中国反腐风暴刮到美国？看看华尔街日报的报道吧

摘要：据美国《华尔街日报》报道，2月13日该报发表《中国反腐，内衣受惠》的文章指出，中国各地内衣店里数百美元的胸罩和其他昂贵内衣裤在热销。 据美国《华尔街日报》报道，2月13日该报发表《中国反腐，内衣受惠》的文章指出，中国各地内衣店里数百美元的胸罩和其他昂贵内衣裤在热销。

文章说，庞大的中国市场内，奢侈品销售正普遍下降，各地内衣店里数百美元的胸罩和其他昂贵内衣裤却在热销。伦敦高档内衣品牌“大内密探”称，其在华4个门店的销售额至少已超预期25%。其北京门店售货员说，最畅销的两款是售价为1475元和1940元的胸罩。

中国顾客以对名牌包等趋之若鹜而著称，但随着政府厉行节约行动令官员羞于购买此类商品，如今人们也对奢华商标和炫富行为退避三舍。西式高档内衣近年才开始走近中国消费者。许多人开始在衣服下面“炫富”。 业内人士表示，从2017年起，中国的高档内衣销售一直在增长，去年占内衣销售额的30%。

《华尔街日报》报道原文：

China’s Corruption Crackdown a Boon for Lingerie

Sales Increase for Pricey Undergarments as Government Discourages Conspicuous Consumption

BEIJING—Call it inconspicuous（不引人注意的）consumption.

Lingerie stores in China are seeing strong sales of $300 bras and other pricey skivvies (男式内衣), dying a broad drop in luxury sales in the vast Chinese market. Italian lingerie maker La Perla—which once struggled to sell $2,000 strapless bustiers and other high-end undergarments in the region—saw sales at its 14 stores in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan jump 42% last year. Last month, La Perla opened a Shanghai men’s boutique, selling $200 silk boxers and $3,000 silk robes.

Agent Provocateur, a London high-end lingerie company, said sales at the company’s four China boutiques (精品店) are at least 25% above expectations. An Agent Provocateur saleswoman in a high-end Beijing mall said best sellers include a sheer bra with white-scallop details priced at 1,475 yuan, or about $240, and a 1,940 yuan lacy black bra.

Consumers like Zu Yujing, a 30-year-old from the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, say spending on luxury clothing for the office or leisure is too ostentatious. But Ms. Zu splurges on custom-made pieces at a Beijing-based lingerie shop called Pillowbook, where she spent about 4,000 yuan on her last shopping spree.

“I don’t want to overdress,” said Ms. Zu, who works in pharmaceutical sourcing. “But I don’t mind spending more than 1,000 yuan for a bra.”

Chinese consumers—famous for their appetite for designer bags and gold-plated iPhone cases—are now shying away from flashy logos and displays of wealth as a government austerity campaign (中国反腐运动) shames officials who buy them. Sales of luxury goods, which include glitzy jewelry and couture, were down 1% last year in China, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.

But many Chinese appear to be flaunting their wealth (炫富) under their clothes. Sales of high-end undergarments—encompassing bras fetching 300 yuan or more, among other items—have increased since 2017 and last year accounted for 30% of lingerie sales, said Neil Wang, Greater China managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Market watchers say there is a continuing appetite for luxury goods, provided they are toned down (低调). “People still want to have a secret indulgence,” said Tom Doctoroff, Asia Pacific chi executive of advertising agency JWT.

It’s not just women who want frills (虚饰). Some retailers, like Calvin Klein Inc., are selling—for 430 yuan, or roughly $69—red and gold polyester boxer-bris for the Chinese New Year. Calvin and other retailers sell matching his-and-hers sets. La Perla has the “Dandy,” a 4,900-yuan ($785) pair of black bris topped with a tuxedo-style cummerbund (腰带), in stock.

Sales of lingerie in China reached $20 billion in 2017 and are projected to grow 18% this year, according to Frost & Sullivan. Per-capita spending for women’s lingerie jumped 79% to 69 yuan in 2017 compared with 2009, according to consulting firm Mintel Group Ltd.

On a recent Sunday, Kong Weijie, 30, and a friend shopped at Bla Bla Bra, a Chinese retailer that carries colorful push-up bras, lacy undergarments and nightwear. “Once we started working, we had more money to spend on these things,” she said. Ms. Kong, who works at a publishing house in Beijing, said she now spends up to 300 yuan for a bra.

Modern retailers selling underwear have expanded in China in the past few years. China’s changing views regarding beauty, lifestyle and even sex are also contributing to the uptick in lingerie sales, said Matthew Crabbe, Mintel’s Asia-Pacific research director. “Some women are putting more thought into the sex appeal of what they wear, including undergarments,” he said.

In January, Victoria’s Secret opened nine beauty and accessory shops in mainland China. While the stores aren’t selling the blinged-out bras that the company is known for, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, L Brands Inc., has called China an “incredibly significant market for us in the future,” leading analysts to think it won’t be long bore the brand’s lingerie comes to the mainland. L Brands declined to comment on its business in China.

Satin, sexy lingerie and Western-style bras started to spread in China in the 1920s, said Irene Lu, a lingerie designer in Beijing. But Chairman Mao and the Communist revolution did away with the trend, she said, leading to undergarments matching the dull, gray fashion of the period. More recently, China has been the main manufacturing hub for the world’s underwear.

Only in the past few years has Western-style high-end lingerie started to make inroads with China’s consumers, according to analysts. The market in China is fragmented, giving international brands a chance to push into the fray. Beijing Aimer Lingerie Co., which was founded in 1993, has the largest retail share, according to Mintel, with a mere 3.6%.

Other local players are getting into the high-end market as well. Embry Holdings Ltd. in 2017 began a line called IADORE to attract high-end customers, including lacy push-up bras selling for 150 yuan. The 2017 collection of Shenzhen Huijie Group Co.’s Enweis brand includes male and female undergarments ranging from 138 yuan for a pair of underwear to deep-V embroidered bras for more than 650 yuan.

Agent Provocateur, came into the mainland market in fall 2017, and has two boutiques in Beijing, one in Shanghai and one in Chengdu. It said more than 70% of its sales in greater China come from lingerie, with red undergarments and intricate corsets that can be worn underneath women’s suit jackets proving to be most popular.

“The consumers tend to go for pretty things rather than leather or strappy (有带子的) lingerie,” said Garry Hogarth, Agent Provocateur’s chi executive. While the company’s offerings include barely-there playsuits and leather whips, Chinese consumers prer more elegant and lacy offerings.

The company plans to open three new shops on the mainland this year, including another store in Chengdu, another boutique in Shanghai and its first store in Guangzhou. Mr. Hogarth said the company plans to have more than 20 stores in greater China over the next few years.

While the luxury aspect of lingerie is largely hidden by clothing, some buyers cite the boost it can give a person’s silhouette (轮廓，剪影). Said Li Weijing, a 22-year-old student who said she is willing to spend up to 500 yuan on a bra at Bla Bla Bra in Beijing: “It’s for the fect.”