Coach adds Jeremy Lin to its ambassadorial ranks to recapture China

American fashion brand Coach recently announced that basketball champion and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) All-Star Jeremy Lin is its newest brand ambassador. Lin will be appearing in the brand's upcoming Fall 2020 advertising campaign for leather goods, ready-to-wear and footwear.

Basketball fans will remember Lin during his time in the New York Knicks back in the 2011-2012 NBA season when, as a third-string point guard, he led the team to a winning record over 26 games. That period, which was known as Linsanity, cemented Lin's status as a pop culture phenomenon and immortalised his place in the history books. Asians all around the world cheered for Lin as he made winning plays over and over again on the hardwood. While Lin never recaptured the magic of those few months in the later part of his NBA career, fans would always look back fondly on those times.

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Lin’s debut for Coach will feature the basketball star in its second China Collective collection. Following the success of the first collection, graphic artist Guang Yu will collaborate with the house along with two of his protégés, Li Ruosi and Tanqian. The collection will feature the artists’ reinterpretations of Coach’s iconic Horse and Carriage motif, its first-ever house logo.

The more interesting subtext to this collaboration is Coach's attempt to appease and re-capture the Chinese market after its massive misstep in August last year when Chinese netizens discovered Coach's designs and website listing Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate countries and boycotted the brand.

US fashion brand @Coach apologized on Mon for major designing errors and stressed that it respects Chinese sovereignty and territory integrity after it was found listing #HongKong and #Taiwan as countries for its products and on its website. pic.twitter.com/zKSdBvZIP4— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) August 12, 2019

Lin's appointment is a step in the right direction. Due to his sporting exploits in the NBA, Lin became a massive star in China. After his departure from the NBA, Lin joined the Beijing Ducks in the CBA this year and became an integral part of the team. His star also continued to burn brightly in the country.

By putting a popular Asian face of Chinese origin in its advertising campaign, it's clear that Coach is trying to once again get into the Chinese's good graces. Whether this might work is a different story, but Lin's elevated standing in the country might just be enough to outweigh the brand's faux pas from last year.

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Nevertheless, we are looking forward to see the designs and the campaign. The China Collective collection will be in stores and available on Coach.com on August 1, 2020.