The Chinese high-end luxury brand 1436, named for the yarn of the material used to make the clothes, was launched in 2007 by the Inner Mongolia-based Erdos Group, China’s largest cashmere products company.

Recently Erdos Group opened a flagship store in Shanghai to extend the 1436 brand to eastern China, after opening stores in Beijing and Shenzhen. This store is the brand’s 15th specialty store in China, and is established to be its most characteristic store yet. For a high-end fashion brand, as Erdos Group wants to position 1436, the Shanghai market is a crucial place to be. Customers in Shanghai are very demanding, paying “close attention to quality and details”, says Wang Zhen, general manager of 1436.

During the launch of 1436 in 2007, Kevin Yeung, the designer of the brand, explained that when a fashion brand is first launched, its visual identity (including logo, signature, colour, etc.) and the shop image are crucial as the apparel has not had time to build up its own reputation yet. Freeman Lau, another designer in charge of the brand’s visual identity, added that the clothes themselves are not enough to ensure the brand’s success, and that “it is vital to create a tasteful and luxurious shopping experience through a well-thought floor plan, lighting, displays and furniture.”

So, will the new flagship store satisfy the demanding Shanghai customers and develop the 1436 brand image as a luxury Chinese fashion brand? The coming weeks will tell, but it’s a good sign that the brand is paying attention to their visual identity in the Chinese luxury goods market.