chinese tech

Chinese Techwear - A Masterpost as Big as China

I’ve been in China for the last month plus, so if you have better information than me, please go ahead and share it, but this is a masterpost based on stuff I’ve bought or at least handled IRL and also a bit of a how to buy.

MISCONCEPTION: Chinese Techwear is not “tech wear” because tech wear is [insert long winded PhD thesis here about technical properties of fabrics].

MISCONCEPTION: Chinese Clothing is all cheap and on par with h&m and Zara and mostly copies every1 else. lol, okay.

WARNING: Chinese clothing is made for Chinese people, but more importantly its made for people who read the listing and check the measurements, all listings have a measurements block, and all browsers have access to Google Translate.


I’ll post a star rating, a price range, and a short review.(edited)
Enshadower -  3* - http://www.enshadower.cc/ - Under 50USD per piece - I’ve had a few pieces from Enshadower, it’s kind of baby’s first Chinese tech wear brand and it definitely sells the aesthetic, but sometimes can fall short on functionality or cuts. I have a few pieces from Enshadower because A it’s cheap, and B, it’s tempting. The pants and jackets are waterproof, but not goretex, and the vests are pretty functional. If I was interested in being a waterproof ninja, I’d probably buy from here more often, but the cuts are not forgiving for larger people.

Chrrota - 3* - Under 40USD per piece - https://chrrota.taobao.com/ - I bought a F/W Noragi last season and I wore that thing like it was a second skin. It was a nice wool with silk lining. It warmed me and warmed the Yohji hobo lurking inside of me. Their designs are aesthetic but not functional, the pants are not waterproof, heaven knows what all the straps are supposed to be for, but no one is buying Julius for the functionality, and you’re probably not going to purchase from Chrrota for the same reasons.

Pupil travel - 3* &  5* - 50 - 250USD - https://pup-iltravel.taobao.com/ pupil travel needs to be split into two sections, their clothing and their bags.  Clothing wise, its on par with Chrrota, the aesthetic is there, and is sometimes a bit odd, but it reflects the designer (Mad Man Samhe).  I, personally, love him and the designs so I have quite a few things from his store. His bags are a different story (these are MTO through his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sx3am/ , payable by WeChat), the attention to detail he puts into his work and his willingness to try different materials (including heat sensitive color changing material) gives him a 5 from me.(edited)
11lab - 1* - 70USD and under - https://11lab.taobao.com/ - No. I honestly am still miffed at 11lab and will be for the rest of all time. I bought scratchy pants from their beautiful looking website and it never stayed snapped! Never again.

FLAM - 5* - 50-200USD - https://flamstudio.taobao.com/ - Current obsession and long time obsession is FLAM, a year or so ago I bought their cargo pants and I have worn them about once a week since, they have held up beautifully and have never faded. Their latest season is functional as it is pocket-able (CD player pockets included) and the designs are incorporating more colors than just the tech wear Grey, Black, and RAF Green with an occasional pop.

Nosucism - 4* - 50-100USD - https://nosucism.taobao.com/ - I don’t own any but ran across these in Shanghai and tried them on and messed with them a bit. On par with Guerrilla Group in terms of construction and functionality, a very good brand for not that much money and some great designs.
Roaringwild - :star::star::star::star::star: - 100USD and up - http://www.roaringwild.net/ - Phew, I love this brand, I love Shenzhen clothing brands, functional street fashion with fresh designs all the time, downside, it’s like Supreme and needs to throw branding all over everything. More street than tech wear but puts out some great pants and outerwear every season and deserves a look.

COC Cube - 4* - 70USD and up - https://shop180586050.taobao.com/ - One of the few brands I found featured on Hypebeast (https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/coc-cube-spring-summer-2018) very avant garde in it’s silhouettes and yet gives off some cyberpunk vibes. I love their latest collection, and I look forward to seeing more from them. (I feel like this will be a controversial feature because it’s not ~functional~ but idk)

Rosen & Rosen-X - 5* - 150USD and up - https://rosen-store.com/ - expensive and has just dipped into the athlesiure technical department I can recommend Rosen’s brand to everyone, excellent construction and MTO it’s on the high end but worth every penny. I feel like this brand is definitely a darling of the TWG crowd as I see a lot of instagrammers from there wearing her brands (me included)
Some Brands I can’t rate, but you can check out because you have a web browser: Winderflies (http://windiness.taobao.com/), KillWinner (http://killwinner.com/), SZSX (https://szsx.taobao.com/).

If you’re interested in trying these brands out, you can always order from a shopping service (SuperBuy is one I use: https://www.superbuy.com/ ) and WeChat is available in the US (it has a translate function built into the messaging app now), to get money into WeChat to order from people like Samhe for custom bags, you can use TheSwapsy (https://theswapsy.com/) to transfer money out of PayPal into WeChat without a fee (I have used this almost a dozen times and can verify it’s validity).


Are these things on par with ACG? Yes
Are these things on par with Veilance and Acronym? No.