Fast forward for fashion

Sweden-based H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, for example, has new brands - COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and H&M HOME - heading into the Chinese market. It also opened its first male clothes store in Shanghai this August, targeting men's fast fashion in China.

H&M Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson said: "China is the country where our expansion is strongest. H&M has grown 10 to 15 percent in China and keeps penetrating second- and third-tier cities."

In 2013, the group is expected to open 350 new stores globally. The opening of its 3,000th store, which took place in Chengdu, shows the brand has strong faith in the Chinese market, said Magnus Olsson, general manager of H&M China.

Location is the most crucial element in opening stores. "We'd rather postpone the opening date of a new store to wait for the right location," said Olsson.

Olsson said H&M controls costs by such strategies as employing its own designers and maintaining a highly efficient logistics chain.

H&M's major competitor, Industria de Diseno Textil SA (known as Inditex), is the world's leading fashion retailer. It has grown to 415 stores in China, with eight brands of its portfolio present including Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka.

Hermann Ng, chief executive officer of Retail Nation, a consultancy in Shanghai, said the number of foreign leading fast fashion brands in the country is far from saturated, given demand from Chinese shoppers and shopping centers.

A local fast fashion brand, La Chapelle, has opened about 5,000 stores in China, Ng said.

But foreign brands might need more time to digest their quick development. Motivi is not growing too quickly as they want to understand more about people in the cities they've already entered, said Spaanjaars.

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