reporter | Huang Shan
editor | Lou Qinqin
Meteorological experts predict that the winter of 2021 will be a cold winter. Many consumers have made adequate preparations for this and purchased a series of products such as down jackets to cope with the arrival of the severe cold.
Buying down jackets is also a technical job, and there are many tricks involved. The full text of an administrative penalty against Canada Goose (CANADA GOOSE) disclosed on social media in the past two days has been regarded by many consumers as a "down jacket purchasing guide."
Five months ago, Canada Goose was slapped with an administrative penalty of 450,000 yuan by the Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for using advertisements to falsely promote down jackets on sale, deceiving and misleading consumers.
According to the administrative penalty document, after investigation and demonstration, the Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau determined that Canada Goose and its affiliated companies in China claimed that the products they sold used down mixed materials without any factual basis and investigation and research. It is "containing Hutterite down, which is the best and warmest Canadian down", which is inconsistent with the actual situation and will have a substantial impact on consumers' purchasing behavior, constituting false advertising.
Specifically, this administrative judgment pointed out through a series of evidence that the thermal insulation performance of down is directly related to the two indicators of " fill power " and "down content" of down. In the case of the same bird species, the quality of down is positively related to the maturity of the birds, and "has nothing to do with the place of origin or climate."
In other words, when consumers buy down jacket products, they should pay attention to the down The "fluffy" "Fillness" and "down content", and "the higher the down content, the higher the filliness, and the higher the quality of the down." There is a set of quantitative indicators for the "filliness" and "down content" of down internationally. The larger the number, the better the down insulation performance.
On the contrary, "origin and climate" should not be consumers' direct reference indicators when judging the warmth of down products; if merchants emphasize "Hutterite origin" in product promotions like Canada Goose to highlight the warmth of down, This has no basis in fact.
But in fact, Canada Goose is not the only brand that emphasizes the origin of down in its advertising slogans to highlight the quality and warmth of down jackets. The fashionable
interface can be seen in the Bosideng Tmall flagship store. When the brand introduced several new down jackets in 2021, it specifically emphasized that the goose down used was imported from Europe, and also used the words "Origin from the cold place, understand warmth better" "This slogan emphasizes that imported goose down is "more warm".
Bosideng further explained that the severe cold climate in the Danube River Basin in Europe "makes the velvet fluffy, full and more warm", and that "the natural glacial lakes are free-range, and the velvet is purer." Bosideng calls related products high fill power ( 800+) "light luxury" down jacket.
However, the difference with the Canada Goose case is that although Bosideng emphasized that the origin of down materials is imported, it did not use exaggerated terms such as "the best" and "the warmest" when promoting these down jacket products.
It can be seen that although the origin of down is not directly related to the warmth of down jackets, emphasizing the origin of down may be a quite effective marketing technique, especially in the luxury goods industry.
In luxury goods marketing, we often see luxury brands emphasizing the origin of raw materials, strict material selection and other product characteristics. For example, watches made in Switzerland , leather goods and high-end jewelry made in Italy, champagne and red wine made in France, etc.
Emphasizing the origin of imported goods is very effective when luxury brands enter China in the early stages. When there is a huge gap between the manufacturing level and brand value of Chinese brands and foreign brands, the origin of imported goods is equivalent to quality assurance, which is also a major added value for luxury brands.
Looking back at the down jacket industry, in fact, China is the world's largest producer, exporter and consumer of down and products. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO, China accounts for 60.49% of the world's duck breeding volume and 85.8% of the world's goose breeding volume. Therefore, as a by-product of the goose and duck breeding industry, China's down raw materials also account for the vast majority of the world's share.
In comparison, the down production in Europe and North America has a rather small global market share. But why do Canada Goose and Bosideng emphasize the origin of European and American imports in their advertising?
This is still related to the positioning of the two down jacket brands that focus on the high-end market.
Whether it is Canada Goose, an imported brand, or Bosideng, which is striving to transform into an international and luxury brand, they must widen the gap and make differentiation from other down jacket brands on the market. Emphasizing the origin of imported down is a step for these luxury brands to differentiate themselves.
On the other hand, although the down production in Europe and the United States is small, it is backed by certification from third-party international organizations and endorsement by international procurement compliance standards, which invisibly adds higher value to the final branded product.
Therefore, for Canada Goose and Bosideng, emphasizing the origin of down is one of their selling points as luxury brands, and it is also a part that can reflect the value of their products.
Of course, not all luxury brands will emphasize the origin of down. For example, Moncler (Moncler), which also focuses on outdoor clothing, emphasizes how the design of down jackets provides convenience and other functions for the outdoors.
Brands like Uniqlo that focus on the mass market place more emphasis on the technological sense and functionality of down jackets.
