Icicle: Capturing Interest in Chinese Brands

When Ye Shouzeng and Shawna Tao launched Icicle in Shanghai in 1997, the couple’s decision to focus on a quiet luxury aesthetic rendered in natural materials wasn’t an obvious one. At the time, Chinese luxury shoppers were gravitating towards international labels with prominent logos.

Today, quiet luxury is a key pillar of the fashion market and Chinese clients are increasingly embracing home-grown labels as national pride grows. That’s been good news for Icicle and demand for its minimalist designs in cashmere, silk and linen, including its bestselling double-faced cashmere coats and wool and silk trench coats.

The company is vertically integrated, upstream and downstream: It runs two production sites — an ultra-modern, automated factory in Shanghai, and another, crafts-based facility outside the city — and operates 200 stores in over 100 Chinese cities. But it also has a footprint in Europe with a design studio and four stores in Paris.

An investment from Kering in Icicle parent company ICCF group, announced in April 2026, came with an agreement to share expertise on the Chinese market with the French luxury group. Icicle, meanwhile, will draw on Kering’s experience to expand abroad and extend its product offer.

Two years ago, the brand opened a sprawling complex built in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, featuring a garden, restaurant, art gallery and retail space, where it hosts cocktail parties and art exhibits for clients.

Icicle executive president Louise Xu explains in the latest edition in our State of Fashion series the brand’s strategy, what’s driving interest in Chinese brands and the differences between Chinese and Western consumers.

BoF: What is the brand’s approach to retail and flagship stores?

Louise Xu: Icicle recently created a new concept called ICCF Garden, a place where you can get a sense of the brand. It’s not just stores for our collections for women and men, there’s also a restaurant, an art gallery and a café. We hold many events and the experience is not limited to the store but also continues online. The omnichannel approach works very well in Shanghai.

We plan several new similar openings in the coming years — in big cities in China to begin with, and then abroad, starting with Europe.

There is less and less traffic in Chinese shopping malls today, because e-commerce is so well developed. This is also why we wanted to create a physical space, a special experience for clients.

This garden site allows us to express our universe. It’s not just a product, it’s also an aesthetic — our artistic direction, our curation.

We wanted to create a physical space, a special experience for clients. This garden site allows us to express our universe. It’s not just a product, it’s also an aesthetic.

BoF: Is there rising interest from Chinese clients in home-grown labels?

LX: When Icicle was founded in the 1990s, there was a tendency among luxury shoppers to look outwards for social status. Today, people are looking for quality and values. Younger generations are more interested in the environment. There is also more cultural pride than before, when luxury brands were international and seen as superior. Now there is more confidence in Chinese brands, and more of them have proven capabilities when it comes to design and production.

Before, logos were a badge of someone’s social status. Today, people are more discreet; they are looking more closely at materials. People are proud to have a Chinese brand, but you also have to offer the same quality as the big international brands.

BoF: How important is the role of culture and craftsmanship for engaging with shoppers?

LX: The role of art and culture is very important for luxury. So is craftsmanship — it shows a human touch in the product itself. One of our key products is a two-sided cashmere coat, finished by hand by top-quality artisans.

We also work with artisans in different regions, bringing ancient techniques into a more contemporary world. For example, we offer silk from a specific region in China where vegetable dyes are used. It’s a popular product, because it’s a real mix of artisanal know-how with our aesthetic.

We also work with art, organising exhibits between Paris and Shanghai, inviting European artists to exhibit in our Shanghai site and Chinese and Japanese artists at our George V flagship in Paris.

Last year we sponsored a Chinese collection at the Louvre and have a long-term partnership with the museum of Shanghai. Each year the museum opens its archives for a capsule collection.

BoF: How do you create collections and what is the role of fashion shows?

LX: We always aim to create collections that will last over time, with a focus on high-end fabrics for discreet elegance. Our studios in Shanghai and Paris are run by our creative director, French designer Benedicte Laloux. This structure is based on exchange between our design teams — a cultural dialogue between the East and West.

From the creation of the brand, quality has been extremely important, and this is why we have built a vertical supply chain. Ninety percent of our clothing is produced in our own factories. Our Shanghai factory is probably one of the most modern fashion factories in the world. We hosted a livestream fashion show of one of the collections there. We think it’s important to be transparent and let our client know what kind of environment the clothing was produced in.

BoF: How would you say Chinese and Western consumers are similar? How are they different?

LX: Both are looking for the highest-quality solutions. Today, more and more clients want an item of clothing that they can wear in the long term — they’re looking for timeless designs. Chinese shoppers are very open to discovery, so it’s quite easy to create ties with them. They are fast moving and also very active digitally.

European shoppers are lucky to have so much choice. They are quite demanding and often take time to get to know a brand, to understand the values of a brand.

This article first appeared in ‘Face to Face With Luxury Clients,’ the latest edition in our State of Fashion series co-published by BoF Insights and McKinsey & Company.

This interview has been edited and condensed.