Why Are So Many Old International Fashion Brands Suddenly Coming Back to China?
And Are They Really Chasing Gen Z?
Forever 21 is back. Again. For the fourth time. MANGO is reopening offline stores. Esprit, after five years of silence, has announced a full return to the Chinese market. One by one, names that once felt like background noise from the 2000s are reappearing, as if someone hit rewind on the global fashion industry. The question is no longer whether these brands can come back, but why they are choosing now, and who they think they are coming back for.
For anyone who grew up walking past Esprit storefronts in Shanghai malls or buying Forever 21 haul pieces before fast fashion became exhausting, this wave feels oddly familiar. These brands aren’t new. They carry memory. And memory, it turns out, is a powerful entry point in a market that has grown tired of endless novelty. But nostalgia alone doesn’t pay rent, and it certainly doesn’t guarantee loyalty from Gen Z, a generation that didn’t necessarily grow up loving these brands in the first place.
Esprit’s story captures the full arc. In 2001, its Shanghai flagship opening marked a milestone in China’s fashion retail history. Celebrity endorsements drove crowds. By 2008, Esprit was operating over 1,000 stores across 171 cities, generating more than HK$37 billion in revenue. Then came the slow unraveling. Design cycles lagged. Supply chains hardened. Inventory piled up. As Uniqlo, ZARA, and H&M rewrote the rules of speed and value, Esprit’s stores emptied quietly. By 2020, under pressure from both internal missteps and the pandemic, the brand exited China altogether.
Now it’s back, starting with a flagship in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay and plans to expand into Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, while reopening online channels at the same time. The timing is not accidental. Esprit’s parent company is facing heavy losses and restructuring across Europe. China, once again, looks like a market worth betting on. This return isn’t just about expansion. It’s about survival.
Esprit isn’t alone. This year alone, Forever 21 announced yet another re-entry into China, quickly rolling out large-scale metro advertising in Shanghai. MANGO, which once operated nearly 200 stores in China before shrinking to a single outlet, has teased its comeback with a redesigned flagship concept. GAP, after selling its China business, has also pushed itself back into public view through repositioning and renewed marketing. These brands aren’t drifting back casually. They’re arriving with intent.
The logic is straightforward. China’s apparel retail market now exceeds 3 trillion RMB. The e-commerce ecosystem is mature, with platforms like Tmall, Douyin, and Dewu covering nearly every demographic. Compared to the past, brands can test, adjust, and scale with far lower physical risk. For companies like Forever 21, China and the U.S. are now positioned as the two most strategically important markets for capturing future-facing consumers.
But there’s another factor at play, and it’s less about economics and more about psychology. Nostalgia is back. Global surveys show a rising desire to “return to how things used to be,” and among Gen Z, this has translated into a strange but powerful blend of irony, retro aesthetics, and emotional consumption. Childhood IP collaborations fill mall shelves. Vintage silhouettes dominate trend cycles. Brands that carry historical texture suddenly feel usable again. Forever 21 collaborates with The Smurfs. Esprit leans into memories of Hong Kong pop culture. What once felt outdated now reads as “archive.”
The returns, however, are not copy-paste revivals. These brands are rebuilding themselves structurally. Esprit has shifted to a light-asset licensing model in China, relying on local partners to handle product execution and channel operations while the parent company focuses on brand direction. The goal is to move faster, spend less, and avoid repeating old mistakes. Its Hong Kong store even includes a café, signaling a softer, lifestyle-oriented retail experience. MANGO has experimented with social-driven activations like “one-day store managers,” leaning into emotional value and shareability rather than pure merchandising.
Positioning has changed too. Esprit is no longer branding itself as mass-market fast fashion, but as a “slow fashion” label emphasizing sustainability, fabric quality, and environmental responsibility. GAP has leaned back into cultural relevance, reviving its music roots and classic product lines. These shifts are attempts to re-enter the conversation without fighting today’s market on yesterday’s terms.
Distribution has evolved alongside positioning. Offline stores are fewer, larger, and more experience-driven. Online presence is no longer optional. Esprit is launching across major e-commerce platforms simultaneously. GAP’s recovery has been powered largely by strong local e-commerce operations. Forever 21’s return includes a deliberate push into Xiaohongshu, acknowledging where younger consumers actually spend attention now.
Still, the hardest question remains unanswered. Can nostalgia convert into sustained spending? China’s fashion market is nothing like it was twenty years ago. Uniqlo and ZARA have stabilized their dominance through deep digitalization. Local brands like Li-Ning and UR speak fluently in cultural codes that resonate with younger consumers. International legacy brands are no longer competing against a vacuum. They’re entering a crowded, fast-moving ecosystem that rewards clarity, speed, and authenticity.
For Esprit, the challenges are familiar but sharper. Digital capability lagged even before its exit in 2020. Catching up now means mastering livestreaming, social commerce, and influencer ecosystems almost from scratch. Sustainability messaging must translate into real material innovation, not just positioning language. Light-asset models reduce financial risk, but they also weaken control over product quality and brand consistency, problems that have already surfaced in brands overly dependent on distributors.
The return of these brands says less about the past than it does about the present. China remains a market too large to ignore, and Gen Z remains a generation everyone wants to decode. Whether these legacy names can move beyond memory and build relevance again will depend on how well they learn, adapt, and execute this time around.
Coming back is easy. Staying is the hard part.
