Tennis Competition Has Become A Dialogue Between Two Fast Fashion Brands

The Wimbledon Tennis Open just passed. In addition to the wonderful and eye-catching situation, fashion enthusiasts also found another highlight: the logo of the high street fast fashion brand H&M, Uniqlo (Uniqlo) unexpectedly appeared on the robes of Djokovic and Berdych, who ranked first in the world.

Surrounded by the "myth" of the industry created by fast fashion, while starting to explore concepts in the sports field, the way taken by these high street brands is a bit unclear: is this a natural "external expansion" or a high-profile business show through well-known events?

In the eyes of ordinary consumers, sports and fast fashion are two different subdivisions. Sports pay more attention to the exploration of functions, while fast fashion brands, as the name implies, care more about the grasp of trends and speed. But in the eyes of analysts, they are classified into clothing The industry has similar "genes". This gene determines that when the scale of these two types of enterprises reaches a certain level, they will "start" nearby and infiltrate into each other's territory in order to continue to grow. Therefore, the final meeting of sports and fast fashion brands is a natural thing. In fact, fast fashion and professional sports brands are taking a cross "X" competitive path.

The world number one Serbian tennis players Djokovic and Berdyc met for the third time this year, and the two red logos stood out on the white Polo shirt. On closer inspection, the logos are Uniqlo and H&M respectively.

A tennis match has become a dialogue between two fast fashion brands, and this concern has quickly led to a consumption boom. It is reported that in many UNIQLO stores, Djokovic's war robe has been sold out of stock, and more transaction records have occurred in online stores.

The reporter noticed that Novak Djokovic, the world number one, signed a five-year contract with Uniqlo after ending his contract with Italian company Sergio Tacchini International last year. Later, the tennis player will wear Uniqlo clothes and pedal the Adidas ball shoes , which is quite meaningful.

In the view of the industry, this is not only a competition between brands, but also a competition between sports and fashion, reflecting that fast fashion and professional sports brands are taking a cross "X" competitive path. They invade each other and support each other, forming a temporary balanced situation.

The person who has studied the clothing industry for a long time told the reporter that both sports brands and fast fashion brands face middle and low-end customers, and their sales models are mainly based on sales volume; The asset light model is to cooperate with upstream suppliers, and the products are mainly OEM. There are similarities between the two business models. However, there are more differences between sports and fast fashion, which are mainly reflected in the difficulty of operation and the dimension of consideration. Fast fashion is more challenging.

Zhang Qing, founder of Key Way Sports Consulting Management Company, said that although both emphasized reaction speed from market demand, sporting goods were relatively weak. In his opinion, fast fashion puts more emphasis on the speed of innovation, while sports pay more attention to the excavation of functional areas. "Sporting goods have their own threshold, that is, the requirement for professionalism." He pointed out that it takes a long time to understand the preferences of sports people in the field of sports. And fast fashion needs more excellent design, and innovation is fast.

Brand marketing is another difference. Analysts pointed out that fast fashion does not value too much investment in the brand itself, but emphasizes the use of goods and channels as driving factors. Sports brands are different. It is very important that brand endorsement is determined by characteristics.

Let's talk about the size of the store. Due to the insufficient width of sporting goods, it is difficult to arrange large stores, while fast fashion brands have a wide range of categories, and large-scale stores can be seen everywhere.

The turnover days of both are not on the same level. "Turnover involves management issues. At present, the turnover rate of domestic sports brands is still very low, which also leads to high inventory." Shao Ligang, general manager of Jiupai Consulting Management, told reporters.

However, the above analysts pointed out that even if there are many differences, fast fashion brands and sports brands are classified into the clothing industry, and this "gene" also determines that in order to continue expansion, sports brands and fast fashion brands will eventually "meet naturally".

Shao Ligang said that it is an inevitable trend for each other to enter the other's field, and the industrial structure of brands in the future must be "big at both ends". One end is to be a real high-end brand, which will have a lot of profit space; the other end is to focus on low-end products to win by volume and win huge profits from the pyramid foundation; while the middle part, many brands will strive to cover a wide range. The final result is that those brands with wider categories will have more market advantages.