C&A

You may not know it, but C&A is a company with a 170 year history, and may well have been the first to produce ‘ready to wear’ clothing in Europe. Founded in the Netherlands in 1841 by two Germans brothers, Clemens and August Brenninkmeyer, C&A opened its first international stores in Germany, Britain and France 50 years later. These days, the global brand has become synonymous with cheap-looking, young person’s clothes (unsurprisingly, all UK branches have since closed down), but redeems itself by being the only store of its kind in Beijing, and by having a great selection of super-affordable underwear and accessories. Steer clear of the crap then, and instead scan the room for one off pieces worth having, such as the cardigans, 199RMB; cute denim skirts (hard to do wrong – 99RMB); and bras (sans padding) that cost from 99RMB. For men there are half decent summer shirts (169RMB) and boxer shorts for 59RMB. When Time Out visited, they even had on-trend raffia hairbands (19RMB) and Marni-style sunglasses (99RMB). In the absence of an H&M or Primark here, this is the closest Beijingers will get to cheap, trendy clothing.