Integrity crisis

Xie Xiaoqiu, director of a public relations firm, has always been a fan of foreign brands. She argued that although well-known foreign brands are expensive, they really are worth the much higher price.

"The manufacturers of those famous foreign brands are tycoons in the industry, and their products must be perfect in quality," said Xie. "Moreover, the brands also represent the best in style, which is unmatchable by domestic brands."

Xie said she is tempted to buy one or two big-ticket foreign items every season (usually about 10,000 yuan), even though her salary is only about 8,000 yuan per month.

Walking around some top-notch department stores, one can find some recently punished international brands like Tommy and Burberry still selling well, seemingly unaffected by the negative media blitz. In one Tommy store in Beijing, customer flow was just like the good old days. One Tommy sales person told Beijing Review that Tommy is a well-received international brand and it is highly unlikely there are any quality problems. She added that Tommy clothes were mostly imported from Mauritius and India and were superior in quality. With regard to Tommy's failure in the quality inspection, the sales person contended that she had never heard of it and it was impossible that Tommy would have such a problem.

But her words can't make it up to even the most faithful customers like Xie, who has since developed a problem trusting foreign brands.

Zhao Wei, international economics professor at Zhejiang University, said China traditionally hasn't required much in terms of imported brands' quality. This has resulted in an inflow of second- and third-tier products into the Chinese market.

However, Zhao noted, as China's economy continues to develop, many foreign substitutes are emerging domestically with good quality and after-sale services. Faced with upcoming Chinese brands, foreign ones should upgrade their service and quality. Since many haven't, a crisis of trust has naturally ensued.

Ye Jianhua, Deputy Director with ZJAIC, agreed.

Zhejiang is known as a major import province. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that from 2000 to 2005, the total imports of Zhejiang Province hit $99.84 billion, ranking fourth in the country. Ye revealed that in recent quality inspections all domestic brands in the province have met the set standards, while many imported commodities failed.

Ye made it clear that the questionable imported products indeed were from foreign countries and were not fake or products of counterfeiting.

"The blind worship of foreign brands spoils some foreign brands," said Zhang Weiyuan, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Fashion Designers' Association.