Shanghai fashion house updates its vision for the modern Chinese women with an eye on the workplace

On Oct 9 in Shanghai, Lily, a Chinese business-fashion brand, introduced its upgraded concept of "Chinese New Women" with a fashion show.

Sun Mingyang, the vice-president of the brand, says, "The diversified business scenarios faced by modern women have prompted them to pursue more individualized self-expression: they have more than one side, and they don't just focus on the present but also dare to explore the unknown. "Lily wants to make every woman feel free to express herself through modern and proper dress," she says.

Lily has undergone two transformations since it was created under the wing of Shanghai Silk Group in 2000.

As Sun recalls, there weren't many local fashion brands in the market to compete with back then, shopping malls were filled with brands from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"At that time, consumers lacked clear needs and preferences, and the purchases they made were mostly price-oriented," she says.

Still, it was not easy to survive, but Lily put a great deal of effort into providing quality and value for money.

Seven years after its establishment, Lily opened retail shops in first-tiered cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, before gradually expanding to 16 countries and regions in Europe. By 2012, Lily's annual revenue in overseas regions alone had exceeded $8 million.

Without extra resources to work on market segmentation, it was roughly positioned as a fashion brand for young ladies.

In 2013, the team behind Lily found out that most local brands were people's second choice because of homogenization in the market.

After considerable research, Lily was transformed into a business-fashion brand.