By Harriet Agnew,Tom Hancock in Paris, in Shanghai
With more than 50 stores in the country, China is the largest market for Italian menswear brand Zegna. And its owner is worried. “I am more and more concerned, I’ve seen a slowing trend,” Ermenegildo Zegna told the Financial Times. “I am cautious about the outlook for next year; there are many uncertainties.”Mr Zegna is not alone. Companies in the luxury sector have seen an average share price decline of 20 per cent since mid-May, according to RBC Capital Markets, partly driven by fears that after two years of strong growth, Chinese consumers are reining in sales in the face of slowing GDP growth and a trade war with the US.