Local Sports Brands Actively Seek Fashion "Life-Saving Straw"

"Always feel Sports brand It's not very suitable for me, but I didn't expect the new series to bring me a lot of surprises. Yesterday, some netizens complained to our newspaper reporters that many sports brands have been working with fashion brands to open up a series of fashion campaigns, which changed the image of sports brands in the past.

But with fashionable labels, the price of the sports brand fashion series is also rising. Some consumers told our reporter that the sports brand series that generally took the fashion route is mostly the high-end line of the brand, and its price is often several times that of the pure sports series. Taking the sports shoes of PUMA SELECT as an example, the purchasing price of Italy's sports shoes is at least 1500 yuan, often two times or even three times of the ordinary version of the sports shoes.

People in the fashion industry have pointed out that sports brands actively seek the fashion "life-saving straw", which is also a way out. "Using this fashion marketing method to enhance brand awareness, but it is still questionable whether its high price and high positioning strategy can be recognized and paid by consumers."

Sports brands have attracted countless fans with fashionable labels. Many consumers say that even if they do not exercise, they can also wear fashionable clothes, and their frequency of use has been greatly increased.

But there are also netizens Tucao price is too high, "increased the price of fashion elements also doubled."

Adidas (Adidas store) brand personage once said, "the fashion of sports shoes and clothing is precisely because they need each other, and the sports brand fashion sub brand is to transport the market demand." It is also sometimes commented by people in other circles that sometimes the cross-border cooperation between designers and stars is undoubtedly an incomparable and exclusive value for sports brand, but the essence of sports brand is still functional goods. Whether the added value of fashion is worth or not is still open to question. It does not exclude that its so-called "fashion label" is only one of its marketing means to enhance brand awareness and find a way out in the declining sales environment. However, it is still unknown whether its high price and high positioning strategy can be recognized and paid by consumers.

　　 Status: sports brand sales slump shop

A few days ago, Lining (Lining store) company released interim results in 2014, revenue grew 8% over the same period, reaching 3 billion 137 million yuan, but the loss in the first half reached 586 million yuan, which was higher than the full year loss in 2013. The number of Lining products shops has also decreased by 244.

Li Ning Co said in its report that about 10% distributors are still accumulating old inventories, and while the old inventory is being digested, the income from the health business is still not enough to support the expenses of the platform. Therefore, there is still a great pressure on the group's financial indicators in the short term, and it will take some time to fully recover.

In the same depth adjustment, there are sports brand Anta. Its semi annual report shows that in the first half of the year, its operating income was 4 billion 120 million yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 22.4% over the same period last year. Net profit in the first half reached 802 million 800 thousand yuan, an increase of 28.3% over the same period last year. Gross profit margin was 45.1%, up 4 percentage points from the same period last year. Ding Shizhong, chairman and chief executive officer of Anta's board of directors, revealed that over the past two years Anta has closed more than 1000 stores.

Lining pointed out that in the first half of this year, the macroeconomic environment is still full of uncertainties, and over expansion has led to overproduction, making the domestic sporting goods industry still facing severe adjustment. And pointed out that the group is gradually withdrawing from the non core sports apparel category and the profit free market, and implemented a number of initiatives to create brand and reshape business models.

Trend: seeking breakthroughs, adding fashion elements

In fact, according to the statistics of a sports brand, only a very small part of its products will be used by consumers for real sports every year. Nearly 80% of the shoes and sportswear sold are attributed to the popular culture of young people. Insiders feel that "fashion seems to be the reason why more and more sports series have been chosen."

More and more sports brands are also starting to create fashion labels to attract consumers. Sports brands and British fashion brands jointly launch a series of distinctive sports, but they are expensive.

The boundaries between fashion and sports seem to be getting more and more blurred. Not only are sports brands beginning to move towards the "fashion circle", but also fast fashion brands have launched sports series, such as H&M's H&MSport series, which focus on both sports performance and fashion. Uniqlo also chooses athletes as models to better display its moving product lines. Even luxury brands Chanel and Dior have launched a series of sports shoes.

At the same time, sports brands are beginning to integrate into more fashion elements. Nike's designers began to explore alternative fabrics, patterns and matching colors for sports shoes, giving them a strong visual and fashion sense. NewBalance also pays great attention to the fashion of products. Each product has rich color selection, and its products are updated very fast, keeping pace with fashion.