Multinational apparel and luxury brands are buffeted by what appears to a significant slowdown in China. There is a contraction in China’s manufacturing sector amid a broader growth slowdown in many of the world’s biggest economies.

The crackdown on the practice of surrogate Chinese shoppers purchasing abroad for people back home is a significant factor in what jewelry leader Tiffany described as a meaningful decline in revenue from its Chinese customers. Though just eight per cent of Tiffany’s business stems from Chinese mainland, Chinese customers contribute 30 per cent of its turnover.

Share prices for multinationals have meaningfully underperformed their domestic peers in recent months though athletic companies like Nike and Lululemon Athletica seem to be bucking the trend. At one time China was seen as a big opportunity as major players like PVH and VF started to go after China in a big way by bringing their licenses in house and investing in full-throttle strategies.

Now it’s not just a sales slowdown that the industry is concerned about. Profits are tough there to begin with. China’s central bank took the serious measure of slashing the reserves that banks are required to keep on hand, making 116 billion dollars available for additional lending in an effort to ameliorate a sputtering economy.