This Summer, “Shanghai Style” Gives Global Travelers Another Reason to Visit Shanghai

SHANGHAI, CHINA, September 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In March 2026, Shanghai officially launched “Shanghai Style”, a new citywide initiative celebrating bespoke craftsmanship and personalized consumption. Four months later, the 2026 Shanghai Summer International Consumption Season opened across the city.

Together, the two initiatives are turning Shanghai’s long-standing appreciation for craftsmanship, refinement and individuality into something international visitors can see, experience and take home.

In Shanghai, customization is no longer limited to luxury or special occasions. It has evolved into a broader urban lifestyle spanning traditional craftsmanship, contemporary design and precision manufacturing. For travelers, that might mean a made-to-measure qipao, a perfectly fitted suit, customized eyewear, a personalized watch or a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. Behind each object is a distinctly Shanghai understanding of craftsmanship, aesthetics and individual needs.

From Qipao to Tailoring: Shanghai’s Tradition of Refinement

Few garments are as closely associated with Shanghai as the qipao. Traditional techniques such as frog-button making, embroidery and piping continue to meet contemporary fabrics, silhouettes and design. Local brands including Longfeng Qipao, Renjian Yanhuo, Jinzhi Yuye and Zhuangrong are giving the city’s qipao tradition new interpretations.

In April, Manloulan, founded in 1997, opened its research, design and haute couture workshop in Hongkou. As a designated inheritor and preservation organization for Shanghai’s intangible cultural heritage of Chinese formalwear craftsmanship, the brand brings design, traditional techniques and bespoke services together in an open studio.

Visitors can choose fabrics, silhouettes and details while also observing the entire process—from sketching and pattern-making to hand embroidery, French embroidery, beadwork and traditional button-making.

Earlier this year, Manloulan joined the Shanghai Summer promotional event in Barcelona, presenting Shanghai-style qipao craftsmanship to an international audience. Now, travelers inspired overseas can experience that craftsmanship directly in Shanghai.
This is precisely the consumption journey Shanghai Style aims to create: taking Shanghai brands to the world, while giving global consumers another reason to come to Shanghai.

The same spirit can be found in the city’s tailoring tradition. Founded in 1928, BAROMON has built nearly a century of expertise around bespoke menswear, combining cutting, sewing, pressing and hand-finishing with three-dimensional tailoring adapted to the movement of the human body.
Today, Shanghai tailoring extends far beyond a single heritage brand. Names such as Humsuit, VSKONNE and LoraEsatta offer different interpretations of made-to-measure clothing, while designers including GUOPEI, HANART, EYAMEY and The Atelier broaden the possibilities of couture and personalized fashion.

From traditional craftsmanship to digital body measurement, the city is bringing heritage, modern design and personal expression into one seamless bespoke experience.

Eyewear, Jewelry and Watches: Personalization in the Details

Beyond fashion, Shanghai’s customization culture is increasingly defined by precision.
At the Shanghai Sanlian Optical Center, specialized workshops produce customized lenses for complex prescriptions, including lenses for severe myopia and astigmatism. Irregular or unconventional frames are individually assessed so that digital processing and manual finishing can achieve a precise fit between lens and frame.

In watchmaking, personalization can turn an object into a private memory. Shanghai Watch has developed services ranging from individual customization to corporate commissions and IP collaborations. Customers can engrave names, graduation numbers or meaningful dates on the caseback, while organizations can incorporate logos, city landmarks or commemorative designs into watch faces.

International demand is also increasing, with customized orders coming from Southeast Asia, Mongolia, Russia and other markets. Commemorative pieces linked to the China International Import Expo, the Shanghai Magnolia Award and the Shanghai Marathon show how a watch can become more than a product—it can preserve a personal connection with the city.

Jewelry tells an even more intimate story.

At a jewelry studio in Yuyuan Garden, designer Zhao Yifan works under a microscope on the details of a ring commissioned by an Italian customer for his wife, combining Eastern design elements with a highly personal story.

At the flagship store of LaoFengXiang, national-level master craftsman and sixth-generation inheritor of the brand’s gold and silver filigree tradition Shen Guoxing works inside a transparent workshop, carefully finishing a pair of gold dragon-and-phoenix cups ordered months in advance.

These scenes reflect Shanghai’s identity as a meeting point between East and West: a city where century-old Chinese craftsmanship exists alongside international brands, contemporary design and global lifestyles.

When “Shanghai Style” Meets “Shanghai Summer”

Shanghai’s bespoke economy is now expanding beyond qipao, tailoring, eyewear, watches and jewelry into a wider ecosystem of personalized products and experiences.

The growing appeal is reflected in tourism and spending figures. In 2025, Shanghai welcomed more than 9.36 million inbound visitors, up nearly 40% year on year, while inbound tourism spending reached US$15 billion. Tax-refund applications rose 3.1 times year on year, and tax-refund sales increased by 80%, accounting for nearly half of China’s total.

In the first half of 2026, Shanghai received 5.3149 million overseas visitors, up 27.82%. Customs authorities processed 253,000 departure tax-refund applications, nearly triple the previous year, covering RMB 2.3 billion in purchases, up 58%.

Visa data also showed that international visitor spending in Shanghai rose by more than 50% in the first quarter of 2026, while transaction volumes increased by over 60%, with visitors coming from nearly 200 countries and regions.

A new travel experience is taking shape: visitors can attend an international sporting event, step into a bespoke workshop at Zhangyuan or the South Bund to be measured for a suit, explore Shanghai Style brands across the city, pay easily with international cards or mobile payments, complete tax refunds digitally before departure, and even have finished pieces shipped overseas if their itinerary is too tight.

Shanghai is increasingly moving from being “China’s first stop for inbound travel” toward becoming “China’s leading city for inbound consumption.”
And Shanghai Style is becoming one of the city’s newest invitations to the world—not simply about making something fit one person, but about turning individual preference into a standard, craftsmanship into an experience, and an object into a lasting memory of Shanghai.

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