The most business-savvy in Chinese entertainment? Bai Jingting opens new Shanghai store: GOODBAI business logic analysis
Recently, a large hoarding went up along Yanqing Alley in Shanghai, for the brand GOODEES WORLD. This is the first national store of a sub-line under GOODBAI, the brand founded by actor Bai Jingting. Nearby are his coffee shop, clothing store, and 24-hour vending machine.
Two months ago, GOODBAI also opened a pop-up space here, with Bai Jingting's giant poster attracting many visitors for photos. Thus, Yanqing Road has been called 'Bai Jingting's street.' Many celebrities start brands, but in terms of business ecosystem, channel building, and expansion pace, Bai Jingting can be considered one of the best in the Chinese entertainment industry.
The five-bay villa along Yanqing Road is the first physical store of GOODBAI in the country. The brand was founded in 2021 by renowned actor Bai Jingting as a clothing and lifestyle brand. In 2023, when the GOODBAI store opened, it triggered long queues and scalpers, with some waiting nearly 7 hours.
Even three years later, on a regular workday afternoon, the store still had a steady stream of customers browsing, trying on, and taking photos.
The store's overall design is retro and simple, with the white dove (nickname for Bai Jingting's fans) motif everywhere. In terms of product categories, GOODBAI covers clothing, shoes, hats, bags, and accessories. Compared to other celebrity streetwear brands, GOODBAI's pricing is not too high, ranging from 39 to 2,900 yuan. For example, most T-shirts are priced at 199 yuan, shoes concentrated between 159-799 yuan, and canvas bags, hats, jewelry mostly tens to two to three hundred yuan.
One of GOODBAI's most iconic products is the 'Wandering Shoes,' priced at 459 yuan, ranking 9th on Tmall's sports and leisure shoe repurchase list. The brands ahead of it include Adidas, FILA, Anta, Asics, Xtep, and other sport giants and well-known brands. This ranking reflects GOODBAI's influence to some extent.
GOODEES WORLD, which is about to open its first store, also has a dedicated section inside the store. This sub-line comes from the original IP, the furry ball image on the hoarding. In contrast to the main brand GOODBAI's casual sportswear style, GOODEES WORLD is positioned as 'cute, warm, healing,' offering products like apparel, phone cases, plush keychains, and hair accessories. On Tmall flagship store, its 129 yuan zodiac plush keychain has sold over 7,000 units; while the 99 yuan baseball cap keychain in the vending machine on Yanqing Road has sold out.
Since its inception, GOODBAI and its sub-lines have launched co-branded products with multiple brands such as Salomon, Diptyque, New Era, Levi's, BABY-G, Holiland, Linefriends minini, etc. These include both the hottest new middle-class favorites and national brands, streetwear brands, covering a wide range.
Beyond apparel and IP derivatives, Bai 'boss's' business also includes coffee and bakery.
Not far from the GOODBAI store on Yanqing Road is Bai Jingting's coffee shop, with coffee priced at 28-48 yuan, similar to other Shanghai boutique coffee shops. In 2024, the pricing of its 'GOODEES Big Satisfaction' small biscuits—two pieces for 21 yuan—once sparked online controversy.
Beyond Yanqing Road, GOODBAI has opened two other physical stores in Chengdu and Aranya, and pop-up/slow shops in Beijing, Paris, and Seoul. Besides its own online and offline channels, GOODBAI has also entered some multi-brand stores, such as Musinsa (known as 'Korea's Uniqlo'). From selling apparel and coffee to IP merchandise, Bai Jingting is building a complete consumption ecosystem around young people's lifestyles.
Celebrity brands' 'pearl necklace': Channels and ecosystem beyond traffic
In the entertainment industry, many celebrities create brands. Edison Chen has CLOT, Jackson Wang made TEAM WANG, Daniel Wu started selling coffee, and Hua Chenyu launched his own daily chemical brand this year. Why are celebrities enthusiastic about starting their own brands?
Bai Jingting once said in a Bazaar Men interview that Somerset Maugham compared the feeling of fame to being given a string of pearls. Bai often thought, 'Can I find another string of pearls?' GOODBAI and other brands are the second string of pearls Bai created for himself out of a sense of security.
Celebrities have natural traffic advantages when starting brands. Their popularity process is similar to that of emerging apparel brands: using social media seeding, pop-up store testing, first store in core business district, etc. Only the celebrity and his/her friends are walking seeding machines, for example, many celebrities have worn GOODBAI products in public events.
But celebrity self-created brands often fall into the controversy of 'fleecing fans' or gradually fading away. Meanwhile, because the brand is deeply tied to the celebrity, it easily suffers from a 'one glory, one loss' risk.
Public sentiment and quality incidents: Recalls and corrections
GOODBAI has also faced negative publicity due to product quality issues. In 2024, the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau reported that one of its denim jackets had pH value not meeting mandatory national standards. In 2025, a 599 yuan GOODBAI hoodie was reported to have glue peeling off, with the back design imprinting on a car seat. After the incident, the brand's affiliated company issued an apology, announced a recall of relevant batches, and promised corrective action.
Team support and category expansion: From casual sportswear to outdoor gear
Notably, the company behind GOODBAI—Zhetinghao (Shanghai) Brand Management Co., Ltd.—is owned by Bai Jingting, Shangguan Zhe, and Li Yong with 41%, 29%, and 10% stakes respectively. Designer Shangguan Zhe's own brand has appeared at London Fashion Week, etc., and Li Yong has years of experience in the apparel industry. So Bai Jingting's apparel business actually involves industry insiders, with professional support in design, production, and supply chain.
From Bai Jingting's personal side, he is known in the entertainment industry as a 'shoe king,' loves multiple sports, and is himself a brand ambassador for New Era, Salomon, and other sport/outdoor brands. As sports demand becomes more segmented and diverse, GOODBAI has developed specific apparel series for football (916 express) and tennis (polomove).
In addition to the casual sportswear style of GOODBAI, Bai Jingting's affiliated companies also own teenteens (targeting young women), the women's fashion brand Ayrae, and the trendy outdoor brand 30C. For example, 30C chose to enter the outdoor trend segment with a fashion style, fitting current outdoor consumption demand and its own design strengths. 30C has already opened a store on Xiaohongshu, with Bai Jingting's matching vest sold out in several sizes.
In fact, from the hit casual sportswear shoes, the trendy IP plush toys, to the outdoor segment, Bai Jingting has stepped on fashion trends at every step. In this sense, 'Boss Bai' runs business relying on far more than luck and traffic.
Looking at the series of co-branded products mentioned earlier, some brands already collaborated with the actor Bai Jingting originally. In fact, the biggest fear for a celebrity brand is to become a mere celebrity 'merchandise.' How to move beyond the fan economy to a broader market may be what Bai Jingting's brands are currently doing and will need to do long-term.
As Bai Jingting said, 'Even apart from me as a person, consumers still accept it, many people still like it and think it looks good—that is my ultimate goal.'
