Shiatzy Chen - Founding

Founding

Changhua-born Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia was not formally educated in the industry but learned her trade by working at her uncle's factory. She met her husband Wang Yuan-hong (王元宏), a smart businessman in the textile trade, and together they founded Shiatzy International Company Limited in 1978, over which they maintain total control. For over 30 years Wang worked on making her name in the local market and had built a client list of nearly 25,000 people, in 2011 sales reached about US$60 million, according to the company. Wives of politicians, diplomats and business executives, in particular, would purchase Shiatzy's dresses before taking trips abroad. In fact, these women, with their significant purchasing power, constitute the majority of the company's customers in Taiwan many of whom are high society types. In 1990, Shiatzy Chen set up a studio in Paris to stay on top of fashion trends and to learn more about Western dressmaking techniques. The studio also serves as a training center for Taiwanese dressmakers and designers.

A line of men's wear was added to the company's product list in 1987. The label men's wear line has a strong following among politicians, technology millionaires, banking and telecoms tycoons, artistic types, costume collectors and clotheshorses. Although Shiatzy Chen does not have a bespoke men's line, a part of her men's wear business is devoted to the sale of off-the-peg expensive chang paos intended for weddings and traditional engagement parties. Quilted (or padded) jackets have consistently been among Chen's most popular items in her winter collections. They usually come with a wide range of options as to fabric, pattern, color combination, and style. They are often reversible, with silk inside and cotton outside, or vice versa. The winter quilted jackets are usually the first to sell out during sales.

Designer Wang entered the Chinese market in 2003 in Shanghai and opened up further stores in Hong Kong and Beijing. Shiatzy Chen's Shanghai flagship store, which opened in October 2005, exhibit a distinctively Chinese heritage amidst the parade of Western fashion marques that now dominate The Bund. The building's Chinese pedigree made it an obvious location for Ms. Wang ambition to create a strong Chinese presence on the Bund. Work on restoring the original, red brick exterior look and on converting offices into a modern and artistic showplace for Shiatzy Chen's exquisite creations began in late 2001.

The interior was fashioned by the renowned Indonesian designer Jaya Ibrahim. This is in addition to the 48 outlets she already has in Taiwan, 23 directly managed stores and 25 department store counters. The company presently has over 1,000 employees and manufactures more than 100,000 items of clothing each year. After years of running a factory in suburban Taipei, the company opened its second one in Shanghai in 2007. The building of 6600 square meters has been designed by German architect Johannes Hartfuss,more than 1,000 employees including dressmakers and embroiderers are employed to produce tens of thousands of clothing items annually based on over 400 styles created by its designers. A large proportion of profits is going into research and design, there will also be further recruitment of talent in design, marketing and manufacturing.

In 2001, Shiatzy Chen branched into the international market with a store in Paris. The company has enough funds to expand quickly over the next 10 years and achieve significant market penetration, not just in China—the short-term goal—but in the mature high-end markets of New York, Milan, London and Tokyo, which made the Taiwanese fashion brand the first to enter the European market and attracted the attention of fashionistas around the world. Shiatzy Chen is one of the few homegrown designer labels in Taiwan with an international clientele. Mainland China remains the primary focus, with a factory and an office in Shanghai and a target of 50 mainland stores by 2010. The label has also been trying to diversify its product line. About three years ago, it began expanding its catalogue with accessories sold in all Shiatzy stores and furniture, available at the three flagship stores in Taipei, Shanghai and Paris. The label has been listed on the London-based Financial Times pick of what is hot in 2004. It was also deemed the most popular fashion brand in Taiwan by The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Shiatzy Chen designs attract many famous clients such as Elizabeth Hurley, Shaw-Lan Wang, Lin Chi-ling, Patty Hou, Brigitte Lin, Pansy Ho, Rainie Yang, Ting-Ting Hu, Dee Hsu, international style icon Victoria Beckham, Aska Yang, Leehom Wang, Jason Hu, Ming Dow, Tsai Ming-liang and the current President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou. In June 2010, Shiatzy Chen and the tea culture brand CHA CHA THÉ opened an exclusive sales area in the super upscale Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris. One hundred models showed off 100 dresses with the theme of flowers at Taipei's Lin An-tai Ancestral Home,located in the park for the Taipei International Flora Expo.The ideas for the dresses came from the many kinds of flowers in Taiwan to reflect the theme of the expo. The show has broken three records in Taiwan's fashion business - the longest catwalk, the most models in one show, and the longest finishing pose. A total of 100 EeLin models took to the catwalk with Shiatzy Chen's flora-inspired spring-summer collection, approximately 200 people, including politicians and ambassadors, attended the show.