From "New Chinese Style" To Outdoor Boom: Diversified Trend And Innovative Marketing Of China'S Clothing Market

In 2024, China's clothing market showed strong resilience and vitality, and achieved high-quality development relying on the world's largest industrial system and super large domestic market. In the face of a series of new challenges, the industry continues to tap its potential, actively innovate, and lead the fashion trend with cultural confidence and technological strength as the support.

In this year, Chinese aesthetics and new Chinese clothing became the highlights of the market, and the national trend economy continued to heat up; The application of intelligent technology, digital virtual fitting and other technologies has reshaped consumers' shopping experience; With the help of science and technology, brands have realized personalized customization and precision marketing, meeting consumers' pursuit of personalization and differentiation; The charm of the Olympic year has activated the enthusiasm of the whole people for sports, and the outdoor market continues to rise; "Ice and snow season" came to the end, and ice and snow equipment became a fashion favorite

　　 Fine differentiation of categories, various styles are popular

At the beginning of the 2024 New Year, the "new Chinese style" that has become popular all over the network, under the catalysis of the traditional festival atmosphere, has set off a popular upsurge through e-commerce and social networking platforms. According to the 2024 Data Report on Women's Consumption Trend of Diaoyin E-commerce, from March 2023 to February 2024, the number of orders for new Chinese style clothing consumed by women users in Diaoyin E-commerce increased by 195% year on year.

With the expansion of the market scale of "new Chinese style", the consumer demand is constantly refined, and the segmentation styles such as Chinese style old money style, Lengcui new Chinese style, and Huiji new Chinese style begin to appear. In addition, brands also try to combine scientific and technological innovation, such as 3D printing, 5G and AR technology and other emerging technologies, to improve the design diversification and production efficiency of new Chinese clothing. This reflects that consumers are no longer satisfied with the basic wearing needs, but pay more attention to the cultural connotation, design creativity and personalized expression of clothing.

After entering the sunscreen season, the sunscreen market has continued its high popularity in the past two years. The sunscreen clothing in 2024 will be characterized by full range, diversification and versatility. The sunscreen clothing with both fashion and function will be loved by consumers.

The 2024 Sunscreen Clothing Market Social Media Marketing Insight Report shows that consumers are no longer satisfied with the sunscreen function, but pursue more comprehensive protection, such as UV resistance, wind resistance, waterproof, anti sensitive, easy to store, etc. The material, fabric, design and other additional attributes of sunscreen clothing affect consumers' purchase decisions.

The hot "Olympic season" followed the sun protection season, and outdoor sports products have become another "super hot" category.

In 2024, the holding of major sports events such as the Paris Olympic Games, the Asian Cup and the European Championships, as well as the "blessing" of small sports events such as the village supermarket, the village BA and the mini marathon, has driven the national sports craze and added a fire to the hot outdoor sports.

The holding of large and small sports events not only increased the enthusiasm of the public, but also made related products "out of the circle" through marketing keywords such as "Olympic style", "local elements" and "champion elements". Anta, Nike, Adidas, Li Ning and other sports brands have also seized the opportunity to improve brand influence and market share in the form of Olympic themed clothing, cross-border co branding, flash experience stores, live broadcast sales and other forms.

Diversified marketing methods have also promoted the spread of "sports craze". Ordinary people have gone out of their homes to participate in outdoor activities and enjoy nature, further activating the outdoor sports market. According to the official data of Tmall, during the Double 11, 589 outdoor sports brands had a turnover of more than 100 million, up 46.5% year on year. The 28 hour report data of JD's "Double 11" sales also showed that the turnover of sports shoes, clothing, equipment and other categories increased more than five times year on year.

On August 8, fitness enthusiasts ran on the Xin'an Greenway by the Xin'an River in Jiande, Zhejiang Province. That day was the 16th "National Fitness Day" in China. This year's theme is "National Fitness and the Olympic Games". Xinhua News Agency (Photographed by Ning Wenwu)

Near the end of the year, the "ice and snow season", the final stage of the "ice and snow season", made outdoor sports once again popular in the subdivision track of ice and snow equipment. Jingdong consumption observation data shows that the sales of ski related equipment will grow rapidly in 2024, with the sales of ski goggles, ski shoes and snowboards all increasing by more than 80% year on year. "Ice and snow scene" has become a blue ocean for clothing brands to "dig gold".

　　 Marketing creativity blooms in a hundred flowers, and there are various ways of "going out of the circle"

Driven by a number of industry hotspots, events and policies, marketing methods have also begun to innovate and upgrade to meet the current consumer demand. At the same time, clothing enterprises and brands have seen the importance of improving brand value and talking closely with consumers in the fierce market competition.

The marketing creativity in 2024 will focus more on three aspects: brand image building, communication content building, and scenario strengthening experience.

In terms of brand image building, clothing brands pay more attention to the application of Chinese excellent traditional cultural content. The popularity of "new Chinese style" has made brands see the value of oriental aesthetics. Some domestic brands, such as Li Ning, Anta and Bosideng, have integrated Chinese style elements into it, and some international brands, such as LV and GUCCI, have launched limited series integrating Chinese zodiac, intangible cultural heritage elements and other cultural characteristics, which has narrowed the distance with Chinese consumers.

On September 26, the model showed the fashion at the Chuxiong Intangible Cultural Heritage Clothing Fashion Exhibition in Paris, France. Photographed by Gao Jing, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency

In the creation of communication content, clothing brands pay more attention to the two-way empowerment of product attributes and brand value. On the Chinese Valentine's Day in 2024, ubras launched a promotional video called "The Clue of Love", which tells the story of intimate clothing weaving from a single thread, highlighting the soft characteristics of the product and the brand value of caring for the body and the beauty of nature.

It is worth noting that the use of different scenes to enhance the sense of experience is also an important means for clothing brands to strengthen the communication benefits.

Scenarios are mainly divided into online and offline modes in terms of communication channels. On the online side, Little Red Book and LV created the first show "buy as you see" mode, UR moved the big show to the live broadcast room, Zhizhi Women's Wear and Douyin created the "first row show" mode, etc. Offline, for example, outdoor brand BURTON uses naked 3D to show the exciting scene of skiing. This kind of immersive marketing mode brings consumers more intuitive and real experience, and stimulates consumers' purchase desire.

The upgrading of marketing mode and the transformation of consumption demand reflect strong consumption potential, but there are also challenges under the opportunities. There are still many impulsive buying behaviors in the market. Behind this kind of behavior, there are many problems, such as overstock of inventory, online goods that do not meet expectations, quality decline, and rising return rate due to low price competition on e-commerce platforms.

"Compared with the past, consumers may be more cautious when shopping, and the emotional and personalized products will become an important factor affecting decision-making." Yang Dayun, CEO of UTA International Brand Investment Management Co., Ltd. and strategic expert in the clothing industry, believes that brands need to interact effectively with consumers to achieve the transformation of product brands into lifestyle brands.

From the rise of the national tide to drive the development of the "new Chinese style" industry, to the national sports to help the outdoor clothing industry "out of the circle", to the rise of ski derivatives under the "ice and snow economy", clothing enterprises seize the opportunity, but also through creative, personalized marketing methods, to develop more targeted strategies for brand development.

"In the future, garment enterprises need to transform, meet consumers' lifestyle demands and emotional demands, and seize the brand of young consumers will better maintain vitality." Yang Dayun concluded. (By Liu Yinyin)

(Source: Xinhuanet)