CHINA. China Duty Free Group (CDFG) has this month introduced New York luxury fashion label Thom Browne to the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay, Hainan.
Thom Browne, founded by the American designer of the same name in 2001, has been 85% owned by Italian luxury fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna since August 2018. The design consistently uses high-quality craftsmanship and exquisite tailoring to convey a pure American style.
Another renowned Italian luxury fashion brand, Salvatore Ferragamo – a traditionally strong partner for CDFG – has also just opened a newly upgraded store at the acclaimed Haitang Bay complex.
“The brand cooperation between CDFG and Thom Browne has opened a magnificent new chapter,” said CDFG, a further illustration of the retailer’s increasing focus on the high-end fashion and accessories sector.
CDFG said that Thom Browne combines consistency and uniqueness and will become a long-term partner. This is the brand’s first independent boutique in Hainan.
“Over recent years CDFG has been committed to establishing partnerships with high-end luxury brands, deepening brand cooperation, and providing those brands with a preferred channel to enter China’s duty free market based on their international standards and perspective,” CDFG said.
The revamped Salvatore Ferragamo boutique maintains the brand’s essence of being full of creativity, passion and resilience, and featuring a very modern design style, CDFG said.
In addition to various Salvatore Ferragamo men’s and women’s series, a dazzling array of bags, shoes, small leathergoods, silk accessories, glasses, perfumes and watches create a highly distinctive and comfortable shopping experience for consumers, the retailer added.
Through the upgrading and transformation of the stores from many brands such as Ferragamo in the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex, CDFG said that it is keeping up with its partners’ advancement and ambitions. CDFG is always striving to enhance the store image by providing consumers with a “cutting-edge and comfortable shopping experience”, it added.
Under the leadership of its parent company, China Tourism Group, CDFG has become one of the fastest-growing travel retailers in the world over recent years. This culminated in the group assuming world number one status in 2020, as revealed by the benchmark Moodie Davitt Report Top 25 Travel Retailers ranking.
Commenting on how it is gearing up its presence across the fashion and luxury categories, CDFG emphasised the long-standing and cooperative relationships it enjoys with many of the world’s most famous names.
“Through the introduction of new brands and the renovation and upgrading of original stores, CDFG’s brand influence in the travel retail market has been steadily strengthening,” the company said, a dynamic illustrated by the new Thom Browne store and the refreshed Ferragamo boutique.
To further enrich the shopping experience, the third CDF Hainan Offshore Duty Free Shopping Festival opened on 6 July with the carnival activities running through the summer until September.
During the event, CDFG’s five duty free stores in Hainan, including Sanya International Duty Free City, Sanya Phoenix International Airport, Haikou Riyue Square, Haikou Meilan International Airport and Qionghai Bo’ao Airport jointly launched a range of promotional activities, prompting a wave of island-wide buying.
ABOUT CDFG
CDFG is a state-owned enterprise approved by the State Council to operate duty free and tax free business nationwide. During its past 30 years of rapid development, the group has established long-term and stable cooperative relations with over 1,000 world-renowned brands.
CDFG has set up more than 240 duty free shops in more than 30 provinces, cities, autonomous regions (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Cambodia and other places in China. Its sales channels cover major Chinese hub airports such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Hong Kong.
In Hainan, Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in the province provides duty free goods and services for nearly 200 million domestic and foreign tourists every year. The company said that it has developed the world’s most comprehensive range of duty free shop types and the largest number of stores in a single country.
Among them, thanks to the country’s and island’s stable control of the COVID-19 epidemic and a continually enhanced offshore duty free shopping policy, the Hainan business has particularly prospered over the past year.
Footnote: Every fortnight The Moodie Davitt Report publishes Hainan Curated, in association with Foreo, a selection of all recent stories from the offshore duty free sector in Hainan province. Click here to subscribe free of charge and to view all back issues.
