On 24 June, it was reported that Chinese fast fashion brand Urban Revivo is considering being listed in Hong Kong. According to Bloomberg, the Guangzhou-based brand is consulting on its potential listing and raising at least 100 million USD. However, the anonymous source maintains that it’s still in the early stages and Urban Revivo might still decide against going public.
Established in 2006, Urban Revivo has over 400 stores across China and aims to compete with international fast fashion brands such as H&M and Zara. Since the early days, the brand has been known for its large and well-decorated offline stores. Its first store at the Grandview Mall in Guangzhou in 2006 was 1,000 sqm in size when Chinese brands didn’t risk opening 200 sqm stores. 18 years later, Urban Revivo has an average shop size of 1,000 sqm and the largest one sized 4,400 sqm. With the design and furnishing of the stores, the fast fashion brand endeavours to bring a sense of luxury to customers who visit in person.
In recent years, Urban Revivo has been expanding quickly abroad. Currently, the brand has already opened 9 locations overseas, concentrating on Southeast Asia countries such as Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Founder and CEO Li Mingguang has made it clear that the brand’s goal is to grow to become a global name worth over 100 billion RMB (13.76 billion USD).
The brand started profiting in 2017 and brand revenue had grown to over 6 billion RMB (825.51 million USD) since as early as 2022. In 2019, Chinese fashion brand BIEM.L.FDLKK Garment also invested in Urban Revivo, holding 2.7% of its shares. With a sub-brand BENLAI founded in 2022 and a London store open, the once Zara’s apprentice has grown to become the master. It is also a brand to watch in the “go overseas” (出海) trend for Chinese brands.
