- Faced with a weakening Chinese market, Urban Revivo is planning to expand into Western countries.
- Urban Revivo's brick-and-mortar stores could help the company expand into the U.S. market, where it sells online.
- Other fast fashion companies have also had success in the UK and US markets.
Chinese fast fashion companies are planning rapid global expansion as industry giants slow growth to focus on online shopping.
Zara is downsizing after the pandemic, planning to cut up to 1,200 stores and focus on e-commerce.
But China-based Urban Revivo, which was founded in 2006, is also looking beyond Asia: Parent company Fashion Momentum Group wants to open stores in cities such as London and New York, CEO Leo Li told Nikkei Asia.
FMG currently has more than 400 Urban Revivo stores in mainland China, with several in Southeast Asia, and only an online presence in the Western market.
Mr Lee said FMG plans to open 20 Urban Revivo stores per year overseas next year, with that number potentially accelerating to 50 stores per year in the longer term.
He told Nikkei he wants to grow the company's valuation to $13.8 billion, still far below rivals such as Zara and H&M, whose parent companies have market capitalizations of about $155 billion and $23 billion, respectively. Zara has about 2,000 stores worldwide, while H&M has about 3,800.
FMG is also considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong that could raise $100 million, Bloomberg reported last month.
FMG is focusing on Europe and the U.S. because its peers have been successful in those markets. Japan's Fast Retailing, which operates brands such as Uniqlo, reported strong sales in North America and Europe in the first half of 2024, but its business in China has declined.
Weakening consumer demand in China has also hit sales at Urban Revivo, which relies more on physical stores than its more digitally-driven rivals, according to Nikkei Asia.
FMG may fare a little better in the U.S. — the rapid adoption of Chinese brands like Shein and Temu shows American consumers are comfortable with foreign brands, Damian Yeo, an analyst at Fitch Solutions, told Business Insider — but FMG will face competition from domestic and international brands like Uniqlo in a fashion-saturated U.S. market.
U.S. shoppers are “increasingly price-sensitive,” Yeo said, “which means fast fashion companies are expected to do well because their products are primarily targeted at the mass market, and so lower prices from consumers are often a positive for them.”
Yeo said Urban Revivo's brick-and-mortar stores may pose fewer ethical and political concerns than online “super-discounters” Shein and Tem.
London isn't a new base for the brand — it opened its first U.K. store in 2018, but has since closed — but London may also be a tough sell: Yeo said U.K. inflation remains high, which could hurt Urban Revivo's sales as consumers cut back on discretionary spending.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
