Alo is defying China’s consumer slowdown, selling $1.5 million in one minute and planning 8 more stores

Chinese consumers are keeping a tight grip on their wallets—but apparently not when it comes to Alo.

Retail sales in China rose just 0.4% year over year in August, half the pace economists polled by Reuters had expected. Weak consumption and a prolonged property downturn had already helped drag second-quarter GDP growth to 4.3%, the slowest pace in more than three years.

Yet when the Los Angeles-based activewear and lifestyle brand opened its official flagship store on Tmall, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer marketplace, on Aug. 12, shoppers spent more than 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million) within one minute of the presale checkout opening at 12:30 a.m., according to Alibaba. Alo, which had announced its arrival on Chinese social media less than two months earlier, went on to set a sales record for a newly launched brand in Tmall’s sports and outdoor category.

The blockbuster debut came with caveats. Dao Insights, a publication that tracks Chinese consumer trends, noted that accumulated preorders, a limited-edition tote bag, and celebrity-driven fan demand may have concentrated sales into the opening rush, leaving the........

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