'First in Shanghai' Campaign Highlights City's Role in Debut Economy

Step into Zhangyuan Garden in downtown Shanghai and you'll find a whole array of product displays, beautiful apparels and attractive handicrafts. It is part of the "First in Shanghai" events that showcases the city's leading position for product debuts.

The restored shikumen (stone-gate) complex and cultural landmark in Jing'an District has been turned into a garden full of spring vitality where historic architecture, boutique shops and dozens of home and foreign brands and intangible cultural heritage meet under one roof.

The brand showcase event Springtide Fate will run through April 3, hosting six themed spaces covering 35 overseas and 55 local brands.

The latest season of "First in Shanghai" kicked off over the weekend. It includes five international-level conferences and exhibitions and 50 high-level debuts of products and shows that would comprehensively showcase the city as a role model for the debut economy.

An ecosystem with a complete industrial chain is taking shape and has positioned Shanghai as a national innovation hub for the debut economy.

Since 2018, a total of 8,472 debut stores at various levels have opened across Shanghai. Last year a total of 1,093 debut stores were unveiled, including 16.8 percent of Asia or global-level outlets, according to a debut economy development report released by the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Shanghai has launched a series of facilitation measures for the inspection of imported consumer goods intended for debut in the Chinese market since last year.

The city also aims to build cluster areas for the debut economy and new product launches which bring not only flagship stores but new consumption scenarios and retail formats.

Foreign and local brands take this as an excellent opportunity to draw shoppers with their latest collection of apparels, personal care items and fashion shows.

The L'Oreal PRO 2026 Hair Show will take place on April 22 at the Museum of Art Pudong and hairstylists from thousands of salons across the country and hundreds of top hair artists will gather in Shanghai to showcase global trends through world-class hair creations.

Global apparel retail brand Uniqlo is bringing consumers over a hundred new spring and summer products during the "First in Shanghai" campaign. The Japanese company is collaborating with Disney and Formula One to launch car racing-themed UT (Uniqlo T-shirt) for the first time, and is also introducing the Shueisha 100th Anniversary collaboration UT specially for anime enthusiasts, in addition to functional apparels and sun protection series.

Dutch health technology giant Philips has launched a new model of its Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 series electric toothbrush for more stain removal functions.