." today, carven's expansion speed in china has not increased but decreased. currently, the brand only has one store left in beijing, wangfu central.

is high-endization the only opportunity?

throughout the history of carven's development, this small fashion brand has experienced several upheavals. in 2008, french businessman henri sebaoun and a private equity fund jointly acquired carven, but sold its perfume business immediately. in 2015, mrs. carven, 105, passed away. the brand then stopped its men's clothing line and was bought by the hong kong luxury goods agent bluebell group. after discovering that the brand was not performing well, bluebell group quickly stopped financial support for carven and began to seek a sale. the repeated changes of ownership have made this brand, which started almost at the same time as chanel, far less important than chanel in the fashion industry.

zhou ting, director of yaoke research institute, pointed out that carven's store closures and discounts will have a very negative impact on the brand image, which means that the brand has admitted the failure of its current brand strategy. "the light luxury style is originally a pseudo-concept. the core of the cost-effective route is based on meeting functional needs. the core of being a luxury brand is to lead the lifestyle and create added value. the decline of light luxury brands and their inability to bear high rental costs like luxury brands are inevitable results."

whether overseas brands can achieve good development in the chinese market depends on the brand's image abroad and whether it has a strong supply chain. "now is still a good time for foreign brands to enter china, but the competition from chinese brands and the adaptation and familiarity with chinese customers and chinese culture will be the biggest challenges for brands. high-endization is the only opportunity and way out for international brands to enter china, and learning from successful luxury brands is the best way." zhou ting believes.

yang dayun of utabrand, an investment company of uta, said frankly, "the carven brand originated in france and is originally aimed at the european market. only by regaining its influence in the european and international markets can it grow in the chinese market. however, there are many small and medium-sized enterprises in france whose sales have been ranging from millions to tens of millions of euros for many years. carven is under enormous pressure to restore its influence, and the acquirer will need decades of investment before it can be effective."

yang dayun further pointed out that brands like carven have low visibility, influence and sustainable scalability, and the most direct manifestation is that there is almost no overseas purchasing. therefore, in the chinese market, it is equivalent to starting from a "white label", which requires a long period of capital injection and incubation, but it may also cause the performance of the entire group to be dragged down. "in a mature fashion market like france, it is very difficult to revive the struggling carven. at present, it is reasonable to choose to reduce the scale of the brand."

beijing business daily reporter lin yuwei