SHANGHAI - Italian Cris Conf, producer of fashionable garments, aims to expand business in the Chinese market by setting up stores for new brands.

"This is part of our global expansion strategy for new brands," said Massimo Ambanelli, general manager of Cris Conf, at the Novomania Fair which is being held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center.

"China has been considered as our important market, even though many of the world's well-known brands have entered it," Ambanelli said.

Cris Conf has worked out an expansion plan for the Chinese market based on its five years of survey, said Giorgio Loviscek, international business development manager of Toy G, a brand of Cris Conf.

The company began his activities in 1980s by creating the brand Pinko, a brand that has reached a high level of image and sales results and achieved extraordinary success.

The brand which has captured a unique market segment worldwide now has 24 stores in China with three in Shanghai.

"When I have been asked to bring Toy G to China, I immediately imagined how to transmit the real soul of this up-to-the-minute, stylish, chic and cool Italian brand," Loviscek said.

"Toy G for me not just an apparel brand, but a real lifestyle proposal, part of the Italian way of life into a collection of garments," he said.

The manager said Cris Conf plans to set up two to three Toy G stores in Shanghai and other cities in China in the next two years by cooperating with partners.

The stores are expected to increase up to 150 within five years, but the business will be based on the partnership cooperation with Chinese companies, he said.