Ex-lecturer builds Aimer lingerie empire and earns US$770 million
Mar 22nd 2026 ยท China
Former metallurgy lecturer Zhang Rongming of Suzhou used a 1991 discovery of a shape-memory alloy to found Aimer and build a US$770 million luxury lingerie business.
- Zhang Rongming, 64, founded and chairs Aimer, a leading Chinese lingerie brand.
- He studied metallurgy and chemistry and completed graduate studies.
- While teaching at Shougang Institute of Technology in Beijing in the late 1980s he developed high-performance coated blades and earned his first fortune.
- In 1991 he encountered a shape-memory alloy that could be used for bra support rings, a technology then mainly available from Japan.
- He turned that material insight into a luxury lingerie business that generated a US$770 million fortune.