From Professional Sports To Retro Fashion, This Is The Brand Story Of FILA'S 100 Years Of Ups And Downs.

Why is everyone wearing a red, white and blue LOGO FILA? Many people have this curiosity.

FILA has also stood at the top of history. The so-called "sudden popularity" is not the label that comes from the Italy sports brand. The world is famous for its professional sports brand. After that, the luxury strategy failed. It was first bought by American companies, and later acquired by Korean subsidiaries. The two brand changed. FILA's brand road was full of frustrations.

From 70s to 2000s, with the sponsorship of precise athletes from all walks of life, FILA's professional sports function was renowned internationally. After 2000s, the trend culture rose, and the boundary between sports and fashion gradually blurred. After being acquired by Korean subsidiary, FILA began to follow the trend of "keep abreast of the times" and turn it around.

Now that Italy has started and turned around in Korea, now it has rescued Anta, the brand of Chinese sports, and what has happened to the 100 year old brand FILA?

A century old shop from Italy

There is a quiet town at the foot of the Alps, called BIELLA. Due to the melting of snow in the mountains, it can wash out bright and soft fabric fibers, making it a base for Italy's fabric and textile industry.

With the advantage of congenital textile, this town has become the birthplace of many clothing brands. FILA, Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Cerruti (Cerruti 1881) and other clothing brands were born here.

In 1911, the FILA brothers founded the FILA company. At the beginning, it was not a sportswear company, but a family textile enterprise producing underwear, and the sales target was limited to the residents in the mountain area. In 1923, the small textile enterprise wanted to expand and expand its production base, and reorganized it into Limited by Share Ltd, and merged with Fratelli Fila in 1942.

In the first few decades, FILA did not have the ability to research and development. Until the early 1970s, it began to establish product research and development departments, trying to diversify and turn to sports apparel production. This change also opened the road of FILA's reputation internationally.

When FILA wanted to turn to sports, in 1973, FILA invited Japanese designer Inobu to design "F-box" Logo. Red and blue represent the Mediterranean sun and sea, and have always been used as a symbol of FILA.

In 1972, FILA set foot in the field of sportswear for the first time, and began to make tennis knitted sweater. FILA broke the routine color matching on sportswear, and used the color striking pattern to realize the fashion change of tennis apparel.

A bully in tennis

The first step in opening the tennis market is to start with sponsoring tennis players.

FILA has sponsored many famous tennis stars since 1970s. The most widely known is the collaboration with tennis legend and Swedish Bj RN Borg.

The 6 French Open champion, the 5 Wimbledon champion, the 63 champion trophy, the 1976-80 consecutive five year ATP player, was the 70s tennis legend of the 70s of last century. With his popularity soaring, the first international fame in 70s was made.

Wearing FILA logo coloured striped costumes and hair bands, FILA and Berg broke the single white dress tradition of the tennis court, introducing multiple colors and fashion elements to open up the beauty of tennis fashion. FILA is the first brand to bring color to tennis courts through the White Line series.

The straight striped tennis shirt that Berg wore at that time came back to look at today. Berg's success has given FILA great confidence in sports, and tennis has become the focus of FILA brand marketing.

Since 1982, FILA has sponsored the US Open tennis tournament and became a designated supplier of the US Open Network in the following 22 years. In different historical periods, FILA signed excellent tennis players, including Ivani Goolagong Fay Goolagong Cawley, John Mcenro (John McEnroe), Monica Seles (Monica Seles), Jennifer Capriati (Jennifer Capriati), library Azee Netsova (Kim Clijsters), Kim Clijsters (Evonne) and so on, and they all won the championship in the first place.

Transboundary unbounded

Tennis has brought FILA unparalleled glory, but in line with the strategy of "diversification", FILA has spanned many sports fields. Golf, mountaineering, skiing, racing, soccer, basketball, marathon and so on have also left classic product modeling.

With the sponsorship of sports celebrities, once again winning the top, FILA also received great attention.

Reinhold Messner, Italy's "mountaineering emperor", is wearing the FILA custom made hi-tech mountaineering dress. It successfully reaches the summit of the Pearl River in the state of no need of oxygen supply, and becomes the first person in the field to climb without oxygen in Messner.

Ingmar, a Swedish skier named Ingmar Stenmark, has been wearing the FILA ski series and won the world's attention for 86 times in his lifetime.

FILA Tom, a member of the Golf Hall of fame sponsored by Tom Watson, won the US Open Championship in FILA Golf Series in 1982.

In the field of clothing, FILA has made remarkable achievements in cooperation with many sports celebrities. In 80s, FILA also began to produce footwear products. With the cooperation of NBA players and marathon legends, FILA's brand awareness reached another peak.

In 1995, FILA launched a series of basketball shoes. Choose Grant Hill, known as the closest Jordan, as spokesperson, and customize basketball shoes for Grant Hill -- FILA GRANT HILL II (FILA 96), which is also the war boots chosen by Hill at the peak of Grant Hill. And these basketball shoes were also loved by the American rap God 2PAC.

In the middle of 90s, FILA also began sponsoring outstanding marathon runners, including the marathon legend, Mexico running German Silva (German Silva).

In 1997, FILA specially designed a pair of training shoes FILA Silva Trainer for him, which was very complicated in the design of shoes, and had the fashion sense of 90s. This pair of shoes accompanied German Silva to win several Marathon Championships.

In football field, there are many players wearing FILA sneakers in the 1998 World Cup. Among them, the most famous player in Japan is Momoka Ezu wearing the FILA Fashion Kevlar edition.

Using the influence of star players to achieve market effect, FILA's achievements can not be separated from those famous world champions. With the famous stars trying out in person, in 90s, FILA has become the top three sports brand in the world.

Korea's rescue

In 1997, FILA sales in the US reached US $687 million, and global sales reached US $1 billion 400 million, reaching the peak of history. But after entering 2000, the market competition intensified, many investment failures, and FILA wanted to enter the luxury market in the US and European markets, making FILA gradually decline. Global sales in 2003 were only $792 million, down 43% from the 1997 peak.

FILA, a poorly managed company, was privatized in the same year by the acquisition of Sports Brands International, the US hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management, but it did not save the decline.

Until 2007, FILA was still losing money, and it lost $42 million in the US. But FILA has made a brilliant difference in Korea. According to Forbes's 2008 report, FILA Korea accounted for 3/4 of FILA's total sales in 2007.

In 1991, FILA set up a subsidiary in South Korea and operated independently. The leader was Gene Yoon. The helmsman not only brought FILA to Korea, but also had the idea of buying the parent group.

After the acquisition of FILA's global business in 2003, its performance has not improved, but the Korean business is thriving. In 2007, FILA Korea bought the FILA trademark from the Sports Brands International for $450 million, and moved the FILA headquarters to Seoul.

The rare Asian segment's acquisition of the global group is also known as "shrimp whale" by the media. This is the first case that Korean companies have won global brand holdings.

After Korea Companies acquired FILA, Gene Yoon made it clear that the US business was very important, so he hired FILA CEO Jon Epstein to return as president of North American business, and was responsible for FILA's global product development and sales performance marketing.

Gene Yoon positioned FILA as an innovative sports leisure brand with fashion first and Sport inspired. The crowd targeted at 18-34 year old young people in urban life.

Sports fashion is rising in the world. The popular brands FILA and Champion in 90s are the direct beneficiaries. The revival of FILA is closely related to the strategy of young people in Gene Yoon, catching up with the combination of sports and fashion and leisure, and restoring the ancient trend to get the favor of Z generation.

Retro fashion is popular.

Although FILA is more fashionable, but the price is lower, in order to get young people's hearts. Moreover, the soul of Italy brand still exists, such as the use of the classic design in the sports field in 90s to design clothing and footwear new products. This retro style has become popular among young people.

In the US market, FILA can be seen in retail channels such as Urban Outfitters and Zumiez, which are popular among young people.

In 2017, FILA reintroduced the Disruptor2 neuter shoes, inspired by the FILA Disruptor in 1996, with a thick bottomed round head and complex design. It has a high effect. The white whim has become an indispensable single item in the fashion match of young people. Once launched, it will become a global explosive fund.

Officials also say that Disruptor2 has sold 10 million pairs. Disruptor2 is still just the corner of FILA revival.

When the global trend fashion icon began to wear red, white and blue logo products, such as Rihanna, Gigi and Kendall Jenner, the young people who are deeply influenced by entertainment culture are hard to wonder about the brand. In social networking, #FILA# has become a popular label.

FILA has also been cooperating with all kinds of brands. Candy brand Chupa Chups, beverage brand Pepsi Cola, Chao brand Supreme, luxury FENDI, Germany high street tide brand Gosha Rubchinskiy, Japan tide brand AAPE, Chinese American designer Jason Wu and so on, have all made FILA a high topic.

In 2018, FILA unveiled the brand new series at the fashion week in Milan, a milestone in the revival of FILA. Combining sportswear with High Fashion and the most fashionable Hype elements nowadays, and extracting the landmark elements of centenary history to create a unique "advanced sports fashion", as the first sport brand to enter the international fashion week, FILA has successfully caught the eye.

Although FILA is booming now, ten years ago, this is not a sweet potato.

From BELLE to Anta

In order to expand the global market and reduce debt, FILA only operates directly in the two markets of the United States and South Korea, while looking for cooperative companies in other parts of the world and signing the authorization treaty.

That's why FILA has made two changes in China from BELLE to Anta.

Around 2008, due to the direct stimulation of Beijing Olympic Games, sports practitioners have high confidence in the development of China's sports industry. During this period, many domestic brands began to expand to win the Olympic bonus in advance.

Among them, BELLE group, which has experienced brand names such as Adidas and Nike, is confident. In the year before the Beijing Olympic Games, it acquired the trademark and retail business of FILA in mainland China, Hongkong and Macao through its subsidiary Full Prospect and Fila Marketing.

But after 2008, the public's enthusiasm for sports consumption has not been completely released. In addition to the financial crisis, FILA continues to suffer losses in China. Of course, this loss is also related to FILA's global business. Apart from the Korean region, FILA is losing money in the global market.

In 2007-2008, FILA lost 10 million 960 thousand or 39 million yuan in China. BELLE group had to rush to sell "hot potato", the next person was Anta.

Initially, the market generally believed that the failure of BELLE was due to China's lack of high-end sports brand demand, and most people were not optimistic about Anta's takeover.

In 2009, Anta acquired a 85% stake in Full Prospect and a full stake in Fila Marketing at a total price of 332 million yuan. Anta owns FILA's franchise in the mainland of China and Hong Kong and Macao retail business franchise.

Ten years later, in 2019, where retail business was generally depressed, FILA's stores in China were growing against the trend. FILA was rescued by Anta and became the engine of Anta growth, making Anta a big brother in the sports retail industry of China.

In 2018, FILA's annual sales in China exceeded 10 billion yuan. Since 2011, Yao Weixiong, who has been president of FILA Greater China, has stated that the growth of FILA in China is due to the "direct mode".

In order to maintain the high-end of FILA, FILA and Anta are divided into two independent brands. FILA also enjoys Anta channel in purchasing and supply chain. In three years, Anta has recovered all FILA dealer stores and expanded its outlets continuously. In the first half of 2019, FILA stores had 1788 stores (including KIDS and FUSION independent stores).

Although direct management needs to increase the cost of management, flat management can react quickly to the market and directly respond to the product iteration.

Moreover, it is the relocation of FILA China. After a lot of research, FILA's main consumer groups in China are located in urban white-collar crowd around 25-35 years old, and invite Gao Yuanyuan and Chen Kun as spokesmen of brand image.

At the same time, FILA has also updated its product line in China. From 2015 to 2018, three sub brands of kids, FUSION and ATHLETICS were added to attract different consumers respectively.

Kids series, set up in 2015 for children aged 3-15, and FUSION series is aimed at co operating with many global brands to launch the 1+N trend series, focusing on young people at the age of 15-25. Wang Yuan, Ma Sichun, Huang Jingyu, Kimura Hikaruki and Wu chin Yan are in the different brand spokesmen of the sub brand respectively. Wang Yuan is the spokesman for FUSION and was founded in 2017.

ATHLETICS series, professional sports brand, has four tennis products: tennis, golf, fitness, running and skiing. Cycling and water sports are seasonal products.

After the fashion trend has won popularity, in the past 2016-2019 years, FILA China has strengthened its cooperation with stars, showing a geometric upward trend. In the first half of 2019, the number of CO entertainers has reached over 130. Including Chen Xuedong, Aaron Yan, Zhang Yunlong, Sheng Yilun, Kan Qingzi and other entertainment stars.

FILA's operation strategy in China is mainly entertainment stars. In September this year, FILA signed a contract with the China Open tennis tournament to become the official partner of the 2019-2021 China Sports Net exclusive sports shoes and clothing.

After the successful operation of FILA, Anta has confidence in developing multi brand strategy. Anta also reached HK $214 billion 500 million in November.

　 epilogue

Now, FILA's two heroes, a Gene Yoon, who is the global steward of FILA's recovery, is now more than 70 years old. Another North American president, Jon Epstein, died suddenly at the beginning of the year because of heart disease. The two management changes at any time may give rise to a glimmer of uncertainty in the future of FILA.

Looking back at FILA's past and present life, past life relied on professional sports to gallop the world, and this life has benefited from the fashionable trend of old man shoes, retro wind, sports and leisure. But it is hard to speculate about how long these trends can last in the minds of young people. At the moment when a trend storm is approaching, how to continue to tap the FILA Centennial brand heritage and respond promptly to the trend of the times will still be a problem that FILA needs to think about in the future.