Managing Creativity at Shanghai Tang Notes PDF

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10/16/2018 

Managing Creativity at Shanghai Tang  Raphael le Masne – executive chairman of Shanghai Tang  Creative director – Joanne Ooi – helped him turn around high end fashion emporium o Decided to leave – moving on o Trained as a corporate lawyer – wanted to join biochemical company o Balanced artistic creativity and business sense 

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Fashion designers upset that their designs aren’t selling o If constantly told to do only best sellers – kills creativity

History of Shanghai Tang  Opened in Hong Kong – 1994  David Tang – founder – sold watches, jackets, chopsticks, etc. along with tailoring of suits/dresses  Hong Kong flooded w/ visitors in 1997 b/c British handed over control – Tang saw business opportunity  

Broke even in less than a year – made profit Entered agreement w Richemont group – Switzerland goods maker – gave them majority stake in the company

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Tang wanted to take it international – opened up a store in New York – didn’t like it – closed down

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Financial crisis swept through Asia in 1997 – sales went down 40%

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Ended up with a 5% stake in Shanghai Tang Turning Shanghai Tang Around  Raphael le Masne (appointed exec chairman) – had experience managing luxury y brands – experience in Asia too o Move Shanghai Tang in a new, creative direction and needed creative director  Joanne Ooi – toured and critiqued the flagship store  Before, Ooi had her own fashion label, own boutique, etc. 

Shanghai Tang needed new design strategy o Decided to design each collection to reflect a Chinese cultural theme  Miao group costumes was first

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*For inspiration, Ooi would visit a province in China and see how a group dressed

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Had to be modern and wearable – able to wear w/ jeans

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Extended beyond clothing – home accessories, handbags, menswear

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Future of Shanghai Tang was in China – increasing # of wealthy households

**The Design Process  50% of business came from the core collection o Top sellers o Remaining business was the seasonal collection – changed every 6mo – fresh and trendy

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7 in-house designers Distribute brief outline of the theme to designers – interpretations can vary

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Creativity essential if you want to compete w/ other brands Facilitate the creativity - Shanghai Tang kept a library of books on Chinese culture and catalogs of Chinese icons and shapes

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Organized regular trips for designers to visit key Chinese cities

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Up to 100 designs in this 2mo period from each designer Ooi regularly gave feedback on their designs

Product Committee Meeting  Designers present their designs to executive chairman, creative director, key business managers, etc.  Purpose: evaluate and give feedback to designers  Designers who didn’t fit the “Shanghai Tang DNA” did not survive o 2 key components  1. Chinese-ness  2. Bright colors 

Final design needs to look Chinese

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Designers have their own creative ideas, but need to harness them and keep in mind the direction of the brand

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Qipao – some design ers say that Chinesse’ness isn’t only a tight ‘qipao’

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Shanghai Tang learned to avoid certain colors and fabrics that customers didn’t want

o Li – the chief women’s wear designer – disagreed that certain colors will never work – other considerations  How people sell it  How it is made, etc. o Sheer fabric tended not to sell – more conservative customer 

*Designers often pushed back at managers’ comments – sales performance doesn’t always predict the future o Managers said past gives them something to analyze – guidelines

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Designers thought management was too concerned w/ commercial designs and not w/ creativity

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At the same time, most designers don’t think about sales considerations

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Some did look at best sellers and go from there

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Designers received reports from retail and marketing departments after every season – showed best sellers

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Designers encouraged to spend time @ retail stores to get ideas and feedback from customers

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Eliminated designs considered too expensive to produce – needed a certain margin

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Sent to factories to make prototypes – what looks good on paper may not look good physically

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*Certain limits on Chinese manufacturers constrained designers creativity o Could not produce certain types of embroidery or stiches some designers wanted

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After choosing final collection – sent to factories for samples 6-7 months from sketching designs to sample productions

Open to Buy  Sample products arrive – management meeting – buyers from retail outlets would come and place their orders o Used budget called “Open to Buy” – to make their selections  If buyers didn’t place enough orders on a certain design – design would be dropped o Designers tried to persuade them to buy

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Ordering process was challenge for retail buyers – had to meet diverse, conflicting consumer demands – Chinese and European customers like different things

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The Creative Directors’ Departure  Designers felt lost and disappointed  Ooi was good at imagining things – open minded and understanding  *Creative designer played critical role in identifying theme and vision for each session and guiding designers toward that vision

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Needed someone who was successful in the international fashion arena

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Le Masne considered taking on the role himself – he had no background in fashion design – could not draw or sketch o He was more of a business person o Risk of overstretching

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Marketing director was also leaving – le Masne stepped in to lead the marketing department

Looking Ahead  Back to the taxi scene – radio said mainland Chinese market became increasingly important for luxury products  Key competitor showcased highly creative collection that attracted media attention 

Arrived at his destination - Shanghai Tang retail outlet in Shanghai – find out how customers were reacting to his latest collection

10/16/2018 

10/16/2018 ...