With more than 50 stores in the country, China is the largest market for Italian menswear brand Zegna. And its owner is worried. “I am more and more concerned, I’ve seen a slowing trend,” Ermenegildo Zegna told the Financial Times. “I am cautious about the outlook for next year; there are many uncertainties.”
Mr Zegna is not alone. Companies in the luxury sector have seen an average share price decline of 20 per cent since mid-May, according to RBC Capital Markets, partly driven by fears that after two years of strong growth, Chinese consumers are reining in sales in the face of slowing GDP growth and a trade war with the US.
China is crucial for luxury brands: Chinese consumers account for a third of luxury sales, and contributed about three-quarters of spending growth in the sector in the eight years to the end of 2016, according to consultancy Bain.