年官网 (ichuangyebang) original
author丨Su Min
editing丨Ziyue
title picture丨tuzhu Creative
On November 1, the mainland resumed the Macau self-service visa. Liu Chao immediately asked in his circle of friends who could help him buy Archaeoptera Bird classic jacket and lululemon women's sneakers in Macau.
Liu Chao and his wife think they are outdoor enthusiasts. Mr. Liu's activities are mainly barbecue and fishing in , Beijing suburbs. His wife only lasted for two weeks in yoga class, and her favorite is taking her children to pick and camp on weekends. The reason why
chose Macau purchasing agents, Liu Chao explained that the price difference between the two places is very small, mainly because the classic styles of Archaeopteryx are out of stock in mainland China, while the styles in Macau are relatively complete and there are many promotional activities.
An entry-level Archaeopteryx jacket costs about 5,000 yuan, and the official website of a pair of lululemon Blissfeel winter women's running shoes is 1,160 yuan. Liu Chao and his wife are both 36 years old, and their monthly income is 23,000 yuan.
Liu Chao's family is a microcosm of the young middle-class people in thousands of cities. Under the suppression of the epidemic, they yearn for outdoors more and are willing to pay a considerable price to buy "professional" outfits with excellent performance and trends.
This trend is becoming a business opportunity for the new generation of outdoor clothing entrepreneurs. Performance + fashion, and perhaps "flat replacement", have become the keywords for this group of trendy entrepreneurs.
Not long ago, the functional sports close-fitting brand Surpine Matsuno Pai completed the angel round financing , which was exclusively invested by Wuyuan Capital. Its main product is quick drying , which is worn close to the body during exercise, emphasizing professional performance and high cost performance.
According to data released by the China Sports Goods Federation, in the first half of 2022, the number of financing in the outdoor equipment and sports shoes and clothing fields reached 16, mainly focusing on emerging sub-tracks such as skiing and camping.
is fashion and lifestyle identity tag
Before Archaeopteryx became popular on social media, the public still had stereotypes about windbreakers . Netizens joked: Winter is coming, "straight men" wear colorful windbreakers , yellow like Meituan , blue like Ele.me , red like JD Logistics ... After the outdoor craze emerged, a trend of outdoor fashion fashion has started. Li Wenwen started playing Frisbee this summer. In addition to enjoying the fun of running with her friends, wearing a "fashionable" is also an important reason why she likes to play Frisbee. "Wear a beautiful and practical sportswear, and then wear a bright colored baseball cap. As the colorful Frisbee passes through the air, she becomes vivid when taking photos." After the epidemic, as many niche sports such as skiing, Frisbee, camping, pulp boarding, land surfing gradually emerged, outdoor clothing has increasingly penetrated into people's daily lives.
In the fashion field, a style called "mountain dressing" is becoming increasingly popular. Xiaohongshu recently released the "2022 Fashion Industry Future Consumption Inspiration Picture Book", which lists "mountain dressing" as one of the popular trends in 2022.
Judging from the #游戏# topics marked by Xiaohongshu users, most of them are mixed with windbreakers, work pants, hiking boots, etc., which should be practical and comfortable outdoors, and be able to take good-looking photos.
In the past, professional outdoor sportswear focused more on practicality and single styles, so there was no question of too many designs. Qi Peng, founder of the fabric laboratory, told Chuangyebang that considering the safety and ease of being discovered during outdoor sports, windbreakers were usually bright colors such as red and yellow.
Nowadays, many consumers tend to be more suitable for matching colors such as black, gray, and blue. "As long as you wear it well," he concluded, "This is a kind of light outdoors. Although many consumers are 'slight taste', the basic plate is large enough."
IFL is an urban outdoor brand launched by Qi Peng's team. Its main product is sports windbreaker that can be used for daily commuting and has protective functions. The colors are versatile white, khaki and fir green.
IFL classic windbreaker product
IFL Source: IFL official WeChat subscription account
Qi Peng revealed that they have launched "straight men" products that focus more on functions but lack comfort, but found that the main user group is young women, and the product sales and repurchase rate cannot be increased. Later, they simply put designers It's changed to women.
In Qi Peng's view, in the future, it will have similar logic to trendy brands. Many well-known street fashion brands have developed with niche sports, such as Vans through skateboarding, and Billabong through surfing.
These brands have a common feature: most of the audience are young people. Young people prefer personalized things, they will pay attention to the innovation of the brand, and they are not very sensitive to price.
"funny, interesting and stylish, and can even reach the collection level, similar to trendy toys. "Qi Peng believes that clothing is a very large stock market, and changes on the demand side are a good opportunity for brands.
Young people and middle-class people who choose "light outdoors" like the trendy style that represents aesthetic ability , and an identity tag that means having a quality life.
From this perspective, outdoor products are not a necessity, and only functions are difficult to sell at a premium, and they also need to tell a good brand story. High-end brands such as Archaeopard Bird, Patagonia, Snow Peak, The North Face, etc. at the top of the contempt chain have all told me a touching story.
focuses on sustainable Patagonia. Not long ago, its founder Yvon Chouinard announced that it would give up the company's ownership worth about $3 billion, use all the company's profits to protect the earth, and emphasized in an open letter that "the earth is now our only shareholder" to carry out environmentalism to the end.
and Archaeopteryx is in parent company Amer After Sports was taken over by Anta , it formulated a site selection strategy of "Better (better image), Bigger (larger area), and Lower (lower floor)", opened stores in places where luxury goods were gathered. By co-branding with multiple trendy brands, choosing supermodel Liu Wen as a spokesperson, etc., it gradually broke the circle among young people and became an identity tag symbolizing "poetry and distant".
outdoor equipment " "
The fashion new trend of outdoor equipment evokes consumers' desire to buy. Young people are obsessed with the beautiful "face" of outdoor equipment, and they cannot do without the functional "intelligence" of equipment itself. When they first started skiing, Cao Meng only bought a professional down jacket, but she would sweat a lot during exercise. When the cold wind blew, she still felt cold. She didn't know at the time that outdoor sports generally required wearing quick-drying and warm underwear close to her body.
Zhao Bing, founder of Matsuno Pai Surpine, told Chuangyebang that the human body is in a complex and diverse state when exercising. For example, when skiing, the front chest, back, and armpits need breathability and sweating, the thigh muscles need pressure support, and the elbows and knees need three-dimensional extension, and skiing has the strongest demand for warmth.
In order to meet these needs at the same time, Matsuno Pai has done research and development in various links such as raw materials, technology, weaving structure, etc. to provide composite functions. Intimate equipment.
"Surpine Matsuno Pai" classic product - Skiing quick dry clothes
Picture source: Surpine Matsuno Pai official WeChat subscription account
In the winter of 2019, Matsuno Pai launched its first product - the warm base coat worn during skiing. The first batch of users were dealers of offline snow store.
These people are usually senior skaters and have a deep understanding of equipment functions. In addition, the distribution model is to purchase goods in advance and recommend products to consumers, so the professionalism of products is very strict.
Soon, Zhao Bing received feedback that the dealers of offline snow store placed the futures orders for the second year. It was the spring of 2020, and as the epidemic began, many factors became uncertain.These futures orders gave Zhao Bing great affirmation and confidence.
From the perspective of sub-category, skiing has a strong demand for functional types. When it can meet the needs of skiing, Matsunopai continues to expand into other categories, such as mountaineering, cycling, etc.
Following the city's outdoor brand IFL, Fabric Laboratory has also launched a new brand CF for skiing this year. The current main product is ski sweatshirts. CF chooses to be a brand manager with senior ski enthusiasts, and to reach people who truly love skiing through community operations. The basis for launching two new brands in a short period of time is that Fabric Laboratory has prepared for the underlying supply chain in 2021. On the one hand, we purchase big-name technological fabrics to adapt to sports scenarios, such as skiing, cycling, camping, etc.; on the other hand, we also import yarn for fabric research and development with different characteristics.
The importance of fabrics to outdoor clothing is self-evident. When Archaeopteryx entered the field of clothing, it obtained the Gore-Tex® fabric patent license from Gore, a top company in the field of waterproof fabric technology, and after three years of research and development, it launched the classic windbreaker.
IFL's sports windbreaker, in addition to its windproof and rainproof function, can also make the body feel as soft as cotton. The glitter nylon fabric used in CF's ski sweatshirt is developed by myself. It not only has the functions of warmth, waterproof and breathable, but also has very cool colors.
In Qi Peng's view, outdoor clothing forms a moat from core fabrics and craftsmanship. On the basis of maintaining functionality, iterates the product's appearance design and forms its own brand style. Popular styles are prone to passing season, but solid R&D capabilities do not. Wang Weiwei, a partner of Huaying Capital Management, also proposed a similar observation: functional clothing can better combat fashion risks, reduce the interference of the uncertain factor of design to a certain extent, and has a higher probability of expanding the market.
The definition of fashion and trends, technology and performance, and outdoor clothing style are changing. Nowadays, capital and entrepreneurs are coming, and the tide will be even more violent.
