Taylor Swift to sell clothing line designed for Chinese shoppers

[NEW YORK] Fresh off of her victory against Apple, Taylor Swift is taking on an even more ambitious challenge: conquering China.

The singer is teaming up with JD.com Inc, the second-largest e-commerce company in China, to sell a new fashion line designed specifically for Chinese shoppers. Dresses, sweatshirts and other tops will be available in August on the website, ahead of Swift's "1989" tour visit to Shanghai in November.

JD is looking to Swift to help expand deeper into clothing, where it's chasing China's No 1 e-commerce company, Alibaba Group Holding. As part of the push, JD is wooing US brands by eschewing the knockoff merchandise that's common in some Chinese marketplaces.

Swift, a seven-time Grammy Award winner, showed her clout in the music industry last month when she confronted Apple and won. She persuaded the technology giant to pay royalties to artists during a three-month trial period of a new music service, a reversal of its earlier policy.

Swift previously took a stand against Apple's streaming competitor, Spotify, which she felt wasn't paying artists enough in royalties.

JD shares have climbed 85 per cent since their initial public offering in May 2014. The stock was down less than 1 per cent to US$35.21 as of 1.19 pm in New York on Monday.

The company also announced plans on Monday for a "US mall", an area of its site devoted to American products.

BLOOMBERG