China’s Trendy International Group, the owner of Miss Sixty, Energie and Killah brands in Asia, has made its mark on the campus of London’s Central Saint Martins college, where John Galliano, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen graduated from, by renaming the main avenue as ‘Trendy Group Street’. Trendy International aims to enhance its global influence and attract talent by giving its name to the street, the Fashion Network reported yesterday. The report did not mention the size of the company’s investment. Chinese investors have recognized the potential of the British fashion market. Earlier, real estate developer China Everbright’s unit Everbright Grand China Assets bought the London College of Fashion’s Holborn campus for GBP82 million (USD102.8 million). Even if Trendy International and Everbright do not operate these colleges, they spread their influence, which may be wise amid global retail fluctuations, industry insiders said in the report. Founded in 1999, Trendy International has domestic garment brands of Trendiano, Ochirly, and Coven Garden. France’s LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton invested about USD200 million in the Guangzhou-based firm in 2012, which was the largest foreign investment in China at that time. The UK has a robust fashion market, as the sector contributed GBP32.3 billion to the British gross domestic product in 2017, a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year, which was higher than the nation’s general economic growth rate, according to data from the British Fashion Council. Source: yicaiglobal.com
