Bye bye Burberry: Why China is giving up luxury for dupes

China was once known as a haven for luxury brands like Hugo Boss, Burberry, Dior, and Louis Vuitton. In fact, the Asian giant was a key market for luxury brands.

However, just as fashion has its cycles with trends going round and round, China is also witnessing a new trend — where it’s becoming home to pingti, the local Gen Z term for dupes.

The sales of some of these pingti brands have skyrocketed since 2023, as Chinese consumers search for better value amid faltering a faltering economy.

The rise and rise of pingti

In China, a huge market has emerged owing to a rising number of Gen Z buyers opting for these ‘dupes’ — replicas of branded goods. However, these dupes aren’t cheap counterfeits. In many cases, they are indistinguishable from the original, while others use the same suppliers as those being used for the luxury item.

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For instance, Lululemon leggings cost 750 yuan ($106) on its official Chinese website. However, if one searches for yoga pants on e-commerce sites in China, they are bound to find other options, as little as 35. 21 yuan ($5) and claiming to be of the same quality.

Similarly, leather goods manufacturer Sitoy Group Holdings on their social media claims that the quality of their $100 handbags is similar to those sold for more than $1,000.

Such is the rise of these dupe brands that the search for them on social media has also risen significantly, with Laurel Gu, employed at a market research firm, noting that social media searches for dupes have tripled from 2022 to 2024.

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Most consumers of pingti brands say that there’s very little difference between the dupes and the original products. For instance, a small bottle of Japan’s SK-II’s best-selling Facial Treatment Essence sells for nearly 1,700 yuan. Compare that to China’s alternative Chando, which touts a similar ingredient in its product and costs only 569 yuan.

Change in consumer behaviour

But what has led consumers in China to replace their luxury items with dupes?

There’s a multitude of reasons, say experts, starting with China’s economic slowdown. The stalling of China’s economy had led to a dip in wages, forcing many to rethink their purchases. Xinxin, a teacher from Chongqing, southwest China, told CNN that previously she was a fan of Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair serum. However, a pay cut of over 20 per cent this year has led her to look for an alternative. Her search yielded a good result — she found a face serum with the same ingredient costing 100 yuan lesser than the high-end skincare product.

And Xinxin isn’t alone. There are thousands like her who are looking for dupes to replace their high-end luxury purchases as they struggle to make ends meet amid the economic tumult that the country is undergoing.

The country’s unemployment rate for people aged 18 to 24 stood at a high of 18.8 per cent in August. With unemployment so high, it’s no wonder that people are forgoing their love of luxury items and settling for dupes.

The economic downturn in China has also led to a phenomenon known as luxury shaming . This refers to people being hesitant to buy and showing off high-price status items during periods of economic downturn.

This phenomenon was first noted by Bain & Company in their June report. They wrote China’s economic environment was “undermining middle-class consumer confidence, leading to ‘luxury shame’ behaviour similar to what occurred in the Americas during the 2008-09 financial crisis”.

Others note that there’s a seismic shift in Chinese consumers’ values. Bloomberg reports that the rise of pingti reflects what Uniqlo called “a new set of consumer values” – the same instinct that is pushing consumers to seek out products sold directly by manufacturers, cutting out the brand middlemen.

Furthermore, the mindset is also changing. The traditional mindset that a luxury handbag could signal prestige status is no longer their only preference,” Mintel senior luxury and fashion analyst Blair Zhang was quoted as telling Bloomberg, adding, “There’s no more blind trust in well-known brands under the currently-cautious spending trends. Instead, there’s more rational shopping decisions that spur active discussions on cheaper alternatives.”

End of China’s luxury love story

Before COVID-19, China and its people had a love affair with all things luxury. Then came the pandemic and everything changed. Luxury spending has drastically reduced since the pandemic ended.

Luxury retailers such as Hugo Boss, Burberry, Richemont, and Swatch and even LVMH have all had slumps in sales in China as consumers back away from these brands. Britain’s fashion house Burberry reported a drastic dip in sales — almost 21 per cent in the year-over-year in the previous quarter, with board chair Gerry Murphy attributing it to “deteriorating consumer confidence”.

Swatch in its financial release also showed a “sharp drop in demand for luxury goods in China” and Southeast Asian markets, which it said are “heavily dependent” on Chinese tourists.

Notably, other brands such as Marc Jacobs, Burberry, and Versace also began offering buyers huge discounts in an effort to lure them. However, a recent Fortune report reveals that many brands are seeing a high number of their sales vapourising as consumers return or cancel purchases.

Following the pandemic, there’s also a trend being noticed of several potential purchasers travelling to Japan to buy the product there and take advantage of Japan’s weak currency.

We’ll have to wait and see if the pingti sector continues to see a rise or if consumers will switch back to luxury. As of now, many are going the pingti way — opting for dupes and showing them off. As 45-year-old Jessica Wang told Bloomberg on her purchase of a pingti of a Hermes said, “It was beyond my expectation in so many ways: The leather is so soft, the stitching is delicate, and its packaging is nice and neat. I’m going to order other bags from that shop.”

With inputs from agencies