Office h Is Scaling New Heights At Shanghai Fashion Week

Inflatables are back in fashion. But not as you might expect. Meet Zewei Hong —the designer behind office h who has small electronic fans built into his Spring Summer 25 debut at Shanghai Fashion Week (SHFW). “It’s functional,” he explains the following morning sitting amid his designs at the B2B platform, Tube Showroom. “It’s to keep you cool and is inspired by street workers.”

Nonetheless, it makes a statement on the runway. Inflated trousers, bags, and jackets morph the body making eye-catching, statement shapes—certainly not typical office wear. Zewei too is not your average Chinese designer. Unlike his contemporaries, the Suzhou-born designer studied at San Francisco’s California College of the Arts, winning the CFDA Scholarship Award in 2017. He spent his free time at Yosemite National Park and the Joshua Tree before relocating to New York to work with the designer Snow Xue Gao.

After 7 years in the US, he moved back to China in 2019 which he calls the “blooming days of the industry” and by 2020 had established the D2C brand in Suzhou and was selling on Taobao. Despite the unpredictability of the 4 years that followed, Office h is thriving, with a staff of 12. “I love the market. It’s so big and there’s just so much potential. Alibaba offers so much visibility,” he said, sharing that he sells more than 1,000 pieces every month on Taobao organically.

The new collection, a collaboration with Ningbo-based conglomerate Younger, is split into three stories: white collar (tailored suiting with a twist), blue-collar (denim and cotton pieces), and outdoors. Drawing inspiration from Zewei’s passion for being in nature, especially rock climbing, over 100 unisex SKUs in solid blocks of color offer something for all tastes. Waterproof polyester jackets are a staple with signature circular pockets and piping details derived from his decade hiking in the mountains.

There are also touches of sleek cycling style. Two years ago, Office h held a casual event that saw around 30 of his friends bike around the city in the collection. Spring Summer 25 is more formal, taking a prime time slot in the official SHFW show space. Still, the brand retained its informality by again casting a line-up of Zewei’s close friends—and even one of their children—to navigate a runway populated by giant inflatable blobs in a vibrant purple shade—the brand’s signature color.

Zewei’s design priority is to make functional clothes that are easy to wear. According to Zemira Xu, the founder of Tube, this reflects the shifting trends of Chinese consumers. “It really fits for lifestyles now, especially among younger people. People are doing sports after work. Climbing, tennis, hiking, and so on are so popular now. The products sell themselves.” she explained. According to an action plan released by the Chinese government in 2023, the country is on a mission to develop outdoor sports into an industry valued at over $418 billion by 2025. That makes an ideal foothold for local brands like Office h.

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