In recent years, traditional leisure brands and sports brands have had a difficult time. Many companies have faced many problems such as weak market demand, rising production costs, high corporate inventories, difficulty in making business profits, and the constant trend of store closings. Especially in 2013, domestic and foreign traditional sports brand companies experienced net profit declines or even losses to varying degrees.
On the other hand, because outdoor equipment products are highly functional, their sales prices are much higher than those of ordinary clothing. Data show that among the top six brands with the average unit price in the sportswear market, 4 are professional outdoor brands, and the average price is 70% higher than that of sportswear as a whole. Take the domestic outdoor brand Pathfinder as an example. The brand’s outdoor clothing gross profit margin has exceeded 50%. Data shows that the average gross profit margin of the traditional clothing industry can only reach 20%-30%.
Based on this fact, a large number of leisure sports brands have begun to move to the outdoor field, which has also made outdoor functional fabrics really popular. In 2012 and 2013, the net profit growth rate was above 40%.
However, starting from 2014, the net profit growth rate of the textile and outdoor sports industry began to decline, showing negative growth in 2015 and 2016. According to the reports of the textile and clothing outdoor industry in the first three quarters of 2016, the overall revenue of the industry decreased by 10.36%, and the net profit Profit fell by 30.48%, and the performance in the third quarter was even worse than that in the first half of the year. The textile and outdoor industry seems to be facing a reshuffle.
Revenue and net profit growth of the outdoor industry in Q3 from 2012 to 2016
From the perspective of the downstream apparel industry, it has been impacted by online channels, brand premium capabilities have declined, and the pricing of outdoor products has become more rational. The most intuitive data: This year, the total transaction volume of Tmall’s Double 11 Global Carnival exceeded 120.7 billion, an increase of 32% from last year’s 91.2 billion. The network not only brought changes to the channel structure, but also caused changes to the traditional price system. Impact, the more transparent and open prices it provides will reduce the brand’s premium ability.
On the other hand, in the domestic outdoor products market, while domestic brands have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, international outdoor brands have also poured in. The competition among brands is extremely fierce, which has also led to more rational product pricing.
From the upstream outdoor fabric industry, the number of participants in the market competition has increased, and the competition has become increasingly fierce, prompting the industry to speed up technology research and development and innovation. Some of the “black technologies” that fabrics were once endowed with are no longer mysterious. Most of the “functionality” of outdoor functional fabrics is achieved by finishing, which is nothing more than coating, laminating, laminating and other processes. To achieve different functions, the additives and materials involved are different. , so outdoor functional fabrics give people a high-tech feel, and thus realize their high premium characteristics. When outdoor fabrics first emerged, every outdoor fabric manufacturer protected their formulas and technologies as trade secrets. However, after years of development and with the increase in industry competitors, many secrets are no longer secrets. New outdoor fabrics The growth points have become fewer and fewer and harder to find, so the premium space for outdoor fabrics has gradually shrunk.
The textile outdoor industry was once regarded by many as a sunrise industry and a new profit growth point in the textile industry. Now it has inevitably encountered a “bottleneck period.” But looking back at my country’s outdoor sports market, it is actually far from mature, and household consumption has not yet become popular. Therefore, how to get through the current most difficult period and welcome the next new starting point is a question that outdoor people need to think about.
