The Demand For Fashionable Down Jacket Continues To Rise.

Over the past few years, more and more Chinese Millennial consumers are willing to spend 1000 yuan, or even tens of thousands of yuan, to buy a down jacket with good quality, fashion and warmth. According to CBNDATA, the size of China's winter clothing market will reach 138 billion 200 million yuan (about 20 billion US dollars) in 2020. The rapid growth of the winter clothing market has also made the major brands eager to try, hoping for a slice of the cake.

Li Dakang, President of Capri Holdings Asia Pacific region, said: "China's winter clothing market, or more accurately the outdoor clothing market, will have a great growth potential in the future. One of the tipping points is the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China. Unlike the United States and Europe, Chinese people used to do little outdoor activities in winter, but I believe that as the 2008 Olympic Games brought more and more young people to fitness, sports clothes became popular, and Winter Olympics also increased outdoor activities.

China's ski industry white paper points out that China has built 742 ski resorts in 2018 and has one million skiing enthusiasts. When the Beijing Winter Olympic Games were successfully held in 2015, the Chinese government announced that it would achieve the "300 million people's participation in the ice and snow campaign" in 2022. For ordinary people, the promotion of ice and snow sports will bring about a change of lifestyle, and the full support of the Chinese government behind it will further ignite people's love for winter clothes.

But consumers' purchasing psychology is not entirely out of their love for ice and snow sports, Li Dakang added. "Winter clothing has become a manifestation of style and is a fashion item. Consumers not only focus on warmth, but also fashion.

Claire Lin, co-founder of China Fashion Collective, said that the durability and investment value of winter clothing also made the products of those first-line brands more and more concerned by consumers. "From the symbolic consumption point of view, the investment return rate of big jackets and winter clothes is relatively high in clothing category. In fact, there are only a few items in the season, but shirts, suits and skirts can't work."

Vogue Business in China has selected some popular brands, local brands, and huge potential brands from the market to analyze them one by one.

"Everyone wants a Moncler," said Vivien Wang, a Chinese fashion practitioner.

The Moncler boom in China is far from being stopped. In February 10th, the Italy brand released its fourth quarter financial report in fiscal 2019, with revenue exceeding expectations. Considering that China is facing the cold winter of the retail industry, it is not easy to have such a performance. Moncler Roberto Eggs, chief marketing officer and operation officer, told the media and investors at the earnings call conference. "We expect that the Chinese market will have a strong rebound after the end of the epidemic, and the market outside China will be slower because of the opening of tourism."

Although the epidemic has a great impact on Moncler and its competitors, consumers are still keen on the product of Italy brand. Unlike Canada Goose's large scale shopping strategy in China, Moncler is going to play a limited way of playing, and it can be said that the Chinese young consumers who chase the limited amount of money are vulnerable. Moncler is also one of the first brands to play the Internet Ecosystem in China. The brand Mini program was launched in 2017.

In 2018, Canada Goose, the main competitor of Moncler, announced that the company will implement long-term development plans in the mainland and Hongkong markets. According to Business Insider, the price of Canada Goose surged 6% after opening the first store in Beijing in December 2018. It also proves that the market is very optimistic about the potential of brand in China. Bloomberg's report also points out that Canada Goose hopes to reduce the spread of counterfeit goods in the Chinese market by establishing a retail network in China, which is common in fake markets in Beijing or Shanghai.

Student Andy Bao tells us, "so many fake Canada Goose products on the market are very uncomfortable. As soon as you wear Canada Goose, others will think you are wearing fake products." In addition to the suspicion of counterfeit goods, the rise of brands in the Chinese market has benefited from celebrity promotion. Ma Yun wearing Canada Goose down jacket has been widely circulated on the Internet.

However, from the global market, sales of Canada Goose have been declining for two consecutive years, and the share price of the brand even dropped by 17% last year. The use of animal hair grass to make caps and wool collar has been criticized for many times, and is also one of the reasons why it has been losing momentum in the European and American markets. Canada Goose is gradually betting on the development of the Chinese market. Although the situation in Hongkong has affected the performance of other competitors, Canada Goose's performance in Asia last year is still bright, its revenue almost doubled, from 26 million 600 thousand US dollars to 48 million 900 thousand US dollars.

Canada Goose is still accelerating the improvement of the Chinese market. The results show that the auxiliary production cost has increased by nearly 1000 to 43 million 200 thousand US dollars over the previous quarter of 34 million 200 thousand US dollars. This part of the funds will be used to support public relations, manpower, technology and business expansion in Greater China. In the face of the fierce competitors, Canada Goose must be ready.

Canada's high-end down jacket brand Mackage was founded in 1999 in the French speaking city of Montreal, benefiting from the British Princess Megan's favor and frequent departure. The brand was well known to consumers in China's second tier cities before it formally entered the Chinese market in 2019. At present, brands have a physical store in Hongkong and Beijing, and there are official flagship stores on Tmall platform.

Connie Lee, chief marketing officer of Mackage Greater China, said, "over the past few years, 40% of our North American stores have been sold to Chinese customers and passengers. The excellent tailoring and edition of the brand is very good for Asian consumers, and consumers are also full of praise for our fashionable design.

In order to raise awareness, brands collaborate with celebrities in entering the Chinese market, including Tang Wei, Li Wenhan and so on. The best selling Mackage in the autumn and winter series in 2019 is still down clothing, which accounts for 70% of the total sales volume. At the same time, lightweight feather products are also having a good sales volume in this warm winter season, which is a trend that can not be ignored. It is worth noting that the brand name leather and wool products also show great potential in the Chinese market. The brand sales accounted for 30% of the total revenue of the company from August 2019 to October.

The French luxury feather clothing brand Nivose was founded in 1933. It has a long history. From the Alps to the streets of Beijing, the brand entered the Chinese market in September 2019 and developed steadily. At present, there are two shops in Shanghai, one in Beijing and one in Hongkong. You can also find a Nivose shop in the ski resort town of Hebei.

Through the "Nivose VIP at home" project, the brand claims to provide French consumers with "advanced customization" service for Chinese consumers. After customers purchase online, the brand will send their products to their home and let them try freely. This may be a warm service experience for Chinese who are keen on online shopping.

Bosideng, founded in 1976, is currently China's largest down garment brand, according to data from Chi Chi and the National Bureau of statistics. Although the Chinese brand has been on the market in a low-cost way to meet the masses and face the mass market, in 2019, the company announced that it will compete in high-end brands and international brands such as Canada Goose and Moncler to attract domestic young consumers with international vision.

In September last year, Bosideng showed up at the fashion week in New York. The show was designed by Zhu Lin, the company's design director. At the same time, the company is also co operating with Disney and Jean-Paul Gautier in the Chinese market. Bosideng advanced in high-end design, but the company also encountered big trouble, suspected of financial fraud, virtual transactions and other issues. The short selling agency Bonitas reported that Bosideng was suspected of counterfeiting profits since 2015. Subsequently, Bosideng issued a statement denying the agency's allegations, and said the report was one-sided and misleading.

Subsequently, Bosideng refocused its internationalization strategy, and Gao Dekang, founder of Vogue Business in China, said that the company will expand its overseas business while consolidating its domestic market share. "Our core competitiveness is our product," Gao Dekang said. "In 2018, we expanded our brand image, and made full progress in products and sales channels to ensure that the company's development accords with the principle of consumer orientation. Of course, after these years of transformation, brand has gradually been recognized by consumers.

Nivose, Mackage, Patagonia, Moose Knuckles and other rising stars are actively developing brand business in China, hoping to win the favor of China's young consumers with international vision. However, the status quo of China's winter clothing market is still dominated by Moncler, Canada Goose and other big names, especially when consumers want to buy an expensive down jacket. At present, local brands and rising stars still need to strive for the differentiation advantage that suits Chinese consumers.