Every Chinese kid grows up knowing it’s good luck to wear new clothes on Lunar New Year. And every year, brands race to capitalize on that, releasing limited edition collections of clothing, makeup and more to ring in the festivities. But none have taken off quite like the Adidas Tang jacket.
First released in Asia in early 2025, the jacket has become a global It item, in part because it’s hard to find. Stylish Torontonians brag about snagging one in Hong Kong, China or Taiwan, or enlisting the help of relatives to bring one home.
The design remixes a sporty track jacket with traditional elements including a standing collar, typically referred to as a Mandarin collar, and button closures known as pan kou or frog buttons. It comes in various colours including burgundy, olive green, blue and grey, and its name refers to the Tang dynasty, a period of particular prosperity in China over a thousand years ago.
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Since its initial release in Asia, the Tang jacket has been launched in more markets, landing in France and the U.K. this month. In Toronto, the Adidas location at The Well receives “at least” two requests daily for the style, said Michael Dall, the store’s manager. But Adidas told the Star there are no plans to release the jacket in Canada.
The jacket’s popularity has sparked both a wider trend, with other brands aiming to copy “mandarin jackets” — a mislabelling — and a conversation about what happens when traditional garments hit the mainstream.
What’s behind the hype?
Toronto-based content creator Eunice Yeung first saw the jacket pop up on her social media feed last November. She was drawn to the jacket’s mix of streetwear and Chinese influences, which she said makes it feel personal “and not just fashionable.”
Amy Chen, a Toronto stylist and content creator, agreed that the jacket’s subtle cultural details make it wearable. She pointed out that the silhouette is already familiar to Western audiences; fashion designers such as Dior and Prada have also used Chinese designs and motifs in the past.
The jacket’s popularity has soared alongside a social media surge in young people adopting traditional Chinese practices and posting videos about it. “It’s kind of encapsulated in this general trend of ‘Chinamaxxing,'” said Chen.
She’s referring to the phenomenon where creators share their new-found habits like wearing slippers, drinking jujube and ginger tea or hot water, or face massaging with a gua sha stone, often captioned “a very Chinese time in my life.”
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“I think there’s a lot of factors [to this trend], especially the Red Note era,” said Jules Fray, a Torontonian content creator living in Tokyo. When it seemed as if TikTok would be banned in the U.S., many users made accounts on the Chinese social media app Red Note.
“When people went on to Red Note and they saw how nice Chinese people were and how welcoming people were into the community, I think that was kind of like a gateway, a step into all these upcoming trends about Chinese culture,” Fray said.
As someone interested in reconnecting with her roots, Fray appreciates the jacket’s low-key design elements. “It’s kind of digestible,” Fray said. “You could wear [it] out as well, it wasn’t too in your face, too Chinese.”
@julesfray literally ran into every adidas store i saw in china #adidasoriginals #adidaschina #adidaschinajacket #adidascnyjacket #adidaschinesenewyearjacket ♬ 大展鴻圖(Blueprint Supreme) – 攬佬SKAI ISYOURGOD & AR劉夫陽
The hunt to find a Tang jacket
The piece is elusive for Torontonians. But even in Asia, they’re not easy to buy. “It was actually really, really hard to find the jackets,” Fray said. During a visit to China over the winter break, she heard rumours of a new drop. “I was running around Shanghai and going back to my hometown, running around to all the Adidas stores, and most of the colours were basically sold out.” After visiting six stores, she managed to find the jacket on Taobao, a Chinese online shopping site.
@eunice.cycle Which one do u like I DM’d @thestudiojun on IG #adidastangjacket #adidasjacket #eunicecycle #chinesejacket #china ♬ Causeway Bae – House Mix – Eunice Yeung
The jacket can be found via resellers on Depop, eBay and Etsy, though often at a higher price than at retail.
Yeung first searched eBay for the jacket and found the prices there too expensive, but she managed to get one from a reseller in exchange for making a social media video about it.
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Beyond the Tang jacket, Chen advises looking for authentic Chinese-influenced designs, by browsing brands such as Lingan at Toronto’s Kowli boutique. And this year, Canadian grocery chain T&T has a Lunar New Year collaboration with Joe Fresh (both brands are owned by Loblaw), offering adult and kids’ clothing such as a red knot-button vest and printed sweatshirts.
Appreciation or appropriation?
Other brands have taken note of the interest, releasing their own Chinese-inspired attire: Canadian department store Simons currently sells a “frog toggle buttons faux-suede jacket”; the design closely resembles the Adidas version.
Google searches for “mandarin jacket” have soared over the past few months, but many have pointed out that this term is a mislabel that wrongly applies the name of the collar to the entire garment.
The new-found cultural interest comes with other baggage. “Now that we are in this time where our Chinese culture is being celebrated, it’s nice, but also kind of bittersweet,” Fray said, recalling the hate the Asian community received during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think it’s one thing to engage in trends and have fun with it, enjoy it. But I think you should use that as a stepping stone to learn a little bit more about what you’re wearing and what the culture means.”
Yeung said the current interest in Chinese culture surprised her, but the increased visibility is exciting. “It invites you to have a deeper responsibility to understand the history behind what you’re wearing.”
