Adidas x Shuting Qiu, Urban Revivo x Caroline Hu, and more: China collabs of the week

Taking place from July 20 to August 20 2023, the Fifa Women’s World Cup has inspired a reel of brand collaborations, including Martine Rose x Nike and Prada kitting out the Chinese team – fashion’s got football fever.

The latest to join in is Adidas, which is launching a luxe sportswear collection with Shanghai-based womenswear label Shuting Qiu. 

In other Western-Chinese crossovers, this week saw plimsoll favorite Vans announce a collaboration with Tagi and global, China-based brand Urban Revivo launch a capsule with Paris Fashion Week designer Caroline Hu.

For our verdict on these Chinese brand collaborations, check out the below. Subscribe here to receive these updates straight to your inbox via the Collabs & Drops newsletter every Tuesday.

Vans x Tagi

Date: August 5

Product: Authentic and Old Skool shoes

Social context: On Weibo, Tagi has 56,000 followers, and the brand’s #Tagi Tagi hashtag has 51.54 million views.

Verdict: American plimsoll trailblazer Vans’ stellar localization strategy sees it frequently tap domestic brands to connect with consumers in various markets. The latest brand collaboration with Shanghai-born lifestyle brand Tagi enables it to authentically relate to its Chinese fanbase.

Inspired by Hainan Island’s beaches, Tagi’s take on Vans’ Authentic and Old Skool signature silhouettes feature blue denim and sanding at the stitched border, with the brand slogan, “Timely access of gripping imagination,” emblazoned on the upper.

Vans’ key to successful collaboration is literally providing a blank canvas for designers, utilizing the fame of its footwear silhouettes to give full creative control to collaborators.

Adidas x Shuting Qiu

Date: July 30

Product: Sportswear collection

Social context: The #adidasxSHUTINGQIU hashtag on Weibo hasn’t taken off yet, with just five organic posts, despite Shuting Qiu having 150,000 fans on the platform. She has 3,066 on Xiaohongshu, where her posts about the collaboration have attracted 103 likes.

Verdict: Another name finessing localized collaboration is German sportswear giant Adidas, which has just announced a collaboration with Hangzhou-born, Antwerp-educated designer Shuting Qiu.

In celebration of the Women’s Football World Cup, the collection is a tribute to Adidas’ Tiro series, merging football and luxury fashion. Combining Shuting Qiu’s signature florals with Adidas’ established designs is an effective way to connect with China’s football fans.

And as there’s an installation located at Shanghai’s Adidas Flagship store, the brand is able to connect with fans on the ground. However, seeing as Adidas is yet to post about the tie-up on Weibo, the online traction is minor, so far.

Perhaps, due to the extent of China’s football fan culture and Adidas’ reach in general, the collection will organically do well and does not need to be propelled by a large social media campaign.

Urban Revivo x Caroline Hu

Date: July 27

Product: Capsule collection

Social context: Caroline Hu has 2,070 fans on Weibo, whereas Urban Revivo has 744,000. Hu also has 24,100 followers on Instagram and Urban Revivo has 197,000.

Verdict: Guangzhou-based brand Urban Revivo has a global platform, having been established in 2006 and stocked on Western retailers such as Asos and Amazon.

Taking that into consideration, this tie-up provides the Caroline Hu label with further consumer exposure, while injecting the brand with new design creativity and inspiration.

Hu’s brand was founded 12 years post-Urban Revivo, making it more emerging and in a position to benefit from having the platform of more mainstream brands.

It’s a way of making her designs more accessible to the wider public, while enabling Urban Revivo to be associated with high-end fashion. After all, Hu is a fixture now on the Paris Fashion Week schedule.