Laomeihua (老美华), the Tianjin clothing house founded in 1911, marked its 115th anniversary on August 9 with an ancestor ceremony in the morning and a three-way product launch at the Tianjin Museum in the afternoon. The event paired the museum’s collection with the brand’s own crafts, releasing a collaboration series that spans men’s connected-sleeve jackets, Tianjin-style qipao, handmade Pankou (盘扣) buttons and silk-scarf paintings. China National Radio’s Tianjin bureau reported the launch on August 11, listing the partners as Laomeihua, the Tianjin Museum and Jinyun New Media, which operates the Haihe MCN network.
Morning ceremonies stayed restrained by old-brand standards: staff stood in line to bow, the board chairman read the memorial text, senior managers offered tea in turn, and everyone paid respects to the founders. Laomeihua was created by Pang Henian (庞鹤年), a Tianjin native, in 1911. Four of its shoemaking techniques, camel-saddle shoes, pointed-toe shoes, embroidered shoes and the Hangyuan type (杭元鞋), are on the national intangible-heritage list, while its Tianjin-style qipao and men’s connected-sleeve jackets are recognized at the municipal level.
Four Product Lines Drawn From Museum Relics
The afternoon launch, titled “Ancient Charm Reborn, Tianjin Crafts Passed On,” built four product lines around the museum’s holdings: a snow-scape line, a porcelain line, a spring-chamber line and a contemporary line. The designs draw on Fan Kuan’s Northern Song painting Snowy Landscape with Cold Forests, a Qianlong enamel pear-shaped vase painted with peonies and pheasants, and the portrait known as Portrait of a Lady Reading in Spring. The products cover connected-sleeve jackets, Tianjin-style qipao, handmade Pankou buttons, silk-scarf paintings and cushions.
Signature among them is a silk-scarf painting of the Western Zhou Taibao Ding (西周太保鼎), a bronze tripod the museum calls the only surviving example in China of the Seven Liangshan Bronzes. A scarf version of Snowy Landscape with Cold Forests carries the open clarity of the Song ink painting into cloth, and a peony-and-pheasant scarf keeps the bright enamel palette. A line of auspicious Pankou accessories takes bat motifs and Ruyi (如意) heads from Portrait of a Lady Reading in Spring and reworks them as buttons and Neo-Chinese ornaments.
Liu Po (刘坡), deputy director of the Tianjin Museum, said a museum stores the past and also points toward the future, and called the launch an attempt to make relics usable and culture fashionable. He described the series as the first chapter of a larger cooperation plan, with more museum IPs to follow in more practical forms.
Museum Collaboration Extends to a Film Market
Han Zhiyong (韩志永), Laomeihua’s chairman, said the company has spent 115 years rooted in Tianjin and will keep its hands-on heritage craft at the core, adding that he hopes this collaboration becomes a starting point for a “brand-plus” and “culture-tourism-plus” path that turns museum collections into wearable, tangible, consumable Tianjin products.
The collaboration has already moved into the city’s night markets. According to the Enorth news site on August 15, at the CMG Film Culture Carnival’s Tianjin session, which opened at Jinwan Square (津湾广场) on August 14, Laomeihua and Haihe MCN showed non-heritage Pankou buttons inspired by Portrait of a Lady Reading in Spring, designed to be worn as brooches or used as fridge magnets. They appeared alongside Yangliuqing (杨柳青) woodblock New Year prints, Clay Figure Zhang figurines, paper-cutting by Dazheng village (大郑剪纸) and other local crafts, carrying a slice of Tianjin’s story into a film-themed market.