Nautica, a brand from across the ocean, is derived from the Latin word "Nauticus", a nautical word. This well-known casual wear brand in the United States was founded by a Chinese-American David Chu. Zhu Qinqi was born in Taiwan in the 1950s and moved to the United States with his family when he was a teenager. Zhu Qinqi dreamed of becoming an architect when he was young, with the goal of enrolling in the architecture department of a university. But once, by chance, Zhu Qinqi enrolled in the Summer Painting Program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. From then on, he fell in love with fashion design and determined to make fashion design his lifelong ideal, determined to make a career in the fashion field.

In the late 1970s, after graduating from college, he worked as a designer at the headquarters of the sportswear brand Catalina in New York. After several years of training, Zhu Qinqi believed that he had accumulated a certain amount of design experience, so he resolutely resigned and founded Nautica in 1983.

The starting point of the brand is men's clothing. Zhu Qinqi only released six men's clothing for the first time. With his enthusiasm and boldness in fashion, he conducted in-depth research on various clothing materials, applied different chemical treatments to various clothing materials, and explored various possibilities of clothing textures. It is the use of these special materials or the bold use of different materials to make clothes that enable Nautica to establish a distinctive brand style. Over the next two decades, Nautica has grown rapidly and become so popular that its stores and counters can be found in shopping malls and department stores in every state in the United States.

As of 2001, Nautica's global sales have reached US$2 billion. In the United States, Nautica, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger are known as the three major men's clothing brands, and the company's shares have been listed on NASDAQ.

Nautica has developed from a simple men's clothing brand into a complete lifestyle brand. Starting from its core men's sportswear, it has gradually developed into formal wear, including glasses, watches, A full range of accessories, including perfume, as well as men's and women's pajamas, men's and women's denim wear, and boys' wear. Zhu Qinqi also expanded the Nautica concept to the field of home design, including complete sets of bedding, bathrobes, tableware and furniture. The ambitious Zhu Qinqi's current goal is to expand Nautica in all aspects and enhance the brand connotation of Nautica in terms of quality.

Nautica opened its first store in Shanghai in 1994 and quickly established a nationwide sales network.

Country: United States

Year of creation: 1983

Product categories: men's and women's casual series, men's and women's denim series, men's formal wear, pajamas, swimwear, children's wear and glasses , watches, perfumes, accessories, etc.

Founder: David Chu (Mr. Zhu Qinqi)

Company Headquarters: New York, USA

◆ Introduction to Mr. Zhu Qinqi (David Chu) :

The brand founder and chief designer David Chu is a Chinese-American, born in Taiwan, China, and immigrated to the United States when he was 13 years old. After arriving in the United States, he originally planned to engage in architectural design or advertising design. During the summer vacation from high school to college, because he wanted to learn about the history of sketching and clothing, he attended New York Fashion School, a school where American fashion star Calvin Klein graduated. During a summer course at the Institute of Design (FIT), his talents in design and proportion were recognized by the instructors, who pointed the direction of Zhu Qinqi's career.

After graduation, he worked as a designer for a clothing company in the United States for five or six years. Until one day in 1983, he designed 6 jackets according to his own ideas, and the famous New York department store Barney's handed them to him. With the olive branch, Zhu Qinqi's career began when he was 29 years old.

Zhu Qinqi's works have bright and bold colors and attention to detail. They are completely different from the monotonous and boring men's casual wear at that time, so they are very popular. In 1984, Zhu Qinqi won the favor of State-o-Maine, which was seeking to expand at the time, and his first partner sold his equity to State-o-Maine. After officially merging with Omain, the company went public in 1993 and changed its name to Nautica.