New Faces

When did you start up Aurora Alba?
June of 2015.
Why did you start designing and building your own brand? Did you study fashion design?
I worked in Australia in the financial and legal sector. After returning to China a few years ago, I found that the Chinese Mainland’s market has a lack of style and variety. I have always liked creative industries, so I had the idea of starting a fashion lingerie brand. With this idea, I began to study lingerie design. As my first step I went to a design studio in Milan to learn the foundations of underwear design, and later when I returned to China I went to a technical school and the Beijing Institute of Clothing to learn pattern making and basic tailoring, and then I began to create my brand. Now, during my brand management period, I am still going to professional schools and workshops to study design-related courses. This learning brings me a lot of knowledge and inspiration.
How do you position your brand?
It is a light luxury fashion lingerie brand, for both mature and young women, who have an independent personality and special taste.
From starting your brand how many collections have you designed? Which one is your favorite?
I have launched five collections, and four festival mini collections. I will launch a SS17 collection soon. I like this latest collection. From the beginning to the present my collections are becoming more mature and my interpretation of lingerie is also growing. I am progressing a lot thanks to this change of style and the fact that I have a better grasp of fashion and fabric.
What’s the price range?
We have different prices for online and physical stores. Online a set of lingerie costs around 300-500RMB(50-70euro), in a physical store a set of underwear is priced at between 700-900RMB (90-120euro).
Is your main market domestic or overseas?
We currently only sell to Chinese customers, there are plans to develop in the overseas market.
Which brands do you think are your competitors?
Recently, a small number of lingerie brands have appeared in China, I think it is a good complement to the traditional market and helps the promotion of the whole market. However, the domestic underwear market is very dispersed, even the market shares of the traditional large underwear brands are equally divided.
What are your short-term goals and long-term plans for your brand?
There are three steps to our short-term goals. First, create a rich product line with quality control; second, improve the branding in a variety of ways, including the overall visual output and cultivate brand personality. Third, promote sales. Long-term plans are to broaden the market, work on our overseas visibility, and develop a reputation in the industry.
What is life like besides designing clothes? What is your ideal life?
Managing a brand and leading it step by step actually occupies most of my time. Usually during leisure time I enjoy doing simple things and chatting with my friends. My ideal life is also being able to do my favorite things and do them well. Then being able to have time to spend with my family and friends, but also have time to myself. I love sports and traveling very much.
Did you encounter any difficulties when you were creating the brand? And how did you overcome them?
In the initial stages of brand creation you will encounter many difficulties, especially if you are outside of the industry. From being unfamiliar to the fabric, to the uncertainty on style, to having difficulties understanding production, to the lack of sales channels and so on. In fact, it is key to stay calm, avoid doing things in a rush and solve each problem step by step. Even now, I still have problems and difficulties, but I think it is reasonable and it can prove that I am moving forward. If the difficulty can be solved with a little bit of stress, then it is reasonable. But too much stress may mean that now I am doing things outside of my ability, and I will need time to adjust.
Do you have confidence in the future of your brand?
I am very confident of my brand. First of all I have confidence in myself, I love my job very much. Secondly, I think there are many opportunities in the domestic market. The amount of attention people pay to underwear is quietly changing, for people like us who like challenges and changes, undoubtedly, it is the best time. At the same time, there are a lot of difficulties and challenges. We need to be patient.

We all know that before starting Hout & River, you wrote a couple of books in China, and one of your books was made into a movie. Why did you start to design underwear and build your own brand? Have you ever studied underwear design?
I collaborated with O2bra App to design some lingerie for women and it went really well. So I thought why don’t I make some underwear that I can also wear. I have never studied underwear design though.
How many books have you published? Are you still writing now? Why?
About 10 books for now. I’m still writing, because I have something to write.
Where would you place your brand’s market position?
Clean and comfortable. We will have different collections with different prices.
Will your main market be in China or overseas?
We will try both.
Which brand do you consider as your competitor?
Other brands that are sold online with a competitive quality-price point.
What is the short-term and long-term plan for your brand?
Short-term: don’t let my partners invest too much, and hope they can get what they want out of their investment. Long-term: I hope that over 100 thousand men wear our underwear, and think, “finally, I found you.”
What’s the price of the product?
The price will be from 228RMB to 520RMB.
Will you sell online or offline?
We will sell online with the app O2bra and other platforms.
What’s your opinion on the Chinese underwear market? Compared to foreign markets, what are our disadvantages?
Typically, Chinese underwear has a lack of beauty and quality. As people's needs change so does the market but I think the main problem is that people don’t want to pay for the clothes that they wear in private.
Have you met some difficulties when you founded your brand? How did you overcome them?
We didn’t encounter too many difficulties.  When we did, everybody worked hard and we got through it together.
Are you confident about the future of your brand? What is your ideal life style?
I am confident because I really like our collection. My ideal life style is to be surrounded by people I like, being natural and sexy.