Sandriver succeeds international by transforming Chinese crafts into a cultural luxury brand.
Sandriver parade in the Jiangzi District (Xizang)
At Le Bon Marché in Paris, Sandriver’s cashmere articles are exhibited alongside international international brands. This is the only Chinese brand currently found in this department store in the LVMH group. For a long time, China has had among the most advanced textile manufacturing capacities in the world, while being almost absent from the world of international luxury brands. This lag between manufacturing and brand reflects the reality of the place occupied by the Chinese textile industry in the global value chain. It is also the challenge that Guo Xiuling, founder of Sandriver, decided to take up, after 35 years of experience in cashmere articles. “Creating an independent brand is a historic and revolutionary jump,” she notes.
From subcontractor to cultural mark
In 2002, Ms. Guo opened a factory in Shanghai. Thanks to a model combining German textile technology, high quality cashmere of interior Mongolia and efficiency of Chinese production, it quickly provided several major international luxury brands. However, the subcontracting model offers very limited margins: the gross margin remained stable, between 8 %and 12 %, while that of brands sometimes reached more than 200 %.
The turning point takes place after the 2008 global financial crisis. International orders suddenly dropped, and Chinese competitors as well as customers have dropped prices. Ms. Guo remembers that at the height of the crisis, the factory accounts only allowed three months of survival. “When a customer asked us for a ridiculous price while demanding a fabric respecting a precision of 0.5 mm, I understood that without a clean brand, a company has neither a power to fix, nor a long -term mastery of his future. »»
After several years of difficulty, Ms. Guo decided to partially suspend her subcontracting activities and devoted himself for five years to market studies and strategic reflection on the brand. “Clearly defining the positioning of the brand is much more important than being in precipitation,” she observes. She notes that many companies fail in their transformation because they cannot give up the immediate cash flow flows, which harms their strategy. “When you leave an exit door, the failure is more likely. I chose to burn my vessels. It was a crucial decision to create a brand. »»
In 2012, Ms. Guo mortaged her personal assets to found the Sandriver brand, with an international ambition from the start. This strategic choice, based on a long -term vision, allowed the company to mobilize all its resources to build its brand, develop its products and conquer the market, thus laying the solid foundations of the future of Sandriver.
Guo Xiuling (c.), Founder of Sandriver
Culture and crafts at the center of the brand
To impose itself on the international market, Sandriver’s key strategy has based on the construction of what Ms. Guo calls “Chinese sensitivity”, namely a differentiated value deeply rooted in culture.
“I have always insisted that Sandriver was a Chinese brand, born in China, made in China. This cultural confidence, rare in a time when global aesthetic sense tends to uniform, was at the heart of the project. Ms. Guo went with her team in inner Mongolia and Xizang to systematically explore treasures in danger of Chinese intangible cultural heritage. “When your traditional know-how is impossible to copy, you create a technological barrier,” she explains.
Thanks to an innovative design, Sandriver incorporates millennial craft techniques such as Tibetan “Pulu” weaving, more than 2,000 years old, or the Mongolian technique of manual felting of cashmere, in modern fashion and household articles. During a Paris Fashion Week, Ms. Guo even invited Gesang, a Tibetan, so that she works on a traditional loom. “She was without makeup, sitting in a suit, spinning the wool by hand. This authenticity, rooted in the earth, captivated visitors, to the point that our stand was completely surrounded by spectators. This scene powerfully illustrates the philosophy of Sandriver, consisting in transmitting a cultural value which far exceeds the only production costs.
New Sandriver products at the Shanghai 2025 design (photos provided by Sandriver)
Meet the challenges of globalization
Today we find the products of Sandriver in more than twenty countries, and their quality as well as the strength of the brand have managed to conquer the high -end international markets. Even in a context of trade tensions between China and the United States and high customs duties, the American luxury brand Neiman Marcus has chosen to assume all the additional costs in order to maintain its orders. And this, thanks to both the intrinsic value of the product and the authentic power of its story. “We are racing rural stories, those of the pastures of interior Mongolia, or villages at 4,000 or 5,000 m above sea level in the Xizang. We highlight the rebirth of traditional know-how and their impact on economic independence and the vitality of local women. »»
But Mrs. Guo does not stop there. It now provides a series of products from even wider cultural innovation around Chinese intangible heritage: “During the first decade, we worked on the restoration of Mongolian know-how. For the next ten years, we will continue to deepen the “Pulu” of the Xizang. Recently, we started to study the embroidery of the Hani of Yunnan, the weaving of the Dai, as well as the crafts of the Oigour Ikat of Xinjiang. »»
But this ambitious vision is also accompanied by very concrete challenges. With the growing number of workshops supported by Sandriver in rural regions, the brand undertakes to buy 100 % of the products made, which increases commercial pressure. “My biggest challenge is to use market strength to sell the artisanal creations of these rural women 100 %. It is the only way to keep traditional know-how, and give them a new dynamic. »»
After more than a decade, Sandriver has proven the strength and potential of Chinese brands in the world. The true value of luxury is based on respect for noble materials, loyalty to artisanal know-how, and a sincere narration, capable of transcending cultural borders and going straight to the heart. The experience of Sandriver is thus a clear reference and a model which can be inspired by all the Chinese brands wishing to open up to the world.
