Shanghai Pathways

China’s fashion capital, Shanghai is home to a population of insatiable shopping addicts - the sort who skip meals to save up for luxury logos. 

Chinese consumers are quickly becoming the world's largest group of buyers of luxury goods, snatching up products across all segments of luxury, both at home and overseas. Eighty per cent of the growth in luxury goods sales since the 2008 financial crisis has come from Chinese consumption. Today, despite China’s nominal self-identification as a communist state, the loosening regulation of private enterprise in the country has generated personal wealth at a rate and scale not seen before, creating a rising class of sophisticated consumers eager to reconnect with their cultural heritage.

There is a new trend that started in the last five years, as the Chinese become increasingly proud of their identity. By appealing to a cultural element that its consumers are proud of, the mainland is ready for design and promotion of its high-end products. You will visit a few luxury lifestyle brand store which is preserving ancient Chinese craft by blending traditional know-how with modern product innovation. You will also go offbeat as the most exciting retail is happening on the local level at independent boutiques.