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There aren’t that many fashion brands born and bred in Singapore that have made it big overseas.
If Singaporeans and tourists are asked to name one, Charles & Keith will likely be one of the most commonly mentioned brand names.
At the start of the year, Business Times reported that Charles & Keith had by the start of 2019 expanded to over 600 stores in 37 markets since opening in 1996.
Considering China is one of the most significant markets for any retail brand to break into, Charles & Keith’s entry into the market is a success story in itself. A check on the Charles & Keith official website shows that it has 95 stores in mainland China today.
But it seems there’s a price to pay for that success.
On Saturday (Dec 21), Hong Kong news site hk01.com reported that some consumers in China had mistakenly bought items from a local brand called Cherlss & Keich, thinking it was Charles & Keith.
According to the article, the brand owned by a Chinese company called Guangzhou Yuantai Leather was just launched this year.
Its stores in Guangdong, Sichuan, Hunan and Shanghai sell a range of female accessories from handbags to shoes, much like Singapore’s Charles & Keith, the article added.
One consumer who shopped at the alleged copycat brand took to social media platform Weibo vent his frustrations when he realised that a bag he bought was not by Charles & Keith.
Screenshots posted on Weibo show the consumer complaining to another Weibo user that he had returned to ask for a refund but was rejected by the store.
And it seems he was not the only consumer who did not realise the two brands were different.
Other Weibo users also posted photos of items bought at Cherlss & Keich stores, which they had mistaken for Charles & Keith.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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