Tang' Roulou Kids: French Designer's "Chinese Brand"

In this series of activities, there is a creative design workshop dedicated to children, led by the French designer Shi Yun, who lives in Beijing, and the children learn French in graphic games. Shi Yun is also one of the founders of Tang’ Roulou, a children’s wear brand. The brand he co-founded with French girl Amelie became popular with the TV show “Where Did Daddy Go?” A "Internet Red" level tidal brand has been sought after by Chinese parents.

â–² Pierre-Yves and Amelie, a children's wear designer and founder of Tang' Roulou

"We are a Chinese brand"

Shi Yun came to China for the first time in 1999. Until 2005, he settled in Beijing. Having lived in Beijing Hutong for 12 years, he speaks fluent Beijing dialect. Shi Yun likes Hutong life very much: “Our courtyard houses are very beautiful, and there are still several cats. Autumn comes to the leaves. The neighbors will pick up the fallen leaves together, just like in the countryside. The alley is a countryside pastoral in the city. In a noisy big city like Beijing, we can find peace and tranquility in the hutong where we can find a good balance: we are busy at work and meet many people; Quiet, this contrast is like traveling in space and time."

Although Shi Yun is not a designer of Keban, he has always had a keen interest in design. It was in Beijing that he met Amelie, a French girl who also liked design. Before meeting Shi Yun, Amelie started her own children's wear in 2004. At first, she just wanted to make some Chinese style gifts for some pregnant French friends. Unlike the uniform children's clothes on the market, she sew her hands. Small objects full of Chinese style, different, this has been warmly welcomed by friends. Also like the Hutong culture, equally immersed in the design of the Chinese style, the two Frenchmen hit it off, started to cooperate and in 2007 co-founded the Tang' Roulou brand. Shi Yun said: "I was very eager to do something of my own, and I was very interested in Amelie's plan. So I quit my job and we worked hard to design our own brand. We chose the name Tang' Roulou." , is the pronunciation of Chinese candied fruit, is to use a local word, because our design is inspired by the Chinese traditional costumes. This is a Chinese word, and the French can easily read it. "

â–² Beijing Tang' Roulou children's clothing store

Shi Yun and Amelie often go to China to collect winds. Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Fujian... get inspiration from traditional crafts everywhere and bring back some local fabrics. “Some people think we are a French brand or a Chinese-French brand, but I think 'candied fruit' is a Chinese brand. We are inspired by China, and our fabrics are all from China.” Tang' Roulou's studio is in Beijing. Every piece of clothing is made in a small factory in Beijing. There are only a few dozen pieces of each style. It can be said that each piece is a limited edition. Tang' Roulou has two quarters of new products each year. There are more than 30 models each season. They are designed by Shi Yun and Amelie. As the brand's managers, they are also high-yield designers.

French designer in the alley

Shi Yun and Amelie, who are living in the alley, often see the neighborhood aunts stitching together. This gives them a lot of inspiration. They like these needleworks. Shi Yun said: “The Hutong Auntie’s craft is the best. !” In almost every design of Tang' Roulou, you can see the shadow of sewing work in the alley.

In the design of Tang' Roulou, there are both Chinese style and western style design, which perfectly integrates the two cultures. Shi Yun said: “This kind of integration is a very natural process. On the one hand, as a Frenchman, we design Many of the details are custom-made in France, and both Amelie and I were influenced by the retro style of the 80s; on the other hand, we added all of our favorite Chinese elements to the design. Some cheongsams were mainly Chinese, while others were designed. With French style as the mainstay, and adding China's plate deductions, etc., it is both traditional and modern."

“Now all the children of the world are wearing similar costumes. Both Chinese and French children wear the same T-shirts, the same pants, and the same shoes.” Shi Yun wanted to design unique and comfortable clothes for the children. “China has its own traditional costumes and exquisite handicrafts. This is great. In China, although traditional Chinese style children’s clothes are sold online and offline, they are not very suitable for everyday wear. Some colors are too bright and some are only suitable. It is worn during the Spring Festival and our clothes are worn everyday and do not require special occasions.”

â–² Candied designer teaches kids to design and learn French

Every one of Tang' Roulou's clothes has a lovely name. "Yang Guiluo" is a soft and light mini cheongsam, which is loose and comfortable. "White and fat" is a Chinese red small waistcoat, three-dimensional and exquisite; "Shanghai Winter" is a glance People can think of Shanghai's woolen skirts, and tennis skirts with floral buckles and floral “buds”. Each dress has a story. Each design has a personality. Shi Yun said: "The name of the clothes is very simple and the children can easily remember."

Tang' Roulou is like Shi Yun and Amelie personally nurturing their children. "We started from a very small store. We didn't have a lot of money and we didn't have investors. We gradually developed on the money we made." He said that in the future, Tang' Roulou will design more styles. There are styles for adults, exploring new fabrics such as using more cashmere and wool.

Chinese Strategy: Internet +

In an interview, the studio of Tang' Roulou had just moved and expanded its scale. With the liberalization of China's second-child policy and the increasing investment of Chinese people in children, the children's clothing market has great potential. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, the number of people aged 0-14 in China reached 230 million, an increase of 1.29% year-on-year, and a huge consumer market for children has been formed. According to the "2017-2022 Analysis and Forecast of China's Children's Wear Market Analysis and Development Trends," China's children's wear market has maintained a relatively good growth rate in recent years. In 2016, the market scale reached 145.101 billion yuan. It is estimated that by 2021, the scale of the children's wear market is expected to reach 19.876 billion yuan.

As a native brand in China, Tang' Roulou's marketing model naturally lacks Internet+. Since 2011, Tang' Roulou has registered the brand's Weibo. So far it has had more than 20,000 fans and opened an online shop at Taobao. Now, the online sales have exceeded the stores under the line. Tang' Roulou also collects customer feedback online and then designs according to customer needs. Shi Yun said: “Taobao is a platform that the Chinese people all believe in. We all go to Taobao to buy things and the shopping environment is also very safe. Consumers can easily find us on Taobao, and they can directly enter our online shop. It's not just a place where you can buy something cheap, but a very practical tool that can do anything."

In addition to the online shop, Tang' Roulou also participated in some offline activities organized by Taobao. Tang' Roulou was selected for the 2017 Taobao “Creation Festival” and was one of the 108 most creative shops selected by Taobao and organized an exhibition in Hangzhou. In August 2017, Tang' Roulou was invited to participate in the Taobao Pro-Asia International Children's Wear Festival to provide costumes for the small catwalk models. Different from regular catwalks, a group of five- or six-year-old children have no whitewash and wear Tang' Roulou Chinese style costumes. They have candied fruit, balloons, big gourds, and small dolls in their hands. They walk confidently and confidently on T stage. Extremely.

â–² Small models at the backstage of Taobao Pro Baby Asia International Children's Wear Festival

After opening the Internet+ mode, the composition of Tang's Roulou's customers has also changed. Before that, foreign and Chinese customers each accounted for half, and today, Chinese customers have reached 80%. Shi Yun said: “After we started online sales, our Chinese customers increased a lot. The customers who buy online are basically Chinese. In France, there are already many children’s wear brands and the market is very competitive. In China, Tang’ Roulou is the first Chinese children's wear brand and we are at the best time."