Forever21 And La Natsu Bell Have Gone Down One After Another. Where Is The Fast Fashion Brand Going?

In the past two years, there have been layoffs, closures, exploding mines and bankruptcies in the fast fashion industry. Faced with such a bleak scene, people can not help but sigh, is fast fashion really on the decline?

　　 La Natsu Bell was in deep mire of loss.

The term "fast fashion" originated from Europe in twentieth Century. It is called "Fast Fashion", and the United States called it "Speed to Maket". It is a simple and quick statement of "fast and fashion". It usually describes the fashion products made by fashion enterprises after the quick response of fashion design.

When it comes to fast fashion brands, who do you think of? Zara or H&M? Or Forever21? Of course, La Natsu Bell, who has been pushed onto the cusp recently. La Natsu Bell, the first "A+H" share brand clothing company in China, has been frequently reported negative news such as "La Natsu Bell burst warehouse", "Chinese version of ZARA falling" and "La Natsu Bell's darkest moment" since 2018. In 2019, its business situation worsened. "Half a year's loss is 5 hundred million", "daily closing 13 stores" and "retail outlets shrinking 26%" are even more frequent.

According to wrd.cn data, from July 28th to October 28th, the total network information of "La Xia Bei" amounted to 168 thousand. Among them, the related information of "discount" was 24 thousand, accounting for 14.2%, and the related information related to "closing shop" was 58 thousand, accounting for 34.5%. In addition, during the statistical period, the sensitivity information of "La summer bell" accounted for 26.1%.

In the heyday of fast fashion brands, Zara, H&M and UNIQLO's market share were once lost to La Natsu Bell. Data show that in 2014 -2016, the number of La Natsu Bell's physical stores at the end of the year was 6887, 7893 and 8907 respectively. In 2017, La Natsu Bell became the first domestic clothing company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Its number of stores increased to 9448.

However, from the enthusiastic pursuit of the capital market, to half a loss of 5 hundred million, and then to the pledge of stock rights default, the exchange issued a warning letter, La Natsu Bell spent less than two years. The decline of the clothing brand, once known as the "Chinese version of Zara", is also very sad.

　 Fast fashion clothing brand shuffle

Discounting, clearing, closing stores and withdrawing from China... The fast fashion brand, once popular, is undergoing a major reshuffle. Related statistics show that in the first half of 2019, the fast fashion brand added 84 stores, greatly reduced compared with the previous year. Following the withdrawal of New Look and Topshop from China, Forever21 also staged a big defeat this year, and H&M, UR and MJstyle closed shop one after another.

Fast fashion local brands are also hot with global brands. Metersbonwe, Semir and so on are also facing the dilemma of offline channel reduction and net profit decline. In the past three years, Metersbonwe has closed 1500 stores under the line, lost 300 million yuan in 2017, and a net loss of 139 million yuan in 2019, down 360% from the same period last year.

Fast fashion in the rise, with its fast delivery time, the price is close to the people and keep up with the trend of the characteristics, greatly stimulated the interest of consumers, most of the target group is 70, 80. Today, consumer groups have changed, and the fast fashion brands in the past seem to be "low cost" representatives in the demand of Z generation. This change can be seen in La Natsu Bell. Outdated design and cheap material matching make more and more consumers choose to turn around and leave.

And fast fashion plagiarism big fast new business model, has long been criticized for the whole industry. Zara, Forever 21 and so on have all been accused of infringement such as Puma, Gucci and Adidas.

　 UNIQLO outshine others

And the fast fashion brand of UNIQLO is much better than the declining Forever 21. In the early days of fast fashion entering China, the main foundation of UNIQLO was the "hammer" in the eyes of young people. Its style was less than 1/5 of the competitor's Zara, and the update speed and fast fashion "fast" couldn't catch up. The style of "reverse trend" was far from the "fashion" of fast fashion. But now, UNIQLO has subverted the impression of people in the past and become a unique brand in fast fashion brands.

Compared with Zara, H&M and other traditional fast fashion imitation big design concept, UNIQLO from the beginning of the design aimed at cheap and good quality basic style, "technology" fabric's holdings to make it have many advantages in many fast fashion brands. In the eyes of young people, UNIQLO's strongest high-tech fabrics, high thermal series HEATTECH series, quick drying and cooling AIRism series, and wrinkle free EZY series are all irreplaceable by other fast fashion brands.

While playing the "technology" brand, UNIQLO has also grasped the biggest consumer trend of contemporary young people -- net red IP. Zara and H&M have launched quite a series of series with TV series, Disney and famous designers. However, UNIQLO is on the way to build a net red road.

UNIQLO has also captured the recognition of KOL after the 90's consumer group. There are more than 13 notes on UNIQLO in Xiao Hong's book, and the maximum number of entries is 230 thousand. From 2015 to 2018, 246 stores were added to UNIQLO Chinese stores, and the clothes called "treasure" became the new favorite of net red.

　　 Rising tide brings new direction of fast fashion brand

With the decline of Forever21, domestic brands will have a chance to breathe. In recent years, local clothing companies have begun to test water and fashion. In February 2018, Lining was the first Chinese sports brand to appear in the fashion week of New York. With the theme of "Enlightenment" as the theme, and the image of "Tiger Crane double shape" and "White Crane" in Chinese traditional culture, it launched an unexpected fashion. The theme product of "China Lining" reinterpreted the trend of the 90s classic movement, and once exploded in the social network with the support of young fans, it has become a beautiful scenery on the street. 2012 - 2014, Lining accumulated a loss of 3 billion yuan; and in 2018, Li Ning Co revenue for the first time exceeded 10 billion, an increase of 18.4% over the same period last year, net profit of 715 million yuan, an increase of 39% over the same period last year.

Bosideng, Eve Li, Taiping bird, Jiangnan Buyi and other brands are also exploring ways to create fresh blood for the brand and revitalize the brand by creating fashionable ways such as IP, fashion week and so on.

A report on the 2019 China Consumer Brand Development released by Ali Research Institute shows that Alibaba's retail platform has a 71% market share in China's consumer brands, and the market share of China's consumer brands in the online high-end market has increased by 2.2% over the previous year. Alibaba platform in 2018 and Chinese elements related keywords cumulative search volume more than 12 billion 600 million times. The tide brand is becoming a new favorite of consumers.

The fast fashion iteration is continuing. It will be hard to predict who will become the ultimate king. But Ms. Chanel once said, "fashion is fleeting, only style is perpetuating." In the face of fleeting fashion, only constant changes and adaptations can create permanent popularity.