Take A Closer Look At How Converse Does Crossover? Challenge Each Other With Designers!

The last time you bought Converse When is it? Many consumers recall that many years ago, everyone around them was wearing Converses. Almost everyone had a pair of Converses. Four of the five people in a group photo wore Converses.

In 2003, Converse was recognized by the U.S. sportswear giant Nike Inc. In the year of acquisition, Converse's annual sales volume was only 205 million dollars. Some media even commented that this was a strategic mistake of Nike. However, with the rise of retro trend, Converse gradually focuses its business on leisure Fashion market , which has received good results and made the brand full of stamina.

　　Converse The report of fiscal year 2018 shows that the annual sales reached 1.9 billion US dollars, an increase of nearly 10 times. The latest financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 shows that Converse continues to perform strongly, achieving a year-on-year sales growth of 7%, mainly driven by the growth of European and Asian markets. (Financial report by Nike Announced by Inc., the information source is the official press release)

What exactly drives Converse's performance growth? This may be due to Converse's correct brand positioning in the leisure fashion market and continuous innovation based on historical and cultural advantages in the past decade.

Recently, Converse held Converse x Feng Chen Wang during Shanghai Fashion Week United with the show, and again announced the cooperation with Madness, who is in charge of Yu Wenle. This series of actions is enough to glimpse the innovation path of Converse.

Matthew Jung joined Converse in 2016 as the vice president of Asian market, and was promoted to vice president and general manager of Asia in September this year. Previously, MJ He joined the basketball team of Shanghai Jiaotong University and learned Chinese there. Later, he joined Nike in 2010 and became the marketing director of Taiwan. In 2012, he came to Shanghai and was mainly responsible for Nike Running、Nike Women， Led the launch of the first Nike Running store in China.

Centennial history, classic design+continuous innovation

　　 gym shoes It has become an important fashion and luxury product, which is favored by young consumers, especially in the Asia Pacific region, which is dominated by China. Grand View, an American market research organization The report released by Research shows that in 2017, the Asia Pacific region maintained the leading position in the global sneaker market in terms of shipments, with annual shipments of up to 260 million pairs, and this trend will continue from 2018 to 2025.

Converse, founded in 1908 in the United States, once became one of the most famous sneaker brands in history and the first to dominate the NBA by virtue of the excellent characteristics of its products The brand of all athletes at that time Basketball shoes Both are Converses. In July 2007, Nike acquired Converse, which was transformed to focus on leisure and fashion, bringing the century old brand history and the classic canvas shoe design that cannot be surpassed to young people.

Long history and cultural accumulation enable Converse to seize the current market opportunity. People always associate it with legendary shoes, such as Converse ? Classic Canvas Shoes (Chuck Taylor All Star), Jack Purcell ? shoes and One Star ? Shoes.

"We urge ourselves to constantly innovate our products and hope to make products that young people really like. This is the most important thing. You must constantly change, constantly change," MJ said.

Chinese elements+local market

　　 At this year's Shanghai Fashion Week, Converse and Chinese designer Feng Chen Wang held a joint show to jointly transform Chuck Taylor Shoes 。 At the same time, Converse also officially released the co branded products with Madness, who is headed by Chinese star Yu Wenle.

When asked why he chose to cooperate with Chinese independent designers, MJ Said, "Converse has a very long history in China, entering the Chinese market Since then, we have been actively integrating into China's local culture, and since then, we have always focused on interaction with Chinese young groups. "

Chinese independent designer Wang Fengchen's comments on the brand's classic shoes Chuck Taylor's unique transformation and design is seen by MJ as a collision and challenge between designers and Converse brand

In the process of cooperation with Converse, Wang Fengchen, a cutting-edge designer, more felt the brand's "positive" spirit. Wang Fengchen said frankly that cooperation with shoes is much harder and takes longer than cooperation with clothing. As early as 2016, Wang Fengchen "showed off" Converse shoes, but the joint cooperation was not finalized until half a year ago. Wang Fengchen said frankly that Converse gave itself enough respect in this process, "I can design any way I want. They didn't ask me any questions, because they knew me before the co branding, and understood that my characteristics are in line with the spirit of the brand, the characteristics they are looking for, and we are an original combination".

Almost at the same time, Converse officially announced its third cooperation with Madness founded by Chinese star Yu Wenle. Matthew Jung said, "The previous cooperation with Madness has received very good response, and the products were sold out immediately, so we increased the circulation of the cooperation funds to be released this time."

According to MJ, Converse We are looking for cooperation with more Chinese designers. "We have been looking for people who really like our products, and those who are adventurous and brave to explore, but we can't disclose specific information yet, but I can say that we are working on related projects, which will be announced next year."

Co branding cooperation+category expansion

In the past year, Converse and JW ANDERSON, Carhartt, Off white and many other brands have carried out frequent cross-border cooperation, which not only helped Converse improve its sales performance and brand exposure, but also boosted young consumers' enthusiasm for the brand.

In addition to making classic shoes and sneakers constantly innovate through co branding and other ways, Converse is also gradually expanding its casual wear and other product lines, trying to reduce excessive dependence on a single category.

After the full year financial report in 2018, Nike executives said: "In 2019, we will rekindle the brand energy of Converse 's professional sports, casual wear and co branding cooperation, truly realizing the diversification of its product portfolio. "

The unique design brought by the co branding can make the product stand out in the market, and is often called the new limited sales model on the Drop style, which can not only keep customers fresh with high frequency, but also make the brand become the focus of social media for a while.

According to the "2018 White Paper on China's New Generation Fashion Consumption" released by Huali Zhi, 8.5% and 6.5% of young consumers said that "co branding cross-border" and "limited edition products" could effectively improve their brand popularity. Among them, fashion with art and street trend elements is the most attractive to them, accounting for 22.3% and 17.6% respectively.

"We do a lot of co branding around the world, and our co branding team is very strong. From Off White to Madness, we have been working with people of different backgrounds and personalities. The spirit of co branding cooperation is: dare to take risks in products, be bold, have a sense of cooperation, and break the boundaries of cooperation between the two sides. For us, we have been looking for different partners. "

It is worth mentioning that this year, 5 When releasing Chaopai Off White co branded product in January, Converse also made a new attempt in the Chinese market - open the purchase qualification application through WeChat applet and sell it. After the application was opened, the co branded product was sold out instantly. MJ Call it a successful attempt.

"If you already have great products and encouraging information, you must also provide consumers with interesting experiences, including in stores, third-party sales platforms, digital channels, etc. So whether in stores or digital mobile channels, the tools we provide must be very good" , MJ said.

"True story": talking to young people in the way of young people

In October this year, Converse opened the "True Story" New theme activities. Inspire young people to follow their hearts bravely without fear of the strange eyes brought by publicity and rebellion. Be honest with your beliefs, because those seemingly incredible brave experiences "really have stories".

Such brand spirit is right in the heart of the younger generation of users. According to the "China's New Generation Fashion Consumption White Paper 2018" released by Huali Zhi, brand characteristics such as independence and freedom, individuality and boldness and treason can resonate with young consumers, accounting for 18.6%, 7.9% and 2.7% respectively.

At the same time, Converse also teamed up with Ouyang Nana, Yu Wenle, Zhang Yixing and other famous artists, as well as other young representatives, to tell the exclusive story of their own and Chuck Taylor shoes.

Ouyang Nana used a small video to tell her and Chuck Taylor's story. Dress code? We should also adhere to our own personality. Ouyang Nana, who always wears a dress when performing, thinks that "the most important thing is to have fun", so "you can see jeans and red Chuck when you lift up the dress". Red Chuck and red cello are also perfect.

In addition to telling the stories of stars, Converse also actively interacted with young people and launched activities such as the Tipping Tone Challenge and Cross dimensional Action through microblog, WeChat official account and other platforms. In September, which coincided with the school season, the Tipping Tone Challenge focused on the attitude of young people and opened the "Play Bad New School Year" Four challenges "activity. Cross dimensional action focuses on young people who "live in a three-dimensional world, but settle in a two-dimensional country" to show their "exclusive" story with Chuck. Short videos/vlogs and documentaries/small films are becoming more and more popular among young people. 12% and 10.3% of new generation consumers say that they are the most attractive forms of information.

"Communication and transmission of information is one of the ways we attract the new generation of consumers. The information we convey is always provoking, encouraging Let young people in Asia be themselves and pursue their dreams. We need to do this all the time. It is very important to continue to convey the brand information, "said MJ.

Through the communication method that young people like, Converse has continued to interact with young consumers, maintaining the brand's vitality and freshness.

With the classic products with high recognition, the joint cooperation with Chinese designers and popular brands, and the marketing activities played with young consumers, Converse has been in China and overseas market Harvested many young trendsetter fans. In the future, it is worth looking forward to how Converse will further seize the opportunity to revitalize the brand.