beyondbrics

Dolce & Gabbana has fallen out of fashion in Hong Kong. It’s not that the Italian fashion house has failed to impress with its Fall/Winter collection. The company just happens to have touched a very sore point with local people:  the favour allegedly shown to mainland Chinese tourists.

It all started when a local tabloid newspaper reported last week that security guards stopped people from snapping pictures outside its flagship Hong Kong store in Canton Road.

What really incensed local sensibilities was that one of the doormen apparently told a local man that the photo ban was not extended to mainland Chinese tourists.

That prompted a barrage of online comments on Hong Kong web sites accusing D&G of blatant “racism” and claims that international brands have,  in general,  become too dominant on Hong Kong streets.

D&G, which has three Kong Kong stores altogether,  has issued statements saying its staff were misquoted by the press and that it regretted being caught up in the controversy. The protesters complain that D&G is not listening to their messages.

To the horror of D&G’s local managers, thousands gathered outside the flagship store in Canton Road at the weekend, all armed with cameras, shouting that they were reclaiming pedestrian rights and protesting against alleged discrimination against Hong Kong people.

Dolce & Gabbana, Canton Road, HK

Canton Road is the top shopping destination for mainland China’s nouveau riche who can’t get enough of western luxury brands. The same luxury leather handbag could cost over 30 per cent more in the mainland because of import duties and a luxury tax which are both absent in Hong Kong, a special administrative region with its own currency and tax regime.

Every weekend, you see mainland Chinese tourists queuing outside D&G and all its neighbours – LV, Chanel, Prada, etc. Increasingly, shop assistants are hired across Hong Kong for their ability to speak Mandarin rather than English. There are also fewer local independent stores visible at street level as they cannot compete against the rent that multinationals are paying to secure prime spots.

An increasing number of foreign brands are setting up in Hong Kong even though the city has become one of the most expensive places to do business, and they all say it’s because of the mainland Chinese visitors. In 2010, 23m visitors came to Hong Kong from mainland China, a 25 per cent increase on the previous year, and they spent about US$13bn in the city, according to the local tourism board. By comparison, Hong Kong only has a local population of 7m and most of them don’t buy luxury goods.

While the retail sector has created jobs and contributed significantly to the city’s GDP, the focus on luxury, and the aggressive expansion of big chains have killed off many local independent shops or forced them to move to cheaper, less visible space. Brand hegemony has robbed Hong Kong of local colour, both locals and expatriates say.

That’s not all. It is Hong Kong’s economic reality that it survives on its close ties with mainland China, a fact that has rarely been disputed since its return to Chinese rule nearly 15 years ago. However, many locals still see themselves as having a separate identity from other Chinese people while “mainlanders” are blamed for many things. For example, for pushing up property prices, and for putting too much strain on the city’s health system by visiting Hong Kong for treatment.

At the end of the day, a dispute over the right to photograph D&G’s shop windows is fairly trivial. But unfortunately for D&G, the tensions it has exposed are not.