Lunar New Year gives luxury brands a chance to win back big spenders in China

Luxury brands from Harry Winston to Loewe are going all in on Lunar New Year collections in a bid to entice Chinese language prospects.

Forward of the Year of the Horse, which begins on Tuesday, Harry Winston unveiled a limited-edition, $81,500 rose gold watch with diamond bezels and a crimson lacquer horse. Excessive-end vogue model Chloé launched a capsule assortment, starting from $250 silk scarves to a $5,300 snakeskin and leather-based shoulder bag with a horse head and tail linked by a horsebit chain. A slew of different brands, together with Loewe, Gucci and Loro Piana, have launched new bag charms with horse motifs.

The Year of the Horse arrives at a time of cautious optimism for designer brands and will mark the beginning of a China’s luxury market comeback.

Chinese language customers had been as soon as the first driver for the worldwide luxury sector however have reduce back sharply in latest years, weighed down by the nation’s slowing financial system and depressed housing values.

The Chinese language luxury market stood at about 350 billion RMB in 2024, or about $50 billion, in accordance to estimates from Bain. Whereas the consultancy estimates that market contracted by 3% to 5% in 2025, Bain analysts famous that the sector began exhibiting indicators of restoration in the second half of 2025 on the back of stronger inventory market efficiency and client confidence.

Bernstein senior analyst Luca Solca mentioned he predicts Chinese language luxury spending will stabilize, forecasting mid-single-digit proportion progress in 2026. Nevertheless, the market continues to be much more aggressive than at its peak, he mentioned.

Earlier than the Covid pandemic, Chinese language customers accounted for about one-third of the worldwide luxury items market, in accordance to Solca. That proportion has since dipped to about 23%, he mentioned.

The luxury market’s fortunes don’t solely relaxation on Lunar New Year, but it surely is a chance for Western brands to present respect for Chinese language tradition, he mentioned.

The annual vacation is related to the colours crimson and gold, which symbolize good luck and fortune in Chinese language tradition. Every Lunar New Year is represented by one in every of 12 Chinese language zodiac animals. Final 12 months’s animal was the snake.

However Solca mentioned in order to finest seize the Chinese language luxury client, brands want to transcend the anticipated motifs.

“The Chinese language are not in awe of something that comes from the West,” Solca mentioned. “A perfunctory interpretation of CNY shouldn’t be going to go far.”

Veronique Yang, who leads BCG’s client apply in Larger China, mentioned literal interpretations can come throughout as lazy and even disrespectful to Chinese language customers. Youthful consumers are additionally searching for brisker takes, she mentioned.

“Chinese language younger folks, they respect the outdated Chinese language tradition, however to be sincere, a lot of elements of it they do not perceive, or they need it to be reinterpreted in a trendy means,” she mentioned. “It is essential to weave a narrative that connects the heritage with a up to date imaginative and prescient.”

Lunar New Year collections date back to the early 2010s, as Western brands had been keen to faucet into the quickly rising Chinese language luxury client market, in accordance to Daniel Langer, professor of luxury technique at Pepperdine College. On the time, newly rich Chinese language customers had been keen to spend on designer items, particularly after they traveled overseas, he mentioned, as there have been few luxury boutiques in China outdoors main cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Now, with broader entry and extra alternative, brands have to work more durable to convey in new shoppers.

And in the 12 years for the reason that final Year of the Horse, Chinese language high-income customers have turn into extra discerning, Langer mentioned.

“They have been to the perfect locations in the world. They’ve dined in the perfect eating places in the world. They’ve shopped in the perfect outlets in the world. Their expectations in direction of brands are considerably greater,” he mentioned. “China has fully modified from a nation the place there was pent up demand for luxury items to a nation of the very best sophistication.”

Additionally they have grown accustomed to spending much less on Western brands between pandemic journey restrictions and the rise of home high-end labels, in accordance to Langer.

Earlier than the pandemic, Chinese language customers did most of their luxury purchasing overseas. Pandemic journey restrictions completely modified that dynamic. In accordance to Bain, two-thirds of Chinese language luxury items spending was carried out overseas in 2019. Final 12 months, abroad spending made up solely a third.

The Year of the Horse offers a pure alternative for a sizable variety of Western brands to join to the vacation. Langer mentioned he most popular brands who take a much less literal strategy, akin to Loewe, which adorned its signature Puzzle baggage with fringes and tassels for a cowboy aesthetic.

Yang famous, nevertheless, that the 12 months’s zodiac animal is a good luck image just for individuals who had been born in that 12 months, which makes enjoying an excessive amount of into horse imagery a danger.

As a substitute, she mentioned, brands can use immersive experiences to join to Chinese language prospects, particularly youthful ones, in a extra genuine means.

Valentino, for example, held a three-day lantern pageant in January at Tianhou Palace, a historic temple alongside the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai. Burberry launched an intensive Lunar New Year marketing campaign in mid-December, with Chinese language model ambassadors and a pop-up boutique and ice rink in Beijing.

“There’s a lot of various cultural parts that you may combine and construct a narrative round,” Yang mentioned. “It isn’t solely about animals.”