# RUIbuilt

> RUIbuilt is a ready-to-wear label based in Shanghai, China, started in 2019. Behind the label: Rui Zhou. Known for body-conscious pieces conceived as a second skin.

- Canonical: https://thecastindex.com/designers/rui-zhou
- Country guide: https://thecastindex.com/houses/chinese-designers
- Facts checked: 2026-10-22
- Author: Kaiser Khan (Founder & Editor)

## Quick facts

- Behind the label: Rui Zhou
- Based: Shanghai, China
- Since: 2019
- Focus: Ready-to-wear
- Makes: Ready-to-wear and accessories, sold as RUIbuilt since 2025
- Trained: Fashion design, Tsinghua University; MFA Fashion Design and Society, Parsons (2018)
- Official site: https://www.ruiofficial.me
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruiofficial.me/

## Who is behind RUIbuilt?

Rui Zhou was born in Hunan in 1994, studied fashion design at Tsinghua University in Beijing and completed the MFA Fashion Design and Society programme at Parsons in New York in 2018. She founded her label, RUI, in New York in 2019; the LVMH Prize lists Shanghai as its main studio. She treats a garment as a second layer of skin, paying attention to the space between body and fabric, and takes a taste for asymmetry and imperfection from wabi-sabi. She won the Karl Lagerfeld Prize at the 2021 LVMH Prize and was an International Woolmark Prize finalist in 2022. In 2025 the label became RUIbuilt; its site describes a 2024 showpiece of hand-stitched mini fabric tiles that now inspires pieces in the label’s signature stretch fabric.

## Timeline

- 2018: Graduates from the Parsons MFA Fashion Design and Society programme. (source: https://www.lvmhprize.com/en/rui)
- 2019: Rui Zhou founds her label, RUI, in New York. (source: https://www.ruiofficial.me/home/about-klljd)
- 2021: Wins the Karl Lagerfeld Prize at the LVMH Prize. (source: https://www.lvmhprize.com/en/rui)
- 2022: Named a finalist for the International Woolmark Prize. (source: https://www.ruiofficial.me/home/about-klljd)
- 2025: The label becomes RUIbuilt. (source: https://www.ruiofficial.me/home/about-klljd)

## Sources

- [LVMH Prize — Rui Zhou, winner of the 2021 Karl Lagerfeld Prize](https://www.lvmhprize.com/en/rui) — checked 2026-10-22
- [RUIbuilt — About (official site)](https://www.ruiofficial.me/home/about-klljd) — checked 2026-10-22
- [RUIbuilt — official site](https://www.ruiofficial.me) — checked 2026-10-22