Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion and welcome to the

Bof podcast. Each year at Voices, we release a special report that we co-publish with McKinsey and

company called The State of Fashion. As some of you may know, I spent the early part of my career at

McKinsey. so working on the

state of fashion report is a bit like bringing two of my worlds together. And this year at Voices,

we welcomed a very special guest from McKinsey to connect the dots for us on the burgeoning Chinese

market that forms a big part of the state of fashion. Kevin Sneder was elected global managing partner of McKinsey & Company in 2018 by more than 550 partners,

representing 16,000 consultants in a highly secretive, three-round process

that some people have compared to the election of the Pope by the Catholic conclave,

except without all of the white smoke.

Kevin's personal story is a quintessentially McKinsey one, born in Canada, raised in Scotland,

and living and serving clients in Asia for more than 20 years.

Kevin has a unique urban lens on China and the growth opportunities it presents.

Here's Kevin Sneeter on Nav growth in China at Voices 2018.

I am excited to talk about a topic about a country I've lived and worked in for many years.

And to do it in a way that while it's true, we can talk about the burgeoning Chinese consumer.

I think we also should be realistic about the many contrasts that are happening in China.

There is no one China, and I think that's an important message that many of you already know.

But let me just start with an image.

And the image is when my wife and I had left Beijing to move to Hong Kong roughly around the time of 1997.

And 1997 was an important year.

There's also an opportunity for a bit of audience participation.

...