Allen Ren Launches Own Brand

Entering the public eye with 2019’s Under the Power <錦衣之下>, Chinese actor Allen Ren (任嘉倫) saw his popularity nosedive after being caught in an extramarital affair last year. Not only was his drama Twilight <暮色心約> in which he co-starred with Angelababy (杨颖) hit by low ratings, his recent drama Love of Nirvana <流水迢迢> also did not perform as well as expected. Recently, he was again hit by negative criticism as fans lashed out at the high prices of his fashion brand’s first release.

From Ancient Costume Male God to Clothing Brand Co-Founder

Lauded as a perfect “male god” in ancient costumes, Allen had attracted a sizeable fan following with a string of roles in representative works including The Glory of Tang Dynasty <大唐榮耀>, Under the Power <錦衣之下> and One and Only <周生如故>. With his image tarnished by his personal scandal, his works were also affected. During this time, Allen turned his attention to his side hustle, building up his personal fashion brand GCJL REN which focused on black and white hues and integrated traditional “Guochao” or Chinese style elements. However, waves of criticism followed the brand’s launch due to its exorbitant pricing.

In the first batch of newly released products, the jacket and tee were priced at RMB1,980 and RMB980 respectively, while the handphone case, which went for RM188 each, invited dissenting voices as netizens’ jaws dropped, commenting, “Is the handphone case gold-studded?”, “He’s just trying to make minced meat out of us”. Though the price of the case was later dropped to RMB78, the outpouring critical comments continued. To add fuel to fire, they also pointed out that his brand lacked originality as the designs looked similar to the products launched by a well-known sporting brand a year ago.

Netizens wondered if Allen Ren knew he could no longer stay in acting and thus decided to dabble in fashion instead. Others commented that his brand was “tacky and old-fashioned”, “obviously exploiting consumers”, and “stealing for money”.

Not the first time a celebrity has been critiqued for their self-owned brands, actor Bai Jingting (白敬亭), who created his brand GoodBai in 2021, had also faced netizens’ fury for unfriendly pricing. Not only that, the brand even made Weibo headlines, and became a topic of discussion threads when its products were found to have failed the authorities’ sampling tests.

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