Retired hutong queens boost business of British T-shirt maker

BEIJING - Knowing the importance of having reliable workers and building rapport with the local community for his business in China, Dominic Johnson-Hill, an icon of Beijing's streetwear culture, made a surprising choice by hiring Chinese retirees.

Johnson-Hill, the owner of Plastered, a popular T-shirt retailer, has lived in China for 20 years. In his two stylish shops in Beijing, he has always hired retired women from his neighborhood for his sales staff.

"I think you can trust the elderly a lot more than the younger generation," Johnson-Hill said. "They sort of grew up more socialist."

Initially, he hired a young woman to help run the shop, but she took the money and ran to the countryside. It was then when a retired woman in her fifties, who lived in the same courtyard, came to him offering her help. Johnson-Hill recalls her saying, "I'd like to help you, and you won't be cheated again."

"Suddenly, I saw the revenues go up and up. I realized that the one I was looking for was right under my nose, in my shared courtyard.

"She is part of Beijing, the queen of the hutong. She knows how to best present my T-shirts and the hutong culture," he said.

Hutongs, which feature Beijing's traditional alleyways and courtyards, have largely been demolished in favor of modern apartment buildings and shopping malls, so the few that remain are all the more precious.

Johnson-Hill explained that his so-called "hutong queens" are the perfect representatives for his T-shirts that seek to capture the cultural mystique of Beijing.

Another one of his "hutong queens" happens to be his store's landlady. He is grateful to be on such good terms with her, because he has witnessed many conflicts between businesses and their landlords over rent hikes.

"Many landlords suspect their renters make higher revenues than they claim. They only communicate once a year when the contract comes up," he said. "But I communicate with my landlady every day. I am transparent with my revenues."

In China, foreigners can run a joint venture with a local partner or run their own business as a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise (WOFE), which requires initial capital that Johnson-Hill lacked back in 2005.

So he rented a 13-square-meter shop in a hutong to sell his T-shirts. His landlord then was a 60-year-old man.

The Plastered brand found quick success, allowing Johnson-Hill to leave that small space and open his own store in 2007. He opened a second location in early 2012, and says the company generates around one million US dollars annually.

"Plastered T-shirts" feature images from everyday life in China, from subway tickets, old-fashioned toilets to kung fu kids, or even a woman in bikini on the Great Wall.

In 2008, Johnson-Hill won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award of the British Business Awards.

Johnson-Hill believes that to achieve success, a business must engage with the local community. He and his family lived very near his flagship shop until last year, and three of his four daughters grew up immersed in the communal life of the hutong.

"The hutong culture is about sharing. You share bits of roof, toilets, meals, and even family life. My children grew up in hands of four or five local families," he said.

He was the first foreigner to be elected to the local chamber of commerce and is quite friendly with the local police. A few years ago, he helped them promote the national census, by appearing in their promotional video.

Through various appearances on Chinese TV, Johnson-Hill, who speaks fluent Chinese, has become the public face of his company. He has over 80,000 fans on weibo, the Chinese twitter-like social networking site.

He's comfortable with the popularity, but has no visions of transforming his brand into a global franchise. "I would have my business as a small giant; so maybe eight stores would be the sky for me," he said.