A Chinese company that started out making clothes for peasants and became a suit maker for the global elite is about to open its first New York showroom.
Dayang Trands, which boasts a customer base including legendary investor Warren Buffett and former Chinese President Hu Jintao, signed a five-year lease for a 4,000-square-foot space on the third floor of the Moinian Group’s at 539-545 Fifth Avenue in Midtown.
Justin Lee of TheSquareFoot, a tech-centric leasing brokerage startup co-founded by JLL veteran Jonathan Wasserstrum, Lee and Aron Susman, represented the tenant. Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Nelson represented the Moinian Group. Asking rents at the 13-story, 165,000-square-foot property are in the mid-$50s per square foot, Wasserstrum said.
“They wanted to be in the Fifth and Madison area,” said Wasserstrum. “They like the proximity to retailers like Brooks Brothers and want to be where their clientele works.”
Trands’ new showroom is on the same block as Brooks Brothers’ flagship store, located at 346 Madison Avenue.
Buffett, head of Nebraska-based investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, appears to like the company so much that he appeared in a video marking Dayang Trands’ 30th anniversary in 2009.
“I now have nine suits all made in China. I threw away the rest of my suits,” Buffett said in the video.