TSINGTAO

At 5:00 in the afternoon of Feb 14 New York time, there was a moment of surprise when a male model walked the runway at New York Fashion Week China Day, wearing a white lamb cashmere suit with a Tsingtao Beer logo embroidered at the right chest.

At his left cuff there was a Chinese character “hao” (meaning “good”) and at the right cuffthere was a number 1903 -- both elements are from the Tsingtao Classical 1903 beer.

Tsingtao has become the first beer brand to take part in the fashion event.

It also has released a canned beer featuring a design style back to 1903. But the vintage-style can suddenly became part of the fashion when it was used as a decoration in the model’s bag presented on the runway.

The brewery has joined hands with China’s fashion products store NPC to launch the Chinese-style fashion show featuring clothes inspired by Tsingtao’s century-long history and traditional Chinese aesthetics. The limited-edition clothes on show are also on sale simultaneously at the online shopping platform Tmall.

Nic Li Chen, partner of NPC, said the crossover cooperation is expected to link the traditional with the trendy to bring about diversified fashion and experience. “Tsingtao has never stopped striving for quality for over a century, just like how NPC has been upholding its commitment since its establishment 10 year ago,” he said.

The crossover cooperation means not just piling up elements of different brands, but integration of different cultures, said Fang Tao, CEO of Suntchi, the Chinese co-organizer of the New York Fashion Week China Day. “For 116 years, Tsingtao has always been pursuing perfection, and that same pursuit is seen at the show.”

As an international hub for the fashion business, New York has one of the world’s top four fashion weeks, which dates back to 76 years ago. The New York Fashion Week has attracted a large number of world-class brands ready to showcase their designs for the next season.

In the week, the China Day serves as a platform to demonstrate the "Chinese creation" and "Chinese design"in the fashion industry, gathering the power of Chinese contemporary design and connecting Chinese fashion with the global market. It has increasingly been a hot topic among fashion lovers.

With the theme of “YOUTH MADE CHINA”, This year’s New York Fashion Week China Day has selected and showcased to the world brands that represent the culture and trend of the contemporary Chinese young generations that dare to think and act, which has drawn the attention of the fashion industry and media.

After the China Day show, the Tsingtao-featured clothes became popular among many of young locals. Many Now York residents had to wait in line to buy the vintage canned beer and the limited-edition clothes.

Fashion insider Brook who came from Miami to the New York Fashion Week said the Tsingtao-featured show was “so interesting” and the beer and Chinese characters were “very attractive elements”.

As a Chinese brand well known by global consumers, Tsingtao Beer and the New York Fashion Week China Day have jointly created the most appealing fashion clothes and derivatives for the young people, to show the world how the 116-year-old brewery can meet the demand for personality and quality of the contemporary generation.

Tsingtao has invited NPC’s design team to customize the show list, not just picking the fashion trend of autumn/winter 2019 men's fashion, but also taking into consideration Tsingtao’s century-old fashion and cultural elements, such as previous products and ads, and integrating them in the details of the clothes in a skillful and interesting way.

Zhu Jiayi, Tsingtao’s brand management chief, said the brewery has profound culture, and the idea to combine the beer and fashion aims to create something favored by the young people and to promote the Chinese culture on the world stage.