美
国最著名的资本家和中国共产党最高领导人之间可能没有太多的共同之处，不过
沃伦・巴菲特(Warren Buffett)和胡锦涛似乎都穿同一品牌的西装。
真正有钱有权的人不再穿意大利顶级男装品牌布莱奥尼(Brioni)，他们都穿"创世"(Trands)牌西装。
这个还不太为人知的男装品牌是由大连大杨企业集团创立的。今年63岁的李桂莲在中国东北的大连市开创了这家服装公司，这个个子不高的农村妇女如今已经成为了时尚界的大亨。
大杨网站近期贴出了一段宣传视频，在视频中亮相的是伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)董事长兼首席执行长巴菲特。这段视频给李桂莲的公司带来了极大提振。巴菲特在视频中对李桂莲、大杨以及自己的九套创世西装大加赞赏。视频于9月10日贴出之后，大杨集团旗下在上海上市的子公司大连大杨创世股份有限公司的股价累计上涨了超过70%。
虽然从未被称为时尚达人，但巴菲特说，创世西装改变了他的形像。巴菲特本周在他的办公室表示，创世西装很舒适，大家说我穿着很好看。他说，我活了78岁才有人夸我的外表。
巴菲特表示自己并未持有大杨的股份。他说，自己尤其喜欢新的抗皱西装。巴菲特说，就算我出门旅行，天天穿着它们，它们也不会起皱。巴菲特还说，他已经将以前的旧西装都捐给了慈善机构。
Dalian Dayang Trands Co
巴菲特身穿创世的西服，与李桂莲热情拥抱。
那段视频是应李桂莲的请求录制的，是为了庆祝这个月大杨创建三十周年纪念日。巴菲特在视频中说，他已经向伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司的商业合伙人查理・芒格(Charlie Munger)以及微软(Microsoft)创始人、亿万富翁朋友比尔・盖茨(Bill Gates)推荐了这一品牌。
大杨还有另外一位大名鼎鼎的顾客──中国国家主席胡锦涛，只是该公司不能公开宣传这一点。大杨发言人智勇表示，胡锦涛是从2005年底开始穿创世西装的，之前他偶然发现大杨在北京的一家店。大杨的官方历史介绍中就有一幅胡锦涛穿着创世西装的照片。
中国的情况不同于美国，美国领导人穿着的服装品牌会成为重要的时尚新闻，而中国国家主席的个人生活细节则是中国媒体的禁区。实际上，当一位记者试图进入北京京西宾馆内的创世分店时，就被婉言拒绝了。据说胡锦涛就是在这里首次看到创世品牌的。
该分店一位接听电话的人士说：我们店不向公众开放，我们主要服务于中国领导人。
中国中央政府的新闻办公室没有回应记者的置评电话。
智勇表示，这个问题有点敏感。
李桂莲和巴菲特是偶然建立起友情的，虽然这段友谊看起来有点让人难以想象。李桂莲说，这要感谢"缘分"，我们之间的这种感情是诚挚的。李桂莲个子不高，头发自然卷，穿着以深色为主，带着琥珀色眼镜和一串珍珠项链。
两年前，巴菲特来到大连参加伊斯卡尔金属制品公司（Iscar Metalworking）一家新工厂的开幕仪式，这是伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司近期的一笔收购交易。大杨全球营销总监大卫・玛格里特(David Margalit)的一位朋友在Iscar的管理层工作。玛格里特找了个机会，建议巴菲特试试创世的定制西装。
巴菲特说，我进了酒店才五分钟，有两人就冲进我的房间。我还没明白过味儿来，他们就开始把量尺绕到我的大腿上。对我来说，这有点儿过于亲密了。不过他们把衣服送来后，我没觉得有一丁点儿不合身。
巴菲特承认，他对男装的了解不及他在投资上的技能。他说，我并不热衷买衣服，我对此不感兴趣。不过这是一个完美的解决方案。我喜欢这些衣服，当然不只因为它们是免费的。
李桂莲"从贫儿到服装大亨"的致富故事吸引了巴菲特。她出生于农民家庭，在距离辽宁省大连市一小时车程的杨树房镇长大，小时候住在破砖房里，家里的前院还养着鹅。她从18岁起就开始种地，很快就从农民中崭露头角，成为有着2,000人的生产大队的党支部书记。
1979年，她贷款人民币3万元（合3,394美元）创建了集体所有制乡镇企业大杨集团，建起了一条组装线，有85名员工和街坊邻里贡献的几十台缝纫机。工厂开始时生产和李桂莲一样的农村人使用的简单物件，比如桌布、围裙和套袖。
李桂莲说，我们的技能很低，不过目标很高。一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。随后，公司开始生产简单的工作服，慢慢地推出更复杂的服装，同时与海外客户签订协议。
1995年，大杨推出了自有旗舰品牌"创世"男装。大杨现在有1.5万名员工，每年生产1,000万件服装。
巴菲特很快喜欢上了李桂莲和她的西装。他在给李桂莲的一封落款2007年11月27日的信中写道，昨天我从大卫那儿收到了两件西装。非常合身，看起来棒极了。我从来没有这么喜欢的西装。
今年5月份，巴菲特邀请李桂莲参加了伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司在内布拉斯加州奥马哈举行的年度股东大会。两人再度见面。
巴菲特说，之后"创世"西装还为伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司的四位董事量身定制了西装，他们是比尔・盖茨、查尔斯・芒格(Charles Thomas Munger)、国际宽频网络基建及通讯公司(Level 3 Communications)董事长小斯科特(Walter Scott Jr.)和Munger, Tolles & Olson律师事务所的罗纳德・奥尔森(Ronald Olson)。李桂莲不会说英语，她喜欢捏站在她旁边的人的胳膊或手。她说，她没有料到会受到巴菲特如此热情的对待。她称他是一位"新朋友。
即使是在创立了14年之后，"创世"在中国也并不是很有名，至少在巴菲特开始给它作宣传之前是这样。"创世"的20家店集中在中国北方的二线城市，比如大连、沈阳和太原；照中国的标准衡量，"创世"的衣服很贵。最便宜的也要约人民币6,000元（合880美元），最贵的用上等羊绒制作的西服则要人民币两万元。
在本周第20届大连国际服装节的入口处，一块大屏幕上反复放映着巴菲特给"创世"作宣传的视频。
巴菲特每隔3分钟左右就会说，我现在的9件西装都是中国制造的，我把其余的都扔掉了。
Sky Canaves / Susan Pulliam（更新完成）
America's foremost capitalist may not have much in common with China's top Communist, but Warren Buffett and Hu Jintao do appear to share the same clothier.
Move over Brioni, the truly rich and powerful are wearing Trands.
The obscure menswear label is produced by Dayang Group, a clothing company founded by Li Guilian, 63 years old, a diminutive farmer-turned-fashion mogul, in northeast China.
Ms. Li's company got a major boost after Mr. Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., recently appeared in a Dayang promotional video, posted on the company's Web site. He heaped praise on Ms. Li, her company, and the nine Trands suits he proudly owns. Shares of Dayang's Shanghai-listed subsidiary, Dalian Dayang Trands Co., have soared by more than 70% since the video was posted on Sept. 10.
While not known as a fashion plate, Mr. Buffett says his Trands suits transformed his image. 'They're comfortable and people tell me they look good,' says Mr. Buffett, reached this week at his office. 'I went 78 years before I got a compliment on my appearance.'
Mr. Buffett, who says he has no ownership stake in Dayang, especially likes that his new suits are wrinkle-resistant. 'If I am on a trip and wearing them day after day, they don't wrinkle,' he says. He says he gave his old suits to charities.
The video was made at Ms. Li's request to commemorate her company's 30th anniversary this month. In it, Mr. Buffett tells viewers that he has recommended the brand to his business partner at Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, and to his billionaire buddy and Microsoft Corp. founder, Bill Gates.
Dayang can't openly advertise its affiliation with what it says is another famous customer, China's President Hu Jintao. The company's press officer, Zhi Yong, says Mr. Hu started wearing Trands in late 2005 after coming across one of its stores in Beijing. A photo of Mr. Hu, donning a Trands suit, is featured in the company's official corporate history.
But unlike in the U.S., where leaders' clothing labels are major fashion news, details of the president's private life are off-limits to the Chinese media. Indeed, when a reporter tried to visit the Trands store inside Beijing's Jingxi Hotel, where the president was said to have first spotted the label, she was refused entry.
'This store is not open to the public. We mainly serve Chinese leaders,' a person who answered the store's phone said.
China's central government information office didn't respond to calls seeking comment.
'It's a bit sensitive,' says Trand's Mr. Zhi.
The friendship between Ms. Li and Mr. Buffett, unlikely as it seems, developed quite by chance, or, as Ms. Li puts it, thanks to 'yuanfen,' a Chinese concept of predestined chemistry between people. 'It was heart-to-heart, this feeling between us,' says Ms. Li, a compact woman with naturally wavy hair who tends to wear dark colors, amber-tinted eyeglasses and a string of pearls.
Two years ago, Mr. Buffett came to Dalian to attend the opening of a new factory for Iscar Metalworking Cos., one of Berkshire Hathaway's recent acquisitions. David Margalit, Dayang's global marketing director, had a friend who was an executive at Iscar. Spotting an opportunity, Mr. Margalit suggested that Mr. Buffett get fitted for a Trands suit while he was in town.
'Five minutes after I got into the hotel room these guys came bursting into the room and before I knew it, the two of them were sticking measuring tape around my thigh. It seemed a little personal to me,' Mr. Buffett says. 'But they sent them to me and I never had to have an eighth of an inch changed.'
Mr. Buffett admits his knowledge of men's clothing isn't equal to his investing prowess. 'I'm not enthused about buying clothes. They don't interest me,' he says. 'But this is a perfect solution. I feel good about these suits. And not just because they are free.'
Ms. Li's rags-to-rag-trade tale of riches appeals to Mr. Buffett. Born to a peasant family, Ms. Li grew up in a brick shack with geese in the front yard in the small town of Yangshufang, an hour's drive from the coastal city of Dalian in Liaoning Province. She started tilling the fields at the age of 18 and quickly rose through the ranks of farmers, becoming the Communist Party secretary of her 2,000-member production brigade.
She started Dayang Group in 1979 as a collective township enterprise with a 30,000 yuan ($3,394) loan, setting up an assembly line with 85 employees and several dozen sewing machines contributed from the homes of her neighbors. The factory started out making the kinds of simple items used by rural folk like Ms. Li: tablecloths, aprons and sleeve protectors.
'Our skills were very low, but our goals were very high,' says Ms. Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. The company moved on to making simple workers' jackets, slowly introducing more complicated garments and signing up overseas customers along the way.
In 1995, Dayang launched its own flagship brand of Trands menswear. Dayang now employs 15,000 people and turns out 10 million garments a year.
Mr. Buffett quickly took to Ms. Li and her suits. In a letter to Ms. Li dated Nov. 27, 2007, he wrote: 'Yesterday I received the two suits from David. They fit perfectly and look magnificent. I've never had any that I like better.'
They met again in May this year, after Mr. Buffett invited Ms. Li to attend Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha, Neb.
Later, four Berkshire directors were fitted for Trands suits, Mr. Buffett says: Mr. Gates; Mr. Munger; Walter Scott Jr., chairman of Level 3 Communications; and Ronald Olson, of law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson. Ms. Li, who doesn't speak English and likes to squeeze the arms or hands of whomever she's standing next to, says she hadn't expected such warmth from Mr. Buffett. She describes him as a 'new friend.'
Even after 14 years, Trands isn't particularly well known in China, at least not before Mr. Buffett began promoting it. Its 11 stores are concentrated in second-tier north China cities such as Dalian, Shenyang and Taiyuan, where its suits are expensive by Chinese standards. The cheapest cost around 6,000 yuan ($880), and the most expensive, made from fine cashmere, are upwards of 20,000 yuan.
This week, the Trands promotional video of Mr. Buffett played in an endless loop on a giant screen at the entrance to the 20th annual China International Garment & Textile Fair.
'I now have nine suits all made in China. I threw away the rest of my suits,' Mr. Buffett says, every three minutes or so.
Sky Canaves / Susan Pulliam
