American lighter brand Zippo has opened a new Chinese flagship store – in Tianjin.

The store also sells Zippo branded apparel, a new market category that the famous brand is moving into to capitalise on its brand power in an era when fewer people are using cigarette lighters.

Given the success of its first apparel store in Qingdao, the brand is very positive about the new store, saying that China will account 30 per cent of its total revenue within the next few years -up from 15 per cent currently.

“The Chinese people love American elements, and that’s why we have a huge increase in sales of lighters and we thought American icons aren’t limited to lighters,” said CEO Gregory Booth.

The company says that China, where it plans to open 50 apparel stores by 2015, is its biggest market outside the US.