Paul Smith to open flagship store on Alibaba's Tmall

Paul Smith, the leading British independent design house, has today launched a digital flagship on Alibaba's Tmall Luxury Pavilion platform to cater for its growing Chinese customer base.

The move gives the platform's 900m consumers in mainland China access to a selection of Paul Smith SS21 men’s and women’s ready-to-wear styles, with a wider selection of AW21 product to be made available in August.

Also coming in August will be informal and sportswear inspired designs from the recently launched "PS Paul Smith Happy" collection, which champions the message of youthful positivity, offering a distinctive PS Happy logo across separates and accessories designed to appeal to a new generation of customer.

Paul Smith managing director Ashley Long said: "Paul Smith is delighted to partner with Alibaba to launch our official digital flagship on Tmall Luxury Pavilion. This marks a pivotal moment for us as we further expand our presence in mainland China to reach an ever growing and evolving consumer who is keen to access the rich heritage and craftsmanship of Paul Smith, as well as our diversified core and diffusion lines.

"The digital reach and strong digital ecosystem of Tmall offers us untapped potential and we look forward to developing our presence through this partnership."

The British label joins a growing list of brands that have partnered with Tmall Luxury Pavilion since it launched in 2017. To date, over 200 premium brands have joined forces with Tmall Luxury Pavilion, which is widely recognised as the go-to platform to connect with China’s luxury shoppers.

Earlier this month Danish contemporary womenswear label GANNI launched its first direct to consumer experience in China via Tmall.