The IHT has a report on luxury brands in China, quoting Serge Brunschwig, the managing director of Louis Vuitton Malletier:

"What we thought was a well-known brand was not at all known in China," recalls Brunschwig. He explains that in the early '90s, like today, there were a lot of brands with meaningless French names clouding the market, making it imperative for Vuitton to create and manage its identity.

What Brunschwig does not mention is the huge public relations boost LV has received from fake LV products. Louis Vuitton became a well known brand in Chinese cities only after cheap knockoffs of their handbags became easily available in Beijing and Shanghai. Piracy does not always hurt big brands.

The IHT story is mostly waffle. 'Experts' are quoted saying things like:

...[I]ndustry experts warn that there are many challenges in developing a market for products that are relatively unknown by this huge population...

...In this context, brands have to slowly educate consumers in order to woo them. Luxury labels cannot simply talk at potential clients but need to converse with them, executives say.

"Herein lies the fashion conundrum: to remain essentially prestigious yet approachable," says Robert Wilkins, representative director of Chanel, in Shanghai...

..."China is too big, too old and too self-confident," [dean of the international business school Insead's Asian campus in Singapore, Hellmut] Schütte says. "It's indeed modernizing, but not Westernizing. Unlearn your own cultural biases and go Chinese."

The article is here.