Time-honored brands attracting young buyers

Outside the flagship store of time-honored Beijing snack brand Daoxiangcun, a line snakes down the block. Inside, young customers snap photos of seasonal pastries not just to eat, but to post online.

In Beijing's Ruifuxiang Silk shop, one of China's most famed traditional silk and fabric stores, neo-Chinese-style qipao, or cheongsams, are being tailored for the younger generation, blending traditional elegance with modern cuts and patterns.

Long-revered heritage brands, once perceived as the exclusive domain of older generations, are reinventing themselves. They are becoming central players in the "guochao", or China chic, wave, which sees young consumers embracing domestic brands that fuse cultural identity with modern innovation.

According to the 2024 annual report on time-honored brands released by China's short-video platform Douyin, the post-1990s generation has become the largest group of buyers for time-honored brands, while post-2000s consumers have seen the fastest growth in order volume, with a year-on-year increase of 95 percent.

For Xiao Jialu, a university student in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, a recent skincare purchase was an experiment in nostalgia. Three jars of traditional face cream, each costing under 20 yuan ($2.8), were not from an international luxury brand, but from decades-old Chinese cosmetic lines.

"I might have thought these were for my mom's, or even my grandma's, generation before," Xiao said. "But after seeing so many recommendations on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, I bought some out of curiosity. I was genuinely surprised by how good they are, and I will definitely recommend them to my friends."

The resurgence is not accidental, said Dong Yinmao, director of the Chinese Cosmetic Research Center at Beijing Technology and Business University.

By moving beyond traditional channels to master social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, time-honored brands have successfully reframed their narrative. They are no longer presented as relics, but as smart, authentic choices for discerning consumers, Dong said.

This strategic pivot has allowed their inherent advantages — high cost-performance and reliable user experience — to shine. For a growing number of young consumers, choosing a heritage cream or lotion is both a practical decision and an expression of cultural confidence, Dong added.

A study released by the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year showed that young adults — particularly those born after 1990 and 2000 — report the highest levels of cultural identity and optimism about cultural development among all age groups.

"The success of some time-honored domestic brands in attracting massive numbers of young fans stems from their precise strategy of integrating profound cultural heritage with modern elements," said Yao Chenggang, a standing council member of China Council for Brand Development.

Yao noted that the rising acceptance of heritage brands and products rich in Chinese cultural elements among today's youth "created a more enabling market environment for domestic brands to thrive".

Meanwhile, according to the 2024 China Youth Consumption Trends Report released by The Beijing News, some 42 percent of young respondents stated that their primary reason for choosing time-honored domestic brands is the brands' heightened focus on innovation and research and development.