Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 267 - 262: Shining Debut (1)

After Bao Bao’s wedding, Yan Yan went to the United States.

This time, Yan Yan was visiting the States as the creative director for Y.Y, the brand that was making waves in the fashion scene recently.

Y.Y’s fan base extended beyond America’s "street youth" to many different areas.

In a little over two years, she opened thirty stores across the US. Each was only "half-done," but despite such an approach, she continuously launched new outlets. Each new opening created a buzz and set social media on fire.

Wherever a "social hot spot" emerged, media presence was inevitable.

In 2015, the popularity of Y.Y extended from online communities to mainstream media.

The rise of Y.Y was shrouded in mystery.

Apart from an odd business model where each store "closed" for half a month every month, the speed at which Y.Y launched new products was baffling.

They outpaced brands known for their efficient industry integration, agile supply chain management, and advanced IT systems, like Zara and H&M, by more than double.

For established luxury brands that release bespoke clothing, it usually takes at least six months from the fashion show to the actual product launch.

For brands like Zara, which started by replicating big-name designs, it only takes a month.

This time disparity allowed the "cheap yet not cheap" Zara to rise rapidly in the general apparel market (Zara is considered expensive in China but is much cheaper in Europe and America).

days after a launch event, Zara’s clothes would already be hanging in their stores worldwide.

In contrast, clothes from genuine high-fashion brands showcased during Fashion Week might not even have entered the production phase.

Setting aside quality, don’t doubt that the "affordable" Zara is ahead of high-end brands in terms of fashion trends.

Of course, real high-end brands aren’t necessarily synonymous with good quality. For instance, the brand by West Queen is notorious for its poor quality.

Fast-fashion chains like Zara continually imitate high-end designers, thus setting the color trends and popular styles for the season.

Otherwise, if only a few people wore them, how could they become trends?

Zara’s imitations were adaptations, not direct copies of original designs.

Initially, when "fast fashion" companies were small and insignificant, everything was peaceful.

But, as enterprises like Zara grew in Europe, where copyright protection is stringent, they faced severe consequences.

Despite the universal fact that clothes designs are broadly duplicated, making it tough to tell who copied whom—especially among "non-high-end brands" whose designers mix elements from several top brands—it’s even more complicated to clarify.

This unclear demarcation is why there are few copyright lawsuits in China.

However, in Europe, suing them was a sure win.

Zara, for a long time, was plagued by lawsuits and handed over many hefty fines.

Eventually, Zara opted to pay hundreds of millions in "protection fees" every year.

Not only did they pay, but they paid happily.

Being sued by top fashion brands also turned into a kind of guerrilla marketing for Zara.

For affordable brands like Zara, each lawsuit by a top-tier brand enhanced their recognition.

After all, not everyone can afford big brands, and before these leading brands dominate the market truly, picking a Zara piece inspired by top designs is still an option for many.

In terms of speed, Y.Y was also categorised as "fast fashion," but it didn’t fit the mold of an "affordable brand."

No single item from Y.Y, even a simple hat, was priced below a hundred dollars. A few hundred dollars for a T-shirt clearly positioned it as a luxury brand.

Given Y.Y’s pace in releasing new items, it must have copied many other trendy brands.

Many gossip media awaited the day Y.Y would grow large enough to face lawsuits.

But the media waited and waited, yet no designer condemned Y.Y for unethical practices.

At that moment, Y.Y’s peculiar business philosophy, requiring designers’ names to include a ’Y’, its fully digitalized management system, unique company structure, and the mysterious person backing the brand made mainstream media even more intrigued.

Y.Y, not being a public company, wasn’t obligated to disclose details to the "public" or be accountable.

They used to be quite secretive.

After the Yan siblings decided it was time to push Y.Y further, the brand stopped avoiding mainstream media. novelbuddy.cσ๓

News reporters conducted investigations.

Their investigatory capabilities were outstanding.

Through Y.Y’s registration details, one reporter traced back to Lingyan Shoe Industry in Wenzhou and published an article.

Mainstream and social media were in uproar.

The notion of a small subcontracting business from a little place in Wenzhou creating such an impactful brand deeply stung the innate superiority complex of Americans.

Investigative journalists perceived Y.Y as potentially fraudulent.

Mainstream media started to publish articles.

Some went to interview Y.Y’s fans, asking if they knew the ins and outs of the brand, whether they were aware it was a low-end, poor-quality product from a "substandard" Chinese factory.

The reporter who unearthed this information used sharp language.

After a series of derogatory remarks, the vast community of Y.Y designers couldn’t take it anymore.

Y.Y produced limited editions, and many items—as few as one or two—were handcrafted by the designers themselves.

Here, "handmade" did not refer to haute couture where every stitch was sewn by hand, but rather, designers themselves using machines to make prototypes.

If every piece was manufactured in a small factory in a small Chinese city, considering the elaborate export procedures alone, not to mention shipping times, it would be impossible to reflect real-time reactions.

Most of Y.Y’s clothing was truly made to order, which was why their response time was "extraordinarily supernatural."

Initially, Yan Ling and Yan Yan treated Y.Y as a playful project, a way to accumulate experience for Maison Yan II.

After the mainstream media uproar, some informed fans felt indignant, while others who were clueless began to turn against the brand.

There were even unruly individuals who started vandalizing the graffiti, which had obtained "permanent licenses" in Y.Y stores.

At this point, Y.Y’s vast community of designers proactively stepped into the spotlight, including both current and former Y.Y designers.

Especially the guest designers—who had received royalties for graffiti rights.

At this time, Y.Y’s remarkable crowdsourced IT system for designers began to emerge.