• July 20, 2011

A new report from Boston Consulting Group says that the Chinese fashion market, which has tripled in size in the past 10 years, is set to explode: It anticipates threefold growth again in the decade ahead.

Until now, it reports, Chinese consumers' tastes have mostly been shaped by department stores, with men and women spending roughly the same on clothing. There's also been a heavy leaning toward sportswear. (Sporty duds comprise about 25% of the typical Chinese person's wardrobe, and even though they don't exercise much, 30% of those who own sportswear say they wear it at least three times a week.)

Fueling the growth, it reports, is the rapid increase in middle to affluent class shoppers, with the number of households earning $11,400 a year or more expected to jump from 50 million in 2010 to 140 million by 2020.

But as Chinese shoppers have become more fashion-conscious, they are increasingly open to different brands, products and retail experiences. While such brands as Nike and Adidas already have a strong presence, with roughly 6,000 Chinese stores each, many key chains have far fewer, and some, including J. Crew, Ann Taylor and Topshop, have yet to open a single Chinese store.