The American Fashion Of Jeans And T-Shirts Has Become The Past Tense?

8 years into China.

Under the trend of American fashion decline, is it reasonable to complain that a brand is not good enough?

Wearing a blogger "a big Zhen" feels that shopping is an individual effort. No matter online shopping or going to a physical store, all kinds of brands make her busy, so some brands are selectively ignored by her.

There are more and more American high street brands appearing in this neglected list, such as Gap, Guess, Abercrombie, Fitch and so on.

The reason given by a "Da Zhen Ya" is: "Gap American brands are so stereotyped that they pass a glance at the window when they pass by, but they always feel that nothing will change."

These brands were once synonymous with "foreign flavor": advertisements for Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) and American Apparel always make people see nosebleeds; Guess and Levi 's are playing the role of cowboy products; and Michel Obama's red J.Crew is also known as "American National sweater".

Gap has long been among the largest apparel retailers in the world.

It used to be the largest clothing company in the United States, and its leisure style was rated as universal.

This spirit of "American Dream" pcends the business strategy of using basic funds to win the world, helping it quickly attract young people's attention in the early years.

But after 2014, the performance of Gap began to show negative growth. The products that were proud of in the past were criticized most.

It has been discovered that for many years, hoodies, jeans and sweatshirts are the same as American leisure brands.

The fashion trend is coming and going. Gap's only change seems to be the evolution of logo from simple white to color, stripes, strokes, gradients, and so on.

The same problem is

It also exists.

In the face of the rise of domestic goods and the entry of brands from various countries into China to find growth, American fashion is hard to get away with the golden age of American style.

Continuous reform and deep tillage of China

Gap was founded in 1969, and the founders Donald Fisher and Doris Fisher couple originally made successful real estate development business in California, USA.

Later, in the competition with cowboy tycoon Levi's (Levi 's), they positioned their target customers in young people who love leisure and cool feelings.

When the limelight is no more than two, Hollywood star Sharon Stone twice used the basic Gap model to match the luxury brand at the Oscar presentation ceremony, and this dress became popular quickly.

The rapidly expanding popularity took off with Gap's performance. Later, it acquired Banana Republic and founded Old Navy to complete the pformation from brand to group. Its sales volume reached US $13 billion 700 million in 2000, becoming the largest clothing retailer in the United States, and has become one of the representative companies of American fashion.

But in recent years, discount retailers have been growing, the luxury goods market has erupted after the financial crisis, and overseas fast fashion brands are coming to the sub market. The stable customers of Gap such casual wear have been dispersed.

After several years of indifferent performance, Gap group began to grow negatively from the 2014 fiscal year, and the number of stores decreased year by year.

American consumers began to feel tired of Gap's basic leisure funds, and their expectations for new models gradually decreased.

Gap group has decided to save the situation since 2015.

In those days, as the incumbent group CEO Art Peck took over from Glenn Murphy, the creative director Rebekka Bay was also replaced by Wendi Goldman, which had created PINK product line for Victoria.

From 2015 to 2018, the Gap group also experienced several important high-level departures.

Under the leadership of Art Peck, they launched many new strategies from the development level of the group.

The innovation program first started from the North American market, which closed 1/4 of the local shops and laid off, reduced price promotions, protected brand value, and repositioned the target population to consumers aged 25 to 35 with a higher purchasing power and interest in fashion, and more focused on female customers.

The optimization of supply chain has also been put on the agenda. Peck said that the product production cycle should be shortened from 10 months to 8 to 10 weeks.

At the same time, Gap group, which deeply cultivated the North American market in the early years, also began to attach importance to the Asian market, and strengthened the online digital business and strengthened the younger marketing means in line with the new retail trend.

After Old Navy quit the Japanese market in 2016, China became the top priority in Asia.

Gap and Old Navy entered China in 2010 and 2014 respectively. Although the growth of the number of shops has never been disclosed, the general situation can be estimated based on the annual financial reports.

In fiscal year 2013, the growth rate increased rapidly from 45 to about 80 stores. In the 2014 fiscal year, Gap group opened 100th Gap stores in the Greater China region and 7 Old Navy. At present, the Gap group has nearly 180 stores in Greater China, including 14 Old Navy, and the number of shops is growing at about 30% per year.

In November 8th, Gap opened its first store in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Due to its remote location, the Gap group has established a logistics line for the store in Greater China.

It is reported that Gap will open a new store in Xiamen, Changsha and Taipei this month.

The two brands have also entered Tmall in China with the official website of their shopping functions. According to Gap, the business of the two brands is growing and revenue has been double digits.

At the beginning of this year, Gap group appointed Yu Bingxiang (Micheal Yee), head of purchasing and production department of the group, as executive vice president of Gap group and CEO of Greater China.

In an interview with the interface news, he expressed the hope that the number of stores in the Greater China region could be doubled, the market share could be doubled, and the annual double-digit growth would be achieved.

In addition, he is considering the most suitable store area. In order to enhance the shop experience, the future Gap store area will probably be between 600 and 2000 square meters.

"After that, customers will see shops of different sizes, different displays, different experiences and stores, which we will try."

Yu Bingxiang said.

In the past two years, the strategy of Gap brand in China has shown that the 50 year old casual wear wants to be younger and more interesting.

In August 2017, the Gap brand opened the largest flagship store in Greater China in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai. In addition to the quarterly new products, it also introduced the first stop of new shops such as doll machine, make-up flash shop, AR fitting mirror, laser printer and so on.

In September 17th, Gap held a new autumn conference. Parkour boys jumped and rolled across the aisle to show the elasticity of the new cowboy. The The Inn Boutique next door was pformed into a cowboy theme flash hotel by Gap.

Recently, Gap group has also added a design purchasing team in China.

About 20 members of the team were relocated from New York to Shanghai.

They usually go to headquarters to check the global product configuration and decide what is suitable for the Chinese market.

Yu Bingxiang said: "the global category allocation can generally meet our 80% demand. Besides, there are still some parts that can make us base.

Innovate.

However, Owen Shapiro, a retail analyst, says Gap has made many mistakes after the success of the brand -- follow the rules.

And this evaluation focuses more on the "product" itself, just as Shapiro's decline is like the decline of Levi's and the entire cowboy category. One of the problems of Gap is that it hasn't been able to create the trend of keeping pace with the times to attract young consumers.

The consumption concept of young people is endless. They are easy to be tired of a brand and easy to follow suit.

In fact, there are people in the industry who believe that Gap should learn from its group brand Old Navy in recent years, especially in terms of products.

Old Navy has been carrying the banner of revenue in the past two years.

Old Navy, founded in 1994, is more widely oriented and cheaper than Gap.

In fiscal year 2017, sales of Old Navy accounted for 45.7% of the group's total, while Gap accounted for 33.5%. If we only looked at the sales in the US market, Gap had fallen two times the Old Navy, and the latter's annual growth rate also reached 6%, exceeding Gap's 9 percentage points.

Old Navy's success is due to the former CEO Stefan Larsson, Old Navy, which ensures that the price is lower than Gap. The store marketing method is more lively and interesting, taking into account the consumer's shopping experience, and the product also develops from the daily funds and basic funds to the style that meets the seasonal fashion trend.

Before Larsson took charge, the supplier of Old Navy simply changed clothes from elsewhere, and he developed the ability of brand independent innovation.

After taking office, he hired Coca-Cola Ivan Wicksteed, the former creative director, as the marketing director, from Coach to the accessories designer, from Nike to sportswear designer, and from The North Face to the director of men's wear design.

Later came the birth of a "demon" explosive money exposed ankle pencil pants, which was once one of the most profitable styles for Old Navy.

Mizuho Securities analyst Betty Chen told New York Times that "Old Navy used to sell clothes, but Larsson brought more fashionable clothing and marketing strategies, all of which have a strong aura effect, which has improved the brand image."

Larsson was later dug up by luxury brand Ralph Lauren in 2015 as global CEO.

By contrast, Gap has improved the speed of supply chain, optimized shopping experience and increased marketing methods, but has not changed much in product innovation.

This is why even after the reform, the annual growth rate of Gap group's performance has been changed from negative to positive, and the annual growth rate of Gap brand is also getting warmer. But in the era of "product is king", this kind of strength is not enough to turn it around.

Individual failure or collective loss?

Kate David Hudson, co-founder of luxury accessories website The Editorialist believes that the heavy use of social media in the fashion industry exacerbates the decline process.

"Today, everyone can notice the trend of popularity on the Internet, everyone is a critic, and the brand like Gap will be very outdated."

In fact, this view is not necessarily Fair for Gap, because for any commercial brand with history, it is relatively difficult to quickly and dramatically reverse the brand image and product DNA.

It is not as good as a luxury brand with a mobile creative director. It is also hard to discard a large number of mass consumers to find new human beings.

GAP, a big mistake, is largely conservative. It has seen that J.Crew, founded in 1983, has suffered from big changes in its brand style.

J.Crew was first known for its good quality, affordable and durable style, such as cashmere sweater, cardigan, jacket, washed shirt and jeans.

In 2008, after the chairman and creative director Jenna Lyons took office, J.Crew moved to the high-end line.

She brought the brand to the fashion week of New York, and released the J. Crew Collection, a high-end capsule series for selling 800 dollar coats and 300 dollars high heels, and encouraging women who are accustomed to basic funds to boldly try new styles.

Although this strategy has made people feel fresh in the short term, it has pushed the loyal customers at a high price at the time of the financial crisis. J.crew only needs to break new paths and reintroduce the classic brand products.

At the moment, the decline of these traditional American fashion brands has been going on for several years.

A&F has been struggling since 2015. American Apparel has announced bankruptcy in 2015, and J.Crew has achieved initial success after several years. But the road ahead is not clear. Guess and Levi s are declining in the US market and are seeking growth overseas.

Obviously, this is a collective loss.

A simple Polo shirt with jeans is the most common American style.

Consumers no longer regard American DNA as "youth, leisure and comfort".

The standard.

Although this really led many people's wardrobes in the last century.

The war of Independence made Americans dissatisfied with the luxury of European aristocrats, so their dressing style became mild.

But at that time, there were still low-key embroidery and delicate buttons on men's suits.

It also has a high waistline and learns to wear cloaks from the British.

For most American families, even though they are interested in fashion flu, they will always depend on their daily needs.

After independence, many middle-income families try to make a living in the West. The hardships of daily life require more durable and loose style. Most of the clothes are hand-made without shops, tailors or textile importers.

By the year 1980s, the number of working women increased. In order to be more pragmatic and convenient, there were only corsets and petticoat in common wear.

The earlier functional clothing in the United States also germinated at that time, and people will make some clothes that can guarantee the warmth of working all day.

Later, along with the rise of youth culture, wild and relaxed.

It began to spread rapidly.

Jewish American businessman Levi Strauss founded Cowboy brand Levi's in 1950s and infiltrated it into American life as a tooling.

For about a century, jeans became the favorite of young Americans.

And brought this trend from the United States to the world.

If we say what deepens Americans' love for casual clothes, the habit of outdoor sports may be one of the most important reasons.

Since 1950s, the federal government has promulgated a series of regulations to promote the development of outdoor sports industry, such as plan 66, sustainable multi-purpose act and outdoor leisure act.

In 2010, former president Obama released the twenty-first Century us major family campaign strategy to further mobilize American citizens to participate in outdoor sports.

In this process, polo shirt, cowboy style, high waist trousers, and simple and bright dress are American style.

The representative styles are also the first impression of consumers in other countries on the American dressing style.

At that time, with the pursuit of the "American Dream", young people all over the world could hardly refuse this kind of clothing which was strong and free.

The "American Dream" of "everyone can succeed" has been going on for nearly two centuries. However, in the age dominated by the millennial generation, the United States is no longer the only dream land. It can symbolize the way of life and articles in the United States, and is no longer the object of popular pursuit. Young people like things more diverse.

A direct example is the American brand that is hit by European fast fashion, not just Gap, but also Guess and Levi's.

The last two cowboy brands became classics, and they also stumbled on insisting on classics.

At least in the US market, this long history is hard to arouse young people's interest and has to go abroad.

Since 2017, Guess has closed nearly 50 stores in the United States and opened 10 new entity stores in China. Currently, there are 411 stores in the world.

In the future, it plans to open 11 new stores in Russia and Turkey, and will continue to shut down the bad stores, controlling the total number of stores to around 300.

Levi's did not break through this figure after reaching US $7 billion 100 million in 1997.

When CEO Chip Bergh took office in 2011, Levi's's average age of consumers was still 47.

The performance is stranded in the main product men's pants restrictions, it is difficult to break through.

Until Bergh brought the plan of developing women's clothing business and new products, its performance gradually went out of the trough and broke through the sales volume of US $5 billion in fiscal year 2018, and the last figure was in 1999.

American fashion, represented by cowboys, is hard to turn around.

The more and more fashion culture segmented the market share of the American style: the French style European court style is really eye-catching, the exquisite embellishment and the elegant tailoring of the waist become the representative of the princess style and the lady wind; the Chinese myth and history are the inexhaustible elements for the designer; the Chinese designer brand and the commercial brand are not the only ones that rely on this; the Japanese style is also a big opponent of American leisure, and the former is often more comfortable and comfortable with the design.

These trends also greatly influence the wallet of Chinese consumers. They begin to attach importance to the national character and psychological connotation behind the brand, which makes the American style lacking in the original history and culture of the nation no longer popular. The most serious thing is the understanding of "American sex appeal".

For example, A&F has been famous for its sexy advertisements.

Since 2015, A&F's performance has begun to slump. This has reflected on its own problems. The pictures of pornographic edge ball such as naked men, lovers kissing and so on began to disappear in A&F's advertisements.

Before that, another brand named America Apparel, which was famous for its advertising, was declared bankrupt.

"The millennial generation is not interested in the definition of sex. They are concerned about the real direction of social change and self-development," said Ruth Bernstein, founder of YARD, a photo production company.

The brand must understand what is real sexy, and should follow the culture of every generation and society.

The new American brand still focuses on providing value options.

In September this year, the American fashion media "women's Wear Daily" invited many fashion people to comment on the current American fashion and put together a report entitled "the status of American fashion."

Among them, the American minority brand Eckhaus Latta founder Mike Eckhaus feels that when people mention Italy, France or British fashion, they can always depict their characteristics quickly.

When it comes to American fashion, it says, "well...

I'm not sure. Maybe it's too commercial and boring. "

Robin Givhan, the fashion critic of Washington Post, has the same idea: "I think American design should add some formalized and focused things. Now many American designs have delivered themselves to the street breeze and casual wind, so that the bold expression of ideas has become very rare."

But it is undeniable that in recent years there are also some daring to break the traditional American brands. They strive to innovate in business models and social propositions. Compared with Europe, they pay more attention to the characteristics of product creativity, which is becoming the advantage of emerging American brands.

For example, in 2011, Everlane, founded by Michael Preysman, was set up to challenge traditional retailers at the beginning of its establishment: open cost price, no entity stores, new products not released according to season, and clear boundaries with sweatshops. These are the "minefields" that traditional retailers are afraid to avoid.

Or the brand Warby Park, founded in 2010, was sent to consumers' home for free testing at the beginning of the creation. After the establishment of the online shopping website, the virtual test service was provided. Warby Park established a good communication with consumers through the online offline experience and purchase mode.

The emergence of these new American brands may provide a breakthrough way for traditional American brands to enhance brand experience.

At the beginning of this year, Sherman wrote an article entitled "American fashion must have brands like Nike, apple and Gucci".

In her article, she expressed her view that excessive commercialization would make brands look boring. Retailers' orders are based on fear rather than desire. They are following the market rather than inciting emotions.

"Often the sellers give orders, and the designers listen to them.

Once the labels are hidden, it is almost impossible to identify which brand is made.

She said.

"In the American fashion," safety "triumphs over instinct.

Sherman also pointed out that after the great depression, consumers tend to be driven by price.

Many commercial brands really cater to this consumption habit and raise their quality without raising prices, but they are still losing consumers.

Isha Aran, author of the feminist fashion blog Jezebel, once thought that Gap is not as smart as UNIQLO, and also wants to sell clothes to more people, but there are dozens of colors behind UNIQLO's style.

。

When people want to pursue the tide flu on basic funds, UNIQLO can also offer a slightly higher price designer cooperation series.

This makes UNIQLO's changes in product styles not very large, but it can help to open a practical and sincere road with technology savour.

This is what the American management guru Peter Drucker once said: business strategy is just the breakfast of corporate culture.