Warren Buffett, the investor, is not usually the subject of chatter on planet fashion. But since he started wearing suits made by the Chinese company Dalian Dayang Trands, he has been attracting compliments for his sartorial distinction.

Canny Chinese investors have been quick to pick up on this, snapping up shares in the so-called Sage of Omaha’s preferred label in a gamble that has paid off very well. The past few days have been particularly explosive, after Mr Buffett’s disclosure in the China Daily that he owns nine Trands suits, that he “loves” them, and that he has thrown out all his others.

For retail investors punting Shanghai-listed stocks, the 79-year-old guru’s comments were dynamite. The shares soared — they are up 229 per cent. It did not take long for the theory to develop that Mr Buffett may be planning a substantial investment in Trands.

His assistant, Carrie Kizer, confirmed that Mr Buffett had been asked by the company for an endorsement, but would not comment further.

Mr Buffett, who has made billions from his simple, homespun investment strategy of buying companies he understands, does, after all, make a habit of patronising the brands that he owns. A shareholder in Coca-Cola, he has been known to drink five cans of cherry Coke in a day. When he teamed up with Mars to buy the chewing gum maker Wrigley, he joked that he had been conducting taste tests on Wrigley’s products since the age of 7.

Mr Buffett visited Trands in China two years ago. He went public about his love of the company’s suits in May at the annual meeting of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Li Guilian, the chairwoman of Trands, who started the company 30 years ago with a single sewing machine, was an honoured guest. Mr Buffett starred in a video in which he shakes Ms Li’s hand and congratulates her on her “inspirational” success.

Trands, well known among businessmen in China as a high-end brand, immediately became the subject of much discussion at the event, leading to orders from Buffett fans in attendance.

“It’s been a long time since I got compliments on how I look, but since I’m wearing Madam Li’s suits, I get compliments all the time,” Mr Buffett says on the video, adding that Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, has also been fitted out with a Trands suit. “Maybe Bill and I could start a clothing store, and if we sold the suits made by Dalian Trands, some day we might even be rich, who knows?”

Trands, which claims that its suits have a “unique Italian flair”, has more than 20 factories and 8,000 staff. It produces suits for international brands and supplies retailers including Marks & Spencer and Macy’s.

Ms Li started a small tailoring workshop in 1979 when China had just launched its reform and opening-up policy. She had been forced to quit school at an early age when her farming family fell on hard times. “I just wanted to do something so my fellow villagers could buy extra pants when it was cold,” she recalled in an interview in 2007.

She remembered that her father, like other villagers, had to bind his only trousers with straw rope to keep warm when working in the fields in winter.

Her opportunity came in 1981 when a US clothing company wanted to outsource the production of 16,000 corduroy coats to a large, state-owned enterprise in Dalian. The factory declined to take the order because Spring Festival was approaching and the Chinese do not usually work during this period, also known as the lunar new year.

Having got wind of the order, Ms Li and her workers spent three days making samples and approached the representative from the US company at the airport as he was about to head home.

After checking the samples, the client cancelled his air ticket and awarded the order to Dalian Dayang Trands.

The real thing

Warren Buffett, the world’s best known value investor, is famous for promoting brands he invests in, taking the opportunity when he can to endorse products such as cherry Coke, Wrigley’s gum and Fruit of the Loom clothes

The annual meeting of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, which attracts 35,000 shareholders and is often referred to as Woodstock for capitalists, serves as a shop window for the companies in which he has holdings.

The 35 companies exhibiting at this year’s conference in May included the jeweller Borsheims, the insurer Geico and confectioner Mars, as well as industrial companies including Wayne Water Systems, a water pump company, and Iscar, a metal-cutting tools business.

Shareholders are invited to make a booking at Mr Buffett’s favourite steakhouse. True devotees can buy Berkshire Hathaway “activewear” which includes jackets, polo shirts and baseball caps. Playing cards for sale feature Mr Buffett’s head on the kings and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, on the jacks.

Source: Times database

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