At the end of April, nearly a hundred influencers simultaneously received unboxing packages from Chinese menswear brand LILANZ. Unlike the unopened new products brands typically send, the LILANZ package contained something unexpected: a "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" that had already been washed several or even dozens of times.
"Sending me washed clothes—is that appropriate?" "After being washed this many times, can it still be worn?" But upon opening the package, all these doubts turned into pleasant surprises: "After being washed this many times, it still looks as good as new!"
In April 2023, LILANZ first launched the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" that stays "flat as new after 30 machine washes." After four years of continuous iteration, the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt 4.0" was officially released at the end of March this year. A month later, LILANZ held a one-day pop-up experience event, the "Summer Wash-Resistance Lab," at WASHME in Shanghai, inviting all the influencers who had received the packages to come wearing the washed "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt 4.0."
"Whether it's the 'unboxing of non-new clothes' or the 'Summer Wash-Resistance Lab,' the core idea is that we want to return to the true value of the product. Rather than saying 'machine-wash like new' over and over in advertising copy, it's better to actually show people the washed clothes." the LILANZ team told Luxe.Co in an interview.
This statement captures the essence of the event: moving beyond one-directional brand communication to present products that have withstood real-world testing directly to consumers. This confidence in letting the product speak for itself stems from the LILANZ team's deep insight into the various needs of polo shirts in summer wearing scenarios, as well as four years and four generations of continuous innovation in fabric, function, color, and even fiber. It also embodies LILANZ's deeper mission as a leading Chinese menswear brand—from "product innovation" to "creating a better life."
An Unconventional Pop-Up Event
Stepping into the "Summer Wash-Resistance Lab" pop-up space, visitors were greeted by rows of washing machines and dryers—a scene straight out of daily life, transformed into the perfect stage for the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt 4.0" to demonstrate its product strength.
Throughout the space, there were no conventional new-clothing displays—only polo shirts washed 1 time, 10 times, 20 times, and 30 times, along with a new shirt for reference, accompanied by authoritative test reports issued by the Fujian Provincial Fiber Inspection Center. Invited visitors could observe up close and judge whether the flatness, colorfastness, and shape retention of the garments after multiple machine washes truly lived up to the brand's claim of "as good as new after 30 machine washes."
The LILANZ team told Luxe.Co: "Many people who went to the venue didn't take photos first—they couldn't resist checking. People naturally touched the collar, flipped the cuffs, and looked at the color, trying to find traces of washing. Many fed back that this shirt overturned their assumptions."
At the on-site "Guess the Number of Washes" interactive segment, participants used sight and touch to guess how many times each polo shirt had been washed. The result: most participants couldn't guess correctly—whether washed once or 30 times, the washed and brand-new shirts were hard to tell apart.
Interestingly, whether in the online unboxing packages or in the pop-up space, LILANZ included a humorous "Wash-Resistance Disclaimer": "Refusing to force elephants to stomp-clean the garment; voluntary elephant cleaning is also not accepted"; "Cannot accept rinsing in a pressure cooker with 100°C boiling water for more than 60 minutes"......
This unconventional online and offline interaction let consumers remember the core highlight of the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" in a relaxed and enjoyable state, establishing a candid and approachable relationship between people and clothing. While solidifying product power, the brand continues to think about how to get closer to consumers and how to provide them with spiritual and emotional value.
At the 2026 Luxe.Co Fashion Innovation & Investment Forum, Wang Junhong, Executive Director and Vice President of LILANZ Group, stated: "Thanks to the upgrading of production and manufacturing, we have more energy to shape the brand and create more added value. That is, beyond the product itself, we can provide consumers with a spiritual life beyond the basic wearing function of clothing. For consumers, this is about creating a better life, not just a piece of clothing."
From 1.0 to 4.0: What Has the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" Iterated?
"When product innovation truly solves users' problems, communication doesn't need to be overstated—the product will speak for the brand itself," the LILANZ team told Luxe.Co.
Over the past few years, the polo shirt has become a staple of business men's summer wardrobes, bringing with it a new problem: pure cotton fabric, a collared structure with a placket, and high-frequency washing in summer all significantly shorten the lifespan of polo shirts, making them almost a "seasonal disposable" product.
Having identified this dressing pain point, in April 2023, LILANZ became the first in the industry to launch the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" that is "easy-care, machine-washable" and "flat as new after 30 machine washes." The launch of this product transformed the polo shirt from "a garment that easily ages" into "a basic item that can be worn and washed repeatedly," and LILANZ thereby carved out a unique niche in the menswear market.
Over the past four years, the LILANZ team has increasingly felt that today's consumers are hard to impress with "concepts." The menswear industry has long talked about style, attitude, and lifestyle, but the problems consumers face every day are very concrete—for example: why does a garment lose its shape or fade after just a few washes?
By understanding users' real dressing needs day after day and constantly thinking about how to respond to these needs with products, the LILANZ team has completed round after round of in-depth iteration, advancing the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt" from a product that "solves basic pain points" to a quality item with a "comprehensive experience":
- Version 2.0: On top of wash resistance, more functionality was added, such as moisture-wicking quick-dry and UPF50+ sun protection, combined with a 3D three-dimensional cut, making the product drier, more comfortable, and sharper in appearance;
- Version 3.0: Richer and more textured colors were introduced. In collaboration with the "China Color Research Institute BMCCR," 11 colors with Chinese artistic conception were developed—such as Brocade Sand White, Dusk Cloud Orange, Ink Bamboo Green, and Canglang Blue—making the polo shirt suitable for more occasions;
- Version 4.0: Using LILANZ's "Linaisi" fabric, innovation was taken directly to the microscopic dimension of the fiber layer.
"In a market where all categories of products are already so saturated, being able to develop new products from the demand side is only possible with a commitment to specific usage scenarios and specific pain points. The market has always been there, and the capacity is still large. We need more products that truly satisfy the consumer experience and better solve consumer pain points," Wang Junhong concluded.
Reshaping Cotton Fiber, Establishing New Industry Standards
Cotton is naturally comfortable with outstanding texture and is beloved by consumers; but it tends to gray and deform after repeated washing. How to retain cotton's advantages while breaking through its wash-resistance bottleneck was the key to the upgrade of the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt 4.0."
This year, LILANZ returned to the essence of the product—fiber—tackling the industry challenge of "cotton not being wash-resistant" from the most fundamental dimension.
After repeated testing, LILANZ finally worked out a fiber ratio that balances wearing experience and washing requirements: 40% cotton staple fiber + 60% chemical filament, creating the "Linaisi" fabric. Traditional blending processes mostly twist cotton and chemical fibers together, which only loosely combines cotton and chemical fibers at the physical level. "Linaisi," however, deeply integrates chemical fibers with cotton staple fibers at the fiber structure level to form a unified whole, so that the yarn possesses both the stability of chemical fibers and the natural texture and skin-friendly experience of cotton staple fibers.
Furthermore, based on four years and four generations of R&D experience, LILANZ led the formulation of the group standard "Requirements and Grading for Wash Resistance of Clothing." The standard specifies the requirements, grading, and labeling for wash resistance of clothing, defines terms and definitions, and extends wash-resistance standards to close-fitting and outerwear categories that require frequent washing, providing a unified and reliable basis for production and quality control. This initiative not only drives the industry's overall wash-resistance standards toward standardization but also gives consumers a basis for judgment when purchasing similar products.
Conclusion
From the groundbreaking product launch of the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt 1.0" to today's 4.0 innovation at the cotton fiber level; from establishing wash-resistance standards for clothing to provide consumers with purchasing references, to using a fun and lively interactive marketing event to let consumers experience the product characteristics of the "Wash-Resistant Polo Shirt"—behind this series of actions reflects LILANZ's comprehensive and continuous self-reinvention in product R&D iteration and consumer communication. As Wang Junhong said: "LILANZ dares to revolutionize itself, dares to reshape, and dares to advocate and lead a new business menswear aesthetic."
It is precisely this spirit—daring to use "clumsy methods" to solve the real problems consumers face, and daring to stand with consumers in an open posture—that has enabled LILANZ to carve out its own long-term growth path in the Chinese menswear market, one that has both quality and warmth.
| Image source: Provided by LILANZ
| Responsible editor: Maier
