For the third year running, niche jewelry brand Vita Fede has been touring major Asian cities — and for the first time this tour included stops in mainland China.
It was Vita Fede founder and designer Cynthia Sakai’s first time on the Mainland as she visited Beijing last week, and then Shanghai over the weekend for a meet-and-greet with customers at well-respected local multibrand accessories boutique Ooak.
“A lot of consumers are coming into stores here and asking them whether they have Vita Fede and that’s how the stores decided to seek us out, especially in Beijing and Shanghai that’s how our business has started,” said Sakai, whose jewelry is made in Italy.
Sakai said she has plans for significant expansion in the world’s second-largest economy — “I am so ambitious it scares me,” Sakai admitted. The brand is currently distributed in 21 China stores and an additional 45 stores around the rest of Asia, and according to Sakai are doubling their business across the continent each season.
Having said this, Vita Fede is not about expansion at all costs, and Sakai said she has declined offers to partner with a number of distributors and large local players in China because of her desire to make the brand’s growth organic.
“It’s about showing our customers here that the brand is about quality and we are really looking to grow the brand,” she said.