Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry. These high-end designer brands are no longer alien to Chinese.

Despite the fact that many of the products on the street are knockoffs, Chinese spent over $5 billion on branded luxury goods in 2009.

The fetish for luxury products is becoming a social trend. Luxury has not only become the symbol of wealth and social status, but the younger generation also takes it as a yardstick for being fashionable.

However, the news that came out on Tuesday might serve to dampen the enthusiasm of fashion-lovers.

In a quality examination of imported clothing, including luxury brands, conducted Monday, Consumer Rights Day, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce found that 60 percent of items failed to reach quality standards.

The items at fault failed mainly on the color fastness standard – the dye was prone to fading – and the pH index, suggesting likely irritation of the skin. Some exceeded the formaldehyde content limit, and so could potentially irritate the respiratory tract.

Some imported clothing also fell short on the component content standard – in other words, it was not really imported at all. In an examination of 85 batches of clothing in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Taizhou, watchdogs found this to be a common problem.

Yet what made the rumpus all the more interesting was a feature story published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. A report entitled "China toughens rules for foreign companies" claimed "China's relationship with foreign companies is starting to sour," and they used the problematic imported luxury clothing as an example of what a hostile attitude China holds toward foreign enterprises.

But the logic is wrong here. Public image is indeed vital to a brand, but without a guarantee of consistent high quality, trendy or not, it will not qualify as a premium luxury good.

It is not as if China has suddenly raised the quality threshold for garments. Rather, it is the garments in this survey that have been found to fall short, in many cases, of the usual standards. This means that the examinations we conducted in the past were not sufficient. With strict supervision, how can 60 percent of the items fail inspection?

Recent issues with the quality of Japanese cars in the US – to take an example from a different sector – illustrate two points that are relevant here. First, the challenges of managing bulk manufacturing and global supply chains mean that no brand, however prestigious, can ever take quality control for granted. Second, governments can and will act to safeguard consumers.

China, like the US or any other country, seeks to protect its consumers from shoddy goods, and from goods purporting to be "luxury" but offering poor value.

The luxury brands also need to keep in mind that quality is still the priority if they want to stand in China. China will not be a paradise for cheap but expensive goods.

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