While most luxury goods houses spent the last few years alternately rushing to open stores in China and denying that they would ever move their production there, in 1993, Ports 1961, a little-known Canadian company, quietly made the country both its manufacturing and retail base - and since then has been working, surreptitiously and successfully, to become a credible force in the international fashion world. Today, Ports has over 370 stores globally, 305 of which are in China. It is headquartered in Xiamen with showrooms and flagship stores in New York, Toronto and Shanghai. Its Asian operation alone is valued at $1.4bn, and it is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The reason for its success: Chinese production. So, why did they dare to go where no other luxury company had dared to go before?

Ports was founded in 1961 by Canadian Luke Tanabe, and became known mostly for its tailored shirt, the No 10 blouse. By 1989, however, Tanabe was looking to retire and one of the company’s manufacturers, Sau Tan, loved the label so much she bought it. Since some manufacturing was being done in China, Tan sent a team of Canadian executives, including her son, Alfred Chan, now chief executive, to study the possibility of opening retail stores there and eventually moving all of its manufacturing to country.