SHANGHAI — Luxury silk bedding company Kumi Kookoon, which already relies on Chinese women to hand-sew its products, is now looking to China for customers.
The brand opened its first store on the Mainland in May in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, as the country’s market for high-end furnishings gains momentum. The 1,500-square-foot boutique features an array of home products, including Kumi Kookoon’s signature pajamas and bedding made of Chinese silk. It also carries imported home furnishings, including handmade laces, bathroom accessories, pillows and candles from Italy, America and France.
“[The] Chinese have been really receptive to our products even though they are made in China,” said Jennifer Chang, the brand’s founder, whose family is from the Mainland. “They have not seen this type of quality before and they cannot find it on the market.”
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Chang, who formerly worked for Deloitte & Touche, founded Kumi Kookoon in Los Angeles in 2003. Products are available online as well as in ABC Home & Carpet stores. She said the company began to notice demand from Chinese who were buying the brand’s products while traveling in the U.S. and making special orders from the Mainland.
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“We embroidered something for Hu Jintao, like the president, and he liked it so much that he asked for another set,” Chang said. “A lot of business people give our bedding out as gifts to politicians during the holidays.”
Kumi Kookoon’s retail prices range from about $40 to $3,000 for bedding and $115 to $600 for loungewear.
More companies are starting to cater to China’s home market as well. Shang Xia, the Hermès International-backed Chinese luxury brand, opened its first store in 2010 and produces hand-crafted home furnishings from the Mainland. In Beijing, Zara recently opened its first home stores. Meanwhile, interior design firms, such as the Shanghai-based Lime 388, are reporting a noticeable boost in business from Chinese looking to upgrade to a more sophisticated aesthetic for their dwellings.