Hundreds Of Millions Of Middle-Aged And Elderly Clothing Brands Have Entered The Market, Giving Birth To A Large Number Of Changes In The Body Function Of The Elderly

"At the end of last year, when we held the year-end meeting, we learned that dozens of brands were ready to lay out the clothing market for the middle-aged and the elderly in 2020. Many traditional brands, such as Hengyuanxiang, xiangsiniao, Gedi and siyuzhu, have already launched clothing products for the elderly to the market;

Previously, we went to Japan to investigate the consumer market for the elderly. We found that the market size of the clothing for the elderly in Japan has reached 200 billion yuan, and the market is mature. The domestic clothing market for the middle-aged and the elderly has just started, and there is a huge space for development! "

——Ageclub research team

The wave of consumption upgrading driven by excessive consumption and overdraft consumption of young people has begun to show a declining trend, while 400 million middle-aged and elderly people are becoming the main driving force of consumption upgrading in China.

In the past 10 years, they have brought the well-known industries such as tourism and health products into full swing. In the recent two or three years, they have created a brand of shoes for the elderly with a revenue of one billion yuan, and successfully upgraded the unit price of shoes for the elderly from tens of yuan to 200 yuan.

With 320 million people born in the baby boom from 1962 to 1973 entering the retirement stage in the next 10 years, their consumption concept and consumption ability will be greatly upgraded compared with the current 50 years later. The middle-aged and elderly consumer brands with a billion yuan revenue are likely to emerge in clothing, cosmetics, paper diapers and other sub categories.

In Japan, the clothing market supported by middle-aged and elderly people is as high as 200 billion yuan. With China's population base of 10 times that of Japan, even if the per capita consumption is lower than that of Japan, it is conservatively estimated that it can reach at least hundreds of billion yuan.

? ? Based on a large number of data analysis, product research, offline field research and industry practitioners' first-line research, ageclub believes that the future clothing opportunities for the middle-aged and the elderly will be developed along two main lines: one is the huge demand for special design clothing and functional clothing due to the change of middle-aged and old people's physical function, and the other is the pair of clothing generated by the expansion of social scenes and the highlight of self-awareness of the elderly The upgrade of the aesthetic needs.

This paper mainly starts from the changes of body function of the middle-aged and elderly people, and analyzes that the demand, pattern and fabric of the middle-aged and elderly people are completely different from those of the young people. In some subdivision requirements, such as thermal clothing and hot clothing, there are already good manufacturers, but there are still a lot of demand is still blank, and there is a large market space in the future.

1. The change of middle-aged and old people's body function gives birth to new demand for clothing

Middle aged and elderly hunchback, waist and abdomen hypertrophy, thick arm, the existing version does not fit, uncomfortable

With the growth of age, the articular cartilage of all parts of the body is constantly shrinking, and the curvature of spine is becoming more and more serious with the growth of age, and the body shape gradually changes from normal body to hunchback body. Some studies have shown that the average old people's height will be reduced by 2.5% - 3% at the age of 70, and even 6% for women.

In addition, the elderly in the body will appear fat accumulation, body fat, waist and abdomen prominent sagging, arm thick and other characteristics. As a result of the back convex, women prone to sagging back.

A large number of experts in this field have conducted research on the basic body shape of the elderly in different areas. For example, in a survey of 240 elderly people in Northern Shaanxi, it is found that the proportion of thin body in men and women is very low, but the proportion of overweight body and fat body reaches 2 / 3-3 / 4.

The change of body shape makes the old people's choice of clothing pattern more relaxed. For example, most of the respondents choose the style of big size and slim fit for the elderly all over the country.

But the common clothing for the middle-aged and the elderly in the market does not really meet their needs. Li Tao, a serial entrepreneur and founder of frozen age log, who has been engaged in the field of middle-aged and elderly clothing for a long time, told ageclub that they had done a lot of user research and found that the most common problem for the elderly people to reflect on the clothing of the middle-aged and the elderly on the current e-commerce platform is the size. Firstly, there is a lack of sufficient size selection suggestions in the product details page; secondly, the clothes selected according to the size are often too small after being put on.

According to the offline interview survey conducted by new agingpro, an independent consulting brand of ageclub, to a large number of elderly people in China, it is also learned that middle-aged and elderly people tend to choose clothes with larger sizes. Although the waist and abdomen fit well, the sleeves and body are generally too long.

The problem behind this is that at present, the Japanese version is widely used in the domestic clothing industry. Young people and older people share a set of pattern, and no new and applicable version is developed for the middle-aged and elderly who have undergone significant changes in their body shape.

The body function of middle-aged and old people is declining, and the traditional fabric and design are out of date

In addition to body shape changes, there are also many changes in the physical functions of the elderly.

Hypothermia

In old age, body temperature is generally 0.5-0.7 ℃ lower than that of young people. In the elderly, the production of heat and adrenaline will be increased, which will lead to the increase of heat retention and hormone production in the liver.

In addition, the shoulders, neck and waist of middle-aged and elderly people are easy to suffer from cold, so the corresponding design of clothing is also needed. Every summer, many middle-aged and elderly women will take scarves with them, just to protect their shoulders and neck in air-conditioning occasions. The side reflects the defects of current clothing design.

Low heat resistance

The secretion function of sweat glands and sebaceous glands in the elderly is decreased, the sweating function is weakened, and the heat dissipation on the body surface is blocked, which leads to the decrease of heat tolerance and heat stroke in summer. At the same time, the elderly are weak, not suitable for blowing electric fans and air conditioning, need clothing can provide better cooling function.

"Aging smell"

"Jialing stink", originated from Japanese, refers to the body odor of middle-aged and elderly people, especially male. The reason for the formation of "nonaldehyde" is called "nonanal". Aging odor has both green odor (similar to the smell of grass, vegetables, such as cabbage) and fat odor (similar to the smell produced by oxidation of oils, such as the smell of scalp and body skin of people with oily skin who do not bathe for a long time).

Because the female hormone has the effect of inhibiting oxidation, the fatty acid is not easy to oxidize under the action of female hormone, so the problem of female aging odor is relatively light. In addition, frequent use of cosmetics to clean the skin is also one of the reasons why women have less aging odor.

Aging odor will seriously reduce the self-confidence and social activities of the elderly, which can be solved by cosmetics, daily chemical products and clothing with deodorization and fragrance functions.

Dry skin itches easily

The aging skin can reduce the skin's volume, reduce the skin's moisture retention rate, reduce the skin's moisture retention rate, reduce the skin's dry skin's volume, reduce the skin's dry skin's volume, reduce the skin's moisture content, and reduce the skin's moisture content.

In addition to this, cosmetics can play an important role in moisturizing.

The coordination of the body is poor and the movement flexibility is reduced

After entering the old age, the nerve tissue function of the old people declines, the reaction ability of behavior and behavior slows down, the coordination becomes worse, and the movement flexibility decreases.

The muscle strength of the elderly is also declining, and the strength at 70 is only half of that at 30. At the same time, the volume and quantity of muscle fibers in the elderly are reduced, the contraction speed and strength of muscles are reduced, and the elasticity, endurance and control power of muscles are weakened, which leads to the decrease of the accuracy of various behaviors including dressing, eating and walking.

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2. Middle aged and old people need their own pattern and clothing design

The middle-aged and old-age version is not a simple enlarged size, but the version standard is the core competition barrier in the future

Some experts in the clothing industry told ageclub that designing clothes for the middle-aged and elderly people is not simply to enlarge the size of a certain part. Otherwise, although the clothes are worn, they can only cover the body, which is neither aesthetic nor comfortable.

For example, in terms of girth, women's chest waist difference (the difference between chest circumference and waist circumference) will gradually shrink from the positive value when they are young, or even become negative. Due to the loss of bone components, height reduction, and spinal deformation, the "guilt" posture formed by hunchback, bending, chest, and neck flexion angle increase needs to be designed completely different from that of young people.

Li Tao, founder of frozen age log, told ageclub that in order to achieve wearing comfort and body modification, loose H-shaped, trapezoidal or O-shaped silhouettes are far from enough. In order to improve body shape and comfort, more detailed modifications are needed in front, back and shoulders of clothes.

Because the population base of China's middle-aged and elderly population is equivalent to that of a large population country in the world, and there is a big difference between the north and the south, Japan, Europe and the United States do not have mature standards for middle-aged and elderly people to learn from. It is very difficult to establish China's own standards for middle-aged and elderly people, but it will also be the core competitive barrier of garment enterprises in the future.

In addition to the pattern, the physical condition of the middle-aged and elderly people gradually weakens with the growth of age. The shoulder, neck, waist, knee and other parts often suffer from pain and fear of cold, so the clothing design needs to be thickened.

In a survey on the protection needs of the elderly in special parts ", there are six options for the elderly to choose from, including back, waist, chest, elbow, crotch and knee. Waist and knee score the highest, followed by the back, and choose chest, elbow and stride relatively less.

Clothing designed for special middle-aged and elderly people

There are also special needs of elderly people, such as bedridden elderly people.

Some experts have put forward trousers designed for middle-aged and elderly women wheelchair users. The form of hip hanging piece side opening is adopted. Referring to the shape and function of female sanitary napkin, a functional design combining underpants and pants is formed.

In addition, for the semi disabled and bedridden elderly, some experts also put forward the corresponding clothing design. For this kind of old people, the clothes usually worn by healthy elderly people are very inconvenient when dressing and going to the toilet. Clothing design should highlight the convenience of toilet, comfort and hygiene and convenient cleaning care.

For example, with velcro or zipper instead of buttons, the left and right sleeves and trouser tubes can be opened, and the double zipper is used for opening and closing. A space for urethral catheterization is reserved at the crotch of trousers, and the outermost layer is covered with a covering cloth to cover the urine receiver and private parts. The shielding cloth adopts detachable style, which is convenient to replace and clean at any time.

In addition, there are enterprises with fast wear and take off function of clothing patents. A number of magnetic buttons are arranged in the buttonhole to attract the elderly to wear clothes. The other is to set the male button and female button respectively on the front and inner placket of the coat, and the pull button device is arranged on the male button, so as to open the male button and female button when taking off clothes.

3. Middle aged and old people's rigid needs: functional clothing with high-tech fabrics

Functional clothing: the most rigid and deterministic demand of the middle-aged and the elderly

The most important function of middle-aged people is the change of their physical function. In some subdivision requirements, such as warm clothing and hot clothing, a mature market has been formed, supporting many manufacturers and brands. But in addition, there are still a large number of demand is still blank, such as cooling, skin moisturizing, deodorization and bacteriostasis, and related products on the market are still rare, with a large market space.

At the user level, the demand of the elderly for functional clothing is very definite. Experts and scholars have conducted a survey on the demand for functional clothing among more than 200 elderly people aged 60-90 in Shanghai. More than 50% of them chose "very willing to buy" and "relatively willing to buy", 43% of the respondents accepted the price of 100-200 yuan, and 36% of the respondents accepted the price of 200-500 yuan.

The survey also showed that the specific needs of the elderly for functional clothing, "moisture absorption and perspiration and quick drying" and "anti fall injury" are the most popular functions for the elderly, and 43% and 40% of them choose "very hope" respectively.

"Moisture absorption, perspiration and quick drying" can be ranked first, which shows that underwear and single clothes with natural fiber cotton as raw materials traditionally favored by the elderly can not meet the wearing needs of the elderly, while the fast drying fabrics that have been widely used in sports and outdoor clothing can just meet the needs of the elderly.

"Fall prevention" reflects the universality and severity of falls among the elderly, but few manufacturers have developed products to solve this problem.

In addition, the clothing that some enterprises are keen to develop to detect physiological indicators (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.), intelligent temperature regulation, physical therapy (traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy, magnetic therapy, etc.) and other functions are relatively low in the survey, and 32%, 31% and 24% of them choose "very hope".

National policy also encourages functional fabrics and clothing. In the "guidance on promoting the development of the elderly products industry" released last year, it is proposed that "in the next step, efforts will be made to promote the innovation and upgrading of elderly products in the above fields, including increasing the application of intelligent materials, photosensitive materials, anti ultraviolet and high-performance fibers in elderly clothing"

However, many old people are influenced by traditional ideas and prefer natural fabrics such as cotton. In a survey of the elderly in Shanghai, 66% of the respondents "very much hope" to use natural fiber fabrics such as cotton, hemp and silk, 60% of them "don't want" to use blended fabrics, and 81% of them do not want to use chemical fiber fabrics.

In fact, silk is comfortable and cool for the elderly, and it is suitable for the elderly in summer. In terms of plant dyes, not only non-toxic and harmless to the human body, but also some experts have pointed out that many kinds of dyes are Chinese herbal medicines, which can retain certain pharmacological functions in the fabric after dyeing.

In contact with human skin, these substances will be slowly absorbed by the human body, with anti allergy and anti disease health effects. It can be used to protect the skin from infection.

However, the disadvantages of natural fiber and plant dyes are obvious, that is, the output is small and the price is expensive, which is suitable for making high-grade clothing, and can not meet the daily needs of the majority of middle-aged and elderly groups. Fill this part of the demand, or rely on high-tech chemical fiber blended fabric.

In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity and promotion of high-tech fabrics, relieve the old people's "superstition" of pure cotton fabrics, and establish confidence in high-tech fabrics.

High tech functional fabrics make life more comfortable for the elderly

Functional fabrics rose from the great development of material science and technology after World War II. At first, it was mainly used to make military uniforms, and then gradually turned to civilian use. It was widely used in outdoor and sports clothing. In recent years, it was also used more and more in underwear.

The latest development of high-tech fabrics can play an important role in the healthy life of the elderly

The antibacterial and deodorant fabric can prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi, and prevent the allergy and asthma of the elderly. Anti UV fabric can reduce the sun's ultraviolet rays on human skin in Shanghai.

The moisture absorption and quick drying fiber can quickly absorb the sweat on the skin from the inner layer of the fabric to the surface of the fabric, and emit to the air. The fabric is always in a dry state, and has good extensibility and elasticity

Far infrared fabric can absorb the heat from human body and surrounding environment at room temperature, and radiate to human subcutaneous tissue to produce thermal effect.

Bamboo fiber fabric has good hygroscopicity, air permeability, and unique antibacterial, anti ultraviolet function.

Soybean protein fiber fabric has silk luster, wool like warmth retention performance, good skin affinity, and contains a variety of amino acids needed by human body.

Negative ion fabric can release air negative oxygen ions, emit biological waves, and promote human microcirculation.

The fabric made of chitin fiber has antibacterial and deodorizing functions, and is helpful to treat skin diseases and heal wounds.

D3o gel, a single material with impact resistance, can be extruded into various shapes at will under static or slow moving state, and its performance is soft. It can be applied to the functional design of the elbow, hip, knee and other parts of the clothing for the elderly.

Aromatic fiber is to mix perfume or aromatic microcapsule into the spinning slice directly, or put the perfume in the core layer, so as to make clothing emit mint and other fragrance.

The elastic fiber has the function of flexibility and light weight. The clothing made of elastic fiber can support the specific parts of the body of the elderly or reduce the resistance to action, which is suitable for the elderly with weakened behavior ability.

The United States, Japan, Europe and other developed countries are the traditional power of functional fabrics. Domestic enterprises have also actively developed functional fabrics in the past decade. Shandong Ruyi, a textile fabric enterprise, has accumulated relevant patents by using Anta and Li Ning brands, and men's clothing enterprises such as Hailan home and LiLang. Some of them are specifically designed to serve the needs of the elderly, such as keeping warm, moisturizing, deodorizing and deodorizing Functional fabrics such as taste, antibacterial and sterilization.

The market gap of functional clothing is worth looking forward to

Since 2000, the academic community has done a lot of research on functional clothing related to the elderly, among which the research results of "thermal clothing" are the most, and the number of papers is 1097. In contrast, the number of articles on "deodorant" and "clothing" was less than that of "clothing" and "many articles" respectively.

Since 2011, there has been a great difference in the number of research on the category of clothing from the perspective of domestic enterprises.

The number of patents of "hot clothing" which is not paid much attention to in the academic circle is 8394, which is consistent with the findings obtained from the monitoring of consumer goods data of e-commerce platform by ageclub.

In the article "data insight: solving the winter cold prevention pain points of the elderly, 20000 online consumption data tell you which warm clothing is better!" published in February this year

Hot clothing has become a hot product on the e-commerce platform. Electric thermal vest is the most recognized category in the current hot clothing, with monthly online sales of 14 million yuan. However, at the same time, the market competition is fierce. Each brand mainly adopts the carbon brazing heating scheme, with serious homogenization;

The electric scarves category is the only one with the largest sales volume and sales volume. It has a large number of materials and temperature control patents, which is in a monopoly position in this category, and has obtained multiple rounds of financing;

Due to immature technology, poor user experience and other reasons, the number of brands and online sellers of electric socks and insoles are very few. The follow-up development needs to be observed.

Then analyze the patents of representative fabrics and clothing enterprises in China. Thermal clothing and heating clothing are the first to be distributed, mainly by adding heat preservation materials such as cashmere, battery + heating plate, solar cell film and so on.

Deodorizing and deodorizing fabrics and clothing are developing well in aging Japan. Domestic sports brands Anta and Li Ning have applied for related fabric patents, but few products are actually on the market. At present, some domestic enterprises have put forward relevant patents, such as Yinfa worry free deodorant underwear and jiumuwang's deodorant shirt.

Silver hair worry free deodorant underwear added heat acrylic fiber, chitin fiber and pearl fiber into the fabric, which has the function of heating, far-infrared emission and antibacterial, and can eliminate and absorb the body odor of the elderly to a certain extent.

Jiumuwang's deodorant shirt is not realized by fabric, but is equipped with detachable deodorant strip on the shirt to absorb the sweat and other odor from the armpit.

In addition, some enterprises have put forward many patents of intelligent clothing and physiotherapy clothing. For example, GPS can monitor blood pressure and other functions.

Physical therapy clothing is characterized by magnetic therapy or vibration massage. Li Ning's patent has more characteristics, which is to add a layer of high elastic fabric area on the common fabric area, and realize the traditional massage, acupuncture, massage, scraping and other effects by increasing the pressure on the human muscle fascial chain, heating and heat preservation, and massage at specific positions.

In addition, some experts put forward the idea of designing health care pajamas with Chinese herbal medicine self-control temperature heating piece, so that Chinese medicine can continuously volatilize into all parts of the human body, so as to achieve the effect of relieving tension of central nervous system, opening up muscles and collaterals, promoting blood circulation, and enhancing human body's immunity.

But for the elderly, there are many alternative choices for smart clothing and physiotherapy clothing. For example, smart clothing has GPS positioning, body monitoring and other functions, there are smart phones, smart watches, home medical devices to choose from.

There are also many alternative options for the physiotherapy clothing which usually uses magnet, vibration massage and Chinese herbal medicine heating, such as all kinds of physiotherapy instruments and massages.

In fact, there is not a simple linear relationship between academic achievements, enterprise patents and the final hot-selling products in the market. We need to have more in-depth insight into the real needs of the middle-aged and elderly people in order to seize the trillions of opportunities in the clothing market for the middle-aged and the elderly in the future.