Shanghai Tang

Type	Private
Industry	Fashion
Founded	Hong Kong (1994)
Founder	David Tang
Headquarters	Hong Kong Shanghai
Number of locations	34 (2009)
Area served	Worldwide
Owner	UTAN Group
Website	shanghaitang.com

Shanghai Tang (Chinese: 上海灘; pinyin: Shànghǎi Tān) is a Hong Kong luxury fashion house founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang. The brand is known for its luxury homeware collection and fine bone china. In 1998, Richemont acquired David Tang's controlling stake in the business.^[1][2]

David Tang stated that Shanghai Tang is a Chinese label that set out to rejuvenate Chinese fashion of the 1920s and 1930s.^[3] The fundamental design concept is inspired by 1920s Cheongsam combined with the modernity of the 21st century. Shanghai Tang is noted for its use of Chinese culture and heritage in its product styling, branding and marketing.^[4]

History

Early years

Shanghai Tang was partially inspired by Tang's desire to create a global brand that represented China, stating, "as Coca-Cola is American, as Mercedes is German, I think there should be something that is quintessentially Chinese".^[5][6] After founding the China Club in 1991, Tang moved to incorporate his tastes of fusing Shanghainese design with modern style by forming Shanghai Tang in 1994.^[7] Its original flagship location is on the ground floor of Pedder Building, Central, Hong Kong^[8] and it is now dual-headquartered in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Initially, Shanghai Tang was a fashion house for custom high-end tailoring, employing tailors from Shanghai who left during the Communist Revolution.^[9] Tang expanded his business to sell ready-to-wear items in 1996.^[10] The name Shànghǎi Tān (上海灘) literally means "Shanghai beach" and refers to the Shanghai Bund, and by extension Shanghai.

Expansion into a global brand, and resulting change

The late 1990s and early 2000s were marked by change for Shanghai Tang. Tang wanted to turn the company into a global brand, and so his Hong Kong location was followed by 24 outlets worldwide over the years, including Bangkok, Beijing, Honolulu, London, Miami, New York City, Las Vegas, Madrid, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore and Macau. They are often located in well-known areas such as Singapore's Orchard Road, Bangkok's Sukhumvit Road, and Shanghai's Xintiandi.^[2]

Shanghai Tang's first American store was opened in New York on November 21, 1997,^[7] and in 1998, the Swiss company Richemont bought a controlling stake in the fashion house.^[11] However, the New York store, located on Madison Avenue, closed in less than two years due to lower-than-expected sales, relative to the high rent.^[2] The store was moved to a smaller venue in 2001.^[12][2]

In 2001, Raphael le Masne de Chermont, from the parent company Richemont, was appointed CEO of Shanghai Tang.^[13] In addition, Joanne Ooi joined the company as creative director the same year.^[14] As the chief executive, Le Masne de Chermont wanted to figure out a way to cater to both the Chinese and international market, remarking, "[Shanghai Tang was] too dependent on Western people visiting Hong Kong, and we needed to transform the brand into something mainland Chinese wanted to buy".^[15] As part of the strategy to revitalize Shanghai Tang, Ooi traveled across the country, taking notes on Chinese culture. She then picked themes based on her notes that formed the basis of the company's seasonal collections.^[10] Le Masne de Chermont and Ooi opted to transform the brand from 1930s Shanghai, into a more contemporary style that retained its vibrant colours from previous designs (Heine & Phan 2013, p. 16).

Shanghai Tang helped design costumes for the 2004 Yonfan film Colour Blossoms, starring Teresa Cheung.^[16]

As part of their focus on the Chinese market, Shanghai Tang created the Mandarin Collar Society in 2007.^[17] It is an invitation-only club to promote shirts with a mandarin collar as standard work attire in Asia.^[18] Ooi left Shanghai Tang by the end of the following year to work for a biotech company.^[19]

Present

After 17 years, in October 2011, the company's 6,300-square-foot flagship store in Hong Kong's Pedder Building closed, with rising rents being cited as the main reason.^[8] Shanghai Tang lost the space to American retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, who were prepared to pay two-and-a-half times the original rent.^[20] As of 2023, there are three stores across Hong Kong as well as stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other Asian cities, along with a string of Shanghai Tang cafes and restaurants in China.

In 2014 Shanghai Tang celebrated its 20th anniversary in Shanghai.^[21]

In July 2017, Swiss luxury group Richemont announced that it had sold Shanghai Tang.

In 2019, Shanghai Tang celebrated its silver jubilee by collaborating with Chinese artist Xu Bing on calligraphic artwork inspired by Shanghai Tang's vision.^[22][23]

From 2020 onwards, Shanghai Tang became a core brand of UTAN Group, a leading Global luxury group with brands in art, culture and lifestyle. Commencing in 2023, Shanghai Tang began a large expansion strategy across Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and other global cities. Shanghai Tang also launched its 2023 fall winter collection at Milan Fashion Week, and saw sales from its homewards and lifestyle products begin to surge with new collections in collaboration with leading Chinese contemporary artists.