Author | Li Jinglin
Outdoor sports in China are ushering in a golden period of development.
Under the influence of the epidemic, exquisite camping is a substitute for urban white-collar workers who cannot go out for travel. Three or five friends, a few tents, high-quality tables and chairs, and with coffee and wine, you walk into the nature around the city. You can not only socialize, but also make a very film. Camping has become a new focus of outdoor sports. According to iMedia Consulting data, it is estimated that the annual compound growth rate of my country's camping camp market size can reach 17.1% during 2021-2025.
Xiaohongshu can always reflect the current urban consumption trend as soon as possible. When searching for camping keywords, you can see more than 4.5 million related notes, while using outdoor as the keyword, the number of related notes exceeds 5 million. Taking camping as the starting point, climbing, hiking, fishing and even surfing attracts wave after wave of young people chasing the trend.
is also lucky, and changes in consumption trends can always drive the prosperity of related markets. According to Qichacha data, 2020 became the year when the registration of domestic camping-related companies broke out, with the annual registration number reaching 7933, and increased by 331.6% year-on-year. The new companies established in the past three years accounted for 81% of the total number of companies in the camping industry.
Last week, Patagonia, the leading brand in the outdoor field, made waves on the Internet. 83-year-old brand founder Yvon Chouinard (Yvon Chouinard) "naked donations" the company he founded and promised that all profits from each year will be used for wilderness conservation, biodiversity and the response to the global climate crisis.
Outdoor sports clothing and equipment, this long-developed imported category has never attracted the attention as it is now.
The commercial giant born in the mountains and seas
There is a pyramid-shaped diagram circulating on social media, representing the brand pattern in the field of outdoor equipment - when a product category attracts enough users, consumption stratification always appears instinctively, and the subsequent "contempt chain" will naturally form - although this trend is not advocated in healthy consumption concepts, it is difficult to avoid, and it can also reflect the value positioning of different brands to a certain extent.
originated from the Canadian brand Archaeopteryx , which is the absolute leader in the field of outdoor clothing. It also has a unique name, "Outdoor Hermes".
In 1989, Canadian mountaineering enthusiast Dave Lane founded the Archaeopteryx brand, and 海河 is the product that made it famous. Sheltering from wind and rain, keeping warm and cold is the first priority of the function of the jacket. The Archaeopter's jacket started from this demand and established an industry benchmark with its fabric supplier Gore Company .
Picture Source | Archaeopteryx official Weibo
. The United States Gore company (W. L. Gore & Associates) was founded in 1958. It started out as a medical device, and then expanded its business scope to the textile field. In 1976, Gore developed the GORE-TEX fabric and received the first commercial order. This is the world's first fabric that combines waterproof, breathable and windproof functions, and is called "Cloth of the Century".
Since then, Archaeopteryx has become one of Gore's closest partners. All the former waterproof products, including windbreaker jackets, down jackets, cotton jackets, and shoes, are also using GORE-TEX fabrics. As a supplier, some of Gore's new technologies will be given priority to the use of Archaeoptera, and some waterproof fabrics are specialized in Archaeoptera, and the products used by GORE when testing products are also Archaeoptera. It is in such a brand-supplier cooperation that Archaeopteryx has been at the forefront of the industry with its waterproof technology and windbreaker products.
Currently, you can also see that the official flagship store of Tmall that has started to start with Archaeological Bird, the price of its windbreaker and down jacket is about 10,000 yuan, which is a veritable "luxury product".
However, what really makes Chinese consumers familiar with this brand is a acquisition case. Author | Li Jinglin Outdoor sports in China are ushering in a golden period of development. Under the influence of the epidemic, exquisite camping is a substitute for urban white-collar workers who cannot go out for travel. Three or five friends, a few tents, high-quality tables and chairs, and with coffee and wine, you walk into the nature around the city. You can not only socialize, but also make a very film. Camping has become a new focus of outdoor sports. According to iMedia Consulting data, it is estimated that the annual compound growth rate of my country's camping camp market size can reach 17.1% during 2021-2025. Xiaohongshu can always reflect the current urban consumption trend as soon as possible. When searching for camping keywords, you can see more than 4.5 million related notes, while using outdoor as the keyword, the number of related notes exceeds 5 million. Taking camping as the starting point, climbing, hiking, fishing and even surfing attracts wave after wave of young people chasing the trend. is also lucky, and changes in consumption trends can always drive the prosperity of related markets. According to Qichacha data, 2020 became the year when the registration of domestic camping-related companies broke out, with the annual registration number reaching 7933, and increased by 331.6% year-on-year. The new companies established in the past three years accounted for 81% of the total number of companies in the camping industry. Last week, Patagonia, the leading brand in the outdoor field, made waves on the Internet. 83-year-old brand founder Yvon Chouinard (Yvon Chouinard)
Outdoor sports clothing and equipment, this long-developed imported category has never attracted the attention as it is now.
The commercial giant born in the mountains and seas
There is a pyramid-shaped diagram circulating on social media, representing the brand pattern in the field of outdoor equipment - when a product category attracts enough users, consumption stratification always appears instinctively, and the subsequent "contempt chain" will naturally form - although this trend is not advocated in healthy consumption concepts, it is difficult to avoid, and it can also reflect the value positioning of different brands to a certain extent.
originated from the Canadian brand Archaeopteryx , which is the absolute leader in the field of outdoor clothing. It also has a unique name, "Outdoor Hermes".
In 1989, Canadian mountaineering enthusiast Dave Lane founded the Archaeopteryx brand, and 海河 is the product that made it famous. Sheltering from wind and rain, keeping warm and cold is the first priority of the function of the jacket. The Archaeopter's jacket started from this demand and established an industry benchmark with its fabric supplier Gore Company .
Picture Source | Archaeopteryx official Weibo
. The United States Gore company (W. L. Gore & Associates) was founded in 1958. It started out as a medical device, and then expanded its business scope to the textile field. In 1976, Gore developed the GORE-TEX fabric and received the first commercial order. This is the world's first fabric that combines waterproof, breathable and windproof functions, and is called "Cloth of the Century".
Since then, Archaeopteryx has become one of Gore's closest partners. All the former waterproof products, including windbreaker jackets, down jackets, cotton jackets, and shoes, are also using GORE-TEX fabrics. As a supplier, some of Gore's new technologies will be given priority to the use of Archaeoptera, and some waterproof fabrics are specialized in Archaeoptera, and the products used by GORE when testing products are also Archaeoptera. It is in such a brand-supplier cooperation that Archaeopteryx has been at the forefront of the industry with its waterproof technology and windbreaker products.
Currently, you can also see that the official flagship store of Tmall that has started to start with Archaeological Bird, the price of its windbreaker and down jacket is about 10,000 yuan, which is a veritable "luxury product".
However, what really makes Chinese consumers familiar with this brand is a acquisition case.In 2019, Anta Group completed the acquisition of Amer Sports, a Finnish sports brand management company, which cost 4.6 billion euros, and won many outdoor and sports brands, including Archaeopteryx.
Outdoor brand pyramid further down is the American Patagonia brand that has become popular recently. Similar to Archaeoptera, its founder Joynard is also an outdoor enthusiast, and the product concept is somewhat similar. Patagonia is also designed to help backpackers cope with harsh natural environments such as mountain climbing and rock climbing.
In terms of functionality, Patagonia mainly solves the problem of cold protection and warmth. Their benchmark product is the Synchilla Fleece series of warm jackets, which is more familiar to consumers, fleece .
Today's Chinese consumers are familiar with the name fleece, which may be more derived from the Japanese fast fashion brand Uniqlo , but in fact, its inventor is Malden Mills, an American wool textile company. The first brand to apply and promote this material is Patagonia. Due to its outstanding performance in warmth, it was also rated as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century by " Times ".
Patagonia Products | Source: Official Weibo
In addition to the leading era of in product performance, what consumers most praise and admire is their business philosophy. Among the vast consumer brands, Patagonia is like an outsider who makes consumer goods but is anti-consumerism. During Black Friday in 2021, Patagonia published a full-page advertisement on New York Times , with the title saying: Dont Buy This Jacket, who clearly opposes consumerism.
Not only that, founder Joynard has similarities with Dyson founder James Dyson when dealing with the capital market. Patagonia, with an annual revenue of more than $1.5 billion and a valuation of more than $3 billion, has never been listed. Joynard once said: "I don't respect the stock market at all. Once you go public, you lose control of the company. You have to fight for the best profits for shareholders, and then you will become one of these irresponsible companies."
Unexpectedly, it is the common choice between Joynard and Dyson. They have also shouted the slogan "I never thought of becoming a businessman" - Joynard believes that a company that wants to create the best quality outdoor clothing in the world is impossible to have a company scale like Nike. Dyson focuses on R&D and innovation, while Joynard is not only focusing on products, but also focusing more on the public welfare and environmental protection levels.
This time, the "naked donation" fully reflects the concepts of Patagonia and Joynard. All voting shares (2%) will be transferred to Patagonia Purpose Trust, a trust designed to ensure that the company's consistent values are retained. All the company's stocks without voting (98%) donated to Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to responding to environmental crises and protecting nature.
"The sooner a company deviates from its essence, the sooner it will want to 'hold everything', the sooner it will die." Not only has a clear positioning for the company, Joynard also tries to change the current situation of capitalist society . When talking about the value of "naked donation", he said: "I hope this will have an impact on a new form of capitalism , which will not end with a few rich people and a group of poor people" .
, which is luxurious and high-end Archaeopteryx and Patagonia, are still niche. Looking down along the brand pyramid, they are mid-to-high-end brands and mass brands that ordinary consumers are more familiar with, including North (The North Face) , Colombia (Culombia) , Camel and other brands. Most of its products are priced at around 1,000 yuan.
is different from most companies that take the branding route as soon as they come up. The Volkswagen outdoor brand Decathlon takes a different approach in its business model, taking the cost-effective model, and is called IKEA in the outdoor field.Although it was born in France, the hometown of luxury goods, Decathlon opened up the market with a backpack that costs 29 yuan, a quick-drying T-shirt that costs more than 30 yuan, and sports shoes that cost more than 100 yuan.
Initially, Decathlon was more like a collection store of cheap outdoor sports brands, providing channels for other suppliers. However, due to conflicts of interest with suppliers and in order to expand revenue, Decathlon changed its business model and began to build its own production lines and brands. Gradually, in the Decathlon mall, a series of private brands such as its own design water sports brand Tribord, mountain sports products series Quechuan, team supplies series Kipsta, etc., have emerged. To this day, more than 96% of the products in the store are from self-operated.
It is also in the process of transforming from channel to brand manufacturers that Decathlon has established a comprehensive production chain and has gained a firm foothold in the field of sports outdoors.
In addition to being cheap, another major way of survival for Decathlon is to "stingy". The media manager of Decathlon China once said that Decathlon's advertising expenses only account for 1% of its turnover, which is so small that it is almost negligible. In addition, in order to save costs, many products in Decathlon stores simply save the outer packaging, and some shoe products do not even have shoe boxes.
Different grade positioning, different business models, and different tone pursuits, this is the current composition of outdoor sports brands.
landed from the outskirts of the world, “the world”
Although the paths taken by each brand are very different, from the more macro consumption trend level, unification has been achieved to some extent - outdoor shoes and clothing are changing from simple functional products to fashionable items.
"One step one north, three steps one big goose", this is a popular meme in the trend circle last year. Outdoor clothing, which has never won by its appearance, has become "school uniforms" and has appeared intensively in colleges and universities and trendy business districts. North down jackets have become a fashionable item with a very high appearance on the street in the winter of the previous two years. This also reflects from one aspect that in the process of pursuing a larger market share and hoping to occupy more daily wear scenarios, the "hard core" outdoor equipment brand has also embarked on the road to fashion. Outdoor shoes and clothing are permeating into different cultural and consumer circles.
2020-2021, Ma Wen, president of Greater China, the parent company of North Brand, said in an interview: "The hot sales of (North) exceed our expectations." At the beginning of the winter at the end of 2020, northern down jackets were facing out-of-sale in China, and Weifu Company urgently increased its inventory for the Chinese market.
According to Weifu's first quarter financial report for 2023, (released in July 2022) , North is its best performing brand, with revenue increasing by 31% year-on-year to US$481.1 million. In comparison, the group's overall net loss was US$56 million, and the revenue of trendy brands such as Vans and Dickies have all declined.
has been entering the Asia-Pacific market for more than 25 years, and it is also the stage when Weifu Company, the North and behind it, gradually unlocks popular passwords.
Image source: North official Weibo
is the key to breaking the circle in North. In December last year, the North side and the high-end luxury brand Gucci were released. The two companies also put on orange down jackets "coats" for a five-floor-high building in Milan . In China, Gucci spokespersons Ni Ni , Li Yuchun , Lu Han also wore co-branded down jackets. These actions have brought a lot of topics and popularity to the down jackets on the north side.
Not only that, Beimeng is actually one of the first brands to try to cross-border joint branding. In 1986, the first joint series in Beimeng was in cooperation with technology company Apple . An interesting detail is that at that time, Apple launched a series of trendy and fashionable peripherals, including polo shirt , sports and casual wear, dad hat, etc. The north side is the core clothing cooperation brand in the series, and the other brand that cooperates with Apple is Patagonia.
, and the operation that truly makes the north side deeply connect with fashion is their collaboration with the trendy brand Supreme. Since the first cooperation between the two parties in 2007, one or two series of products have been launched every year, and the categories involved have gradually expanded from clothing to bags. More than ten years of continuous cooperation have also contributed to a closer relationship between Beim and Supreme. In November 2021, Weifu Company acquired Supreme for US$2.1 billion. Speaking of the acquisition, Steve Rendle, president and CEO of Viafu, said: "The Supreme brand will further accelerate our digital transformation and will also become an effective support for us to create long-term value for shareholders."
Further look at Viafu's brand composition can also find that outdoor and fashion are the main forces of its company's business. The company's brands include Vans, North, Timberland and Dickies. Group operation can provide sufficient convenience for the cross-border of a single brand to form a 1+12 effect.
is on the north side of the mid-to-high-end outdoor brand, and Patagonia, located at the top of the pyramid, passively realized fashionization because of a special group of people. Patagonia has always adhered to the attitude of cutting mats from fashion and focusing on professional fields. Archaeoptera also clearly stated: "We are not over-fashioned, nor follow the micro trend. When we turn to and try to solve the world of street clothing, we will completely lose it (brand value) ."
In fact, even if we select the products of Archaeoptera alone, the cool solid color and minimalist style design are completely incompatible with the fashion in people's impression. How did they achieve the breaking circle?
TikTok "makes an indelible contribution". In May 2021, TikTok user jcallred released a 15-second video in which he wore an Archaeoptera bird, stood under a shower head to flush, and then jumped into the swimming pool in his coat. It was this a bit absurd review video that received more than 200 million views.
The power of social media and short videos is reflected. Since then, a large number of sports bloggers have begun to imitate jcallred's videos, which have formed the spread of the virus just like the ice bucket challenge back then. The traffic has a siphon effect. The larger the traffic, the more it will attract more people outside the circle to watch, imitate and spread.
Although this is not an active marketing campaign designed by a brand, it is difficult to estimate the actual impact on the sales of Archaeoptera products, it is undeniable that short videos have opened a new window for Archaeoptera, which was originally focused on the outdoor functional field, allowing them to see the possibility of moving towards daily life and fashion. Jurgen, Director of Archaeoptera brand experience, Brand Experience, Jurgen, Jurgen, Director of Archaeoptera brand experience, Watts said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: "It's interesting to see customers reviewing jackets at home."
Bezos was wearing Patagonia
to a greater extent, and even Patagonia's fashion positioning is the elite crowd from Wall Street. The big guys such as Bezos , Ray Dalio, and Tim Cook have all inadvertently acted as their "tap water".
The deeper social reason comes from the financial crisis in 2008. The violent industry and social shocks broke the elite bubble in Wall Street elites, and what followed was the loosening of the clothing norms of the US banking industry. Bank employees began to take off serious formal attire symbolizing the identity of the industry, and sportswear, workwear, and even casual hoodies and jeans began to appear frequently.
Under this wave of trend, there are many brands that benefit, including the new sports brands Allbirds, Lululemon, and fast fashion brand Uniqlo. Of course, professional outdoor equipment such as Archaeopteryx and Patagonia are also included.
Although it was not voluntary, Patagonia was once called "Midtown Uniform (Midtown Uniform) " and "Power Vest (Power Vest) ". Outdoor clothing, like plaid shirts to programmers , has also become a symbol of identity for Wall Street financial people.
The wind of niche blows to China
is accompanied by a trend of fashion. Following the pace of urban middle-class people, the wind of outdoor equipment has also blown to China.
Let’s firstly feel the growth of outdoor brands in China from a set of data levels:
2022 Anta mid-year financial report shows that Amer Sports, the parent company of Archaeoptera bird, maintained stable growth, with revenue reaching 9.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.1%. Anta Group's loss in the joint venture fell sharply from 346 million yuan in the same period last year to 178 million yuan during the period. Anta executives said that the group can achieve a profit of more than 100 million yuan from Amer Sports this year.
Anta said that Amer Sports will strengthen the development of the three major markets in China, North America and Europe in the future. By 2025, five "1 billion euro development plans" will be realized, namely, the three major brands of Archaeoptera Arc’teryx, Salomon and Wilson will be built into "1 billion euros" brands respectively; the Chinese market and direct sales model will achieve revenue of 1 billion euros respectively.
From Anta's financial report, we can see that even the niche Archaeological Bird still has achieved stable growth in the Chinese market, and more importantly, the future is promising.
For the Chinese market, Archaeopteryx also plans to drive at full speed. As an Anta multi-brand strategy, it focuses on high-luxury brands. With its own tone, Archaeopteryx's development in China has also targeted the extremely high net worth market - continues to follow its own advantages and expand the Chinese market, which is one of the strategies for these overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.
In mid-September 2020, Archaeopteryx Alpha Center in the prime location of Huaihai Middle Road in the core business district of Shanghai, and Archaeopteryx Alpha Center (i.e. AAC flagship store) . Next to this store, there are the largest flagship stores in the mainland such as Tiffany and Hermes. In Beijing, Archaeopteryx's stores have also been opened into top business districts such as SKP, Guomao Phase III, and have obvious strategic positioning.
Architecture Bird Shanghai offline store｜Source: Official Weibo
"Better (better image), Bigger (larger area), Lower (lower floor)", this is the principle of Archaeoptera opening a store in China. As we all know, for a shopping mall, a large-scale store located on a conspicuous floor is the core of traffic diversion and a symbol of the brand positioning of this shopping mall. Archaeopteryx positioned its store opening strategy here, which also demonstrated its goal of continuing to take the high-end route.
Of course, in order to maintain its own brand tone, the pace of opening a store in Archaeopteryx is not radical, and it is even closing the store. Xu Yang, general manager of Archaeoptera Greater China, said: "Everyone thinks I have been opening stores in recent years, but in fact I have closed more stores." According to the plan, within three years from 2021, Archaeoptera will control the number of stores, with about 120 regular-priced stores and 20 Outlet stores. "We must control the number of stores in order to face consumers with a more benign and healthy business ecology and a more active store experience. This is the real Archaeoptera." It is important to maintain its own tone in
, which is the basis for the brand to base itself on competition. But in the complex Chinese market, brands still need to have strong adaptability, the most important of which is to deal with the continuous circulating consumption trends, and thus actively respond in terms of products, marketing, etc.
At the end of 2021, Decathlon released new products at the 4th China International Import Expo, with camping and skiing equipment being the focus. Decathlon launched the roof tent product in the Chinese market for the first time. Faced with the emerging new demand brought by the camping fever, Liu Shujiong, brand director of Decathlon Camping Sports, said in an interview with Lazy Bear Sports: "It solves the market pain points of the difficulty of roof camping for small cars. This roof tent can be (adapted to) .”
Decathlon camping products｜Source: Official Weibo
In addition, Decathlon has reached a cooperation with Club Med in the field of skiing, Club Med will collect consumer feedback from ski equipment products through ski coaches so that Decathlon can improve products and adjust sales plans.
Finally, overseas brands still need to continue to evolve in their business models. In China's consumer market, digital operations and marketing have become a trend that almost everyone must participate in, no matter what the sub-track. In this regard, a relevant person in charge of Decathlon once pointed out: "China's retail market has a very obvious digital shopping trend compared with in Western countries, but to achieve such a transformation, the challenge comes from the double-layer transformation online and offline. "
, which started with offline retail, has begun to upgrade and transform its stores. They have achieved self-service checkout based on RFID in about 50 stores in China.
In summary, according to the usual path of economic, social and lifestyle evolution, the outdoor sports boom in China will also evolve from a rapidly rising wind to a more stable and long-term lifestyle, and more and more people will devote themselves to the trend. In China, outdoor brands will have greater imagination space in the future.
Although it was born in France, the hometown of luxury goods, Decathlon opened up the market with a backpack that costs 29 yuan, a quick-drying T-shirt that costs more than 30 yuan, and sports shoes that cost more than 100 yuan.Initially, Decathlon was more like a collection store of cheap outdoor sports brands, providing channels for other suppliers. However, due to conflicts of interest with suppliers and in order to expand revenue, Decathlon changed its business model and began to build its own production lines and brands. Gradually, in the Decathlon mall, a series of private brands such as its own design water sports brand Tribord, mountain sports products series Quechuan, team supplies series Kipsta, etc., have emerged. To this day, more than 96% of the products in the store are from self-operated.
It is also in the process of transforming from channel to brand manufacturers that Decathlon has established a comprehensive production chain and has gained a firm foothold in the field of sports outdoors.
In addition to being cheap, another major way of survival for Decathlon is to "stingy". The media manager of Decathlon China once said that Decathlon's advertising expenses only account for 1% of its turnover, which is so small that it is almost negligible. In addition, in order to save costs, many products in Decathlon stores simply save the outer packaging, and some shoe products do not even have shoe boxes.
Different grade positioning, different business models, and different tone pursuits, this is the current composition of outdoor sports brands.
landed from the outskirts of the world, “the world”
Although the paths taken by each brand are very different, from the more macro consumption trend level, unification has been achieved to some extent - outdoor shoes and clothing are changing from simple functional products to fashionable items.
"One step one north, three steps one big goose", this is a popular meme in the trend circle last year. Outdoor clothing, which has never won by its appearance, has become "school uniforms" and has appeared intensively in colleges and universities and trendy business districts. North down jackets have become a fashionable item with a very high appearance on the street in the winter of the previous two years. This also reflects from one aspect that in the process of pursuing a larger market share and hoping to occupy more daily wear scenarios, the "hard core" outdoor equipment brand has also embarked on the road to fashion. Outdoor shoes and clothing are permeating into different cultural and consumer circles.
2020-2021, Ma Wen, president of Greater China, the parent company of North Brand, said in an interview: "The hot sales of (North) exceed our expectations." At the beginning of the winter at the end of 2020, northern down jackets were facing out-of-sale in China, and Weifu Company urgently increased its inventory for the Chinese market.
According to Weifu's first quarter financial report for 2023, (released in July 2022) , North is its best performing brand, with revenue increasing by 31% year-on-year to US$481.1 million. In comparison, the group's overall net loss was US$56 million, and the revenue of trendy brands such as Vans and Dickies have all declined.
has been entering the Asia-Pacific market for more than 25 years, and it is also the stage when Weifu Company, the North and behind it, gradually unlocks popular passwords.
Image source: North official Weibo
is the key to breaking the circle in North. In December last year, the North side and the high-end luxury brand Gucci were released. The two companies also put on orange down jackets "coats" for a five-floor-high building in Milan . In China, Gucci spokespersons Ni Ni , Li Yuchun , Lu Han also wore co-branded down jackets. These actions have brought a lot of topics and popularity to the down jackets on the north side.
Not only that, Beimeng is actually one of the first brands to try to cross-border joint branding. In 1986, the first joint series in Beimeng was in cooperation with technology company Apple . An interesting detail is that at that time, Apple launched a series of trendy and fashionable peripherals, including polo shirt , sports and casual wear, dad hat, etc. The north side is the core clothing cooperation brand in the series, and the other brand that cooperates with Apple is Patagonia.
, and the operation that truly makes the north side deeply connect with fashion is their collaboration with the trendy brand Supreme. Since the first cooperation between the two parties in 2007, one or two series of products have been launched every year, and the categories involved have gradually expanded from clothing to bags. More than ten years of continuous cooperation have also contributed to a closer relationship between Beim and Supreme. In November 2021, Weifu Company acquired Supreme for US$2.1 billion. Speaking of the acquisition, Steve Rendle, president and CEO of Viafu, said: "The Supreme brand will further accelerate our digital transformation and will also become an effective support for us to create long-term value for shareholders."
Further look at Viafu's brand composition can also find that outdoor and fashion are the main forces of its company's business. The company's brands include Vans, North, Timberland and Dickies. Group operation can provide sufficient convenience for the cross-border of a single brand to form a 1+12 effect.
is on the north side of the mid-to-high-end outdoor brand, and Patagonia, located at the top of the pyramid, passively realized fashionization because of a special group of people. Patagonia has always adhered to the attitude of cutting mats from fashion and focusing on professional fields. Archaeoptera also clearly stated: "We are not over-fashioned, nor follow the micro trend. When we turn to and try to solve the world of street clothing, we will completely lose it (brand value) ."
In fact, even if we select the products of Archaeoptera alone, the cool solid color and minimalist style design are completely incompatible with the fashion in people's impression. How did they achieve the breaking circle?
TikTok "makes an indelible contribution". In May 2021, TikTok user jcallred released a 15-second video in which he wore an Archaeoptera bird, stood under a shower head to flush, and then jumped into the swimming pool in his coat. It was this a bit absurd review video that received more than 200 million views.
The power of social media and short videos is reflected. Since then, a large number of sports bloggers have begun to imitate jcallred's videos, which have formed the spread of the virus just like the ice bucket challenge back then. The traffic has a siphon effect. The larger the traffic, the more it will attract more people outside the circle to watch, imitate and spread.
Although this is not an active marketing campaign designed by a brand, it is difficult to estimate the actual impact on the sales of Archaeoptera products, it is undeniable that short videos have opened a new window for Archaeoptera, which was originally focused on the outdoor functional field, allowing them to see the possibility of moving towards daily life and fashion. Jurgen, Director of Archaeoptera brand experience, Brand Experience, Jurgen, Jurgen, Director of Archaeoptera brand experience, Watts said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: "It's interesting to see customers reviewing jackets at home."
Bezos was wearing Patagonia
to a greater extent, and even Patagonia's fashion positioning is the elite crowd from Wall Street. The big guys such as Bezos , Ray Dalio, and Tim Cook have all inadvertently acted as their "tap water".
The deeper social reason comes from the financial crisis in 2008. The violent industry and social shocks broke the elite bubble in Wall Street elites, and what followed was the loosening of the clothing norms of the US banking industry. Bank employees began to take off serious formal attire symbolizing the identity of the industry, and sportswear, workwear, and even casual hoodies and jeans began to appear frequently.
Under this wave of trend, there are many brands that benefit, including the new sports brands Allbirds, Lululemon, and fast fashion brand Uniqlo. Of course, professional outdoor equipment such as Archaeopteryx and Patagonia are also included.
Although it was not voluntary, Patagonia was once called "Midtown Uniform (Midtown Uniform) " and "Power Vest (Power Vest) ". Outdoor clothing, like plaid shirts to programmers , has also become a symbol of identity for Wall Street financial people.
The wind of niche blows to China
is accompanied by a trend of fashion. Following the pace of urban middle-class people, the wind of outdoor equipment has also blown to China.
Let’s firstly feel the growth of outdoor brands in China from a set of data levels:
2022 Anta mid-year financial report shows that Amer Sports, the parent company of Archaeoptera bird, maintained stable growth, with revenue reaching 9.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.1%. Anta Group's loss in the joint venture fell sharply from 346 million yuan in the same period last year to 178 million yuan during the period. Anta executives said that the group can achieve a profit of more than 100 million yuan from Amer Sports this year.
Anta said that Amer Sports will strengthen the development of the three major markets in China, North America and Europe in the future. By 2025, five "1 billion euro development plans" will be realized, namely, the three major brands of Archaeoptera Arc’teryx, Salomon and Wilson will be built into "1 billion euros" brands respectively; the Chinese market and direct sales model will achieve revenue of 1 billion euros respectively.
From Anta's financial report, we can see that even the niche Archaeological Bird still has achieved stable growth in the Chinese market, and more importantly, the future is promising.
For the Chinese market, Archaeopteryx also plans to drive at full speed. As an Anta multi-brand strategy, it focuses on high-luxury brands. With its own tone, Archaeopteryx's development in China has also targeted the extremely high net worth market - continues to follow its own advantages and expand the Chinese market, which is one of the strategies for these overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.
In mid-September 2020, Archaeopteryx Alpha Center in the prime location of Huaihai Middle Road in the core business district of Shanghai, and Archaeopteryx Alpha Center (i.e. AAC flagship store) . Next to this store, there are the largest flagship stores in the mainland such as Tiffany and Hermes. In Beijing, Archaeopteryx's stores have also been opened into top business districts such as SKP, Guomao Phase III, and have obvious strategic positioning.
Architecture Bird Shanghai offline store｜Source: Official Weibo
"Better (better image), Bigger (larger area), Lower (lower floor)", this is the principle of Archaeoptera opening a store in China. As we all know, for a shopping mall, a large-scale store located on a conspicuous floor is the core of traffic diversion and a symbol of the brand positioning of this shopping mall. Archaeopteryx positioned its store opening strategy here, which also demonstrated its goal of continuing to take the high-end route.
Of course, in order to maintain its own brand tone, the pace of opening a store in Archaeopteryx is not radical, and it is even closing the store. Xu Yang, general manager of Archaeoptera Greater China, said: "Everyone thinks I have been opening stores in recent years, but in fact I have closed more stores." According to the plan, within three years from 2021, Archaeoptera will control the number of stores, with about 120 regular-priced stores and 20 Outlet stores. "We must control the number of stores in order to face consumers with a more benign and healthy business ecology and a more active store experience. This is the real Archaeoptera." It is important to maintain its own tone in
, which is the basis for the brand to base itself on competition. But in the complex Chinese market, brands still need to have strong adaptability, the most important of which is to deal with the continuous circulating consumption trends, and thus actively respond in terms of products, marketing, etc.
At the end of 2021, Decathlon released new products at the 4th China International Import Expo, with camping and skiing equipment being the focus. Decathlon launched the roof tent product in the Chinese market for the first time. Faced with the emerging new demand brought by the camping fever, Liu Shujiong, brand director of Decathlon Camping Sports, said in an interview with Lazy Bear Sports: "It solves the market pain points of the difficulty of roof camping for small cars. This roof tent can be (adapted to) .”
Decathlon camping products｜Source: Official Weibo
In addition, Decathlon has reached a cooperation with Club Med in the field of skiing, Club Med will collect consumer feedback from ski equipment products through ski coaches so that Decathlon can improve products and adjust sales plans.
Finally, overseas brands still need to continue to evolve in their business models. In China's consumer market, digital operations and marketing have become a trend that almost everyone must participate in, no matter what the sub-track. In this regard, a relevant person in charge of Decathlon once pointed out: "China's retail market has a very obvious digital shopping trend compared with in Western countries, but to achieve such a transformation, the challenge comes from the double-layer transformation online and offline. "
, which started with offline retail, has begun to upgrade and transform its stores. They have achieved self-service checkout based on RFID in about 50 stores in China.
In summary, according to the usual path of economic, social and lifestyle evolution, the outdoor sports boom in China will also evolve from a rapidly rising wind to a more stable and long-term lifestyle, and more and more people will devote themselves to the trend. In China, outdoor brands will have greater imagination space in the future.
