Fast fashion, when "slow" is "slow"

In 2012, Li Ning's only branch in Hong Kong closed, and CFO and other senior executives resigned one after another; There is a renewal contract, which is replaced by the fast fashion brand HM; recently, according to media reports, the sports brand giant Adidas has "digged" some talents from fast fashion brands such as HM and ZARA in pursuit of faster response speed.

Four or five years ago, these large sports brands were still the target of investment in commercial real estate projects, and even the initial "heroes" of some very successful shopping malls and commercial districts. However, since 2009, the large-scale invasion of foreign brands represented by fast fashion brands disrupted the original ecology.

In the second fiscal quarter of 2013 (September 2012 to November 2012), Nike's sales in China ranked first in the world with an 11% decline. In the past 10 quarters, Nike has maintained double-digit growth in China for 6 quarters; Adidas' 2013 first quarter financial report showed that its global sales revenue was 3.751 billion euros, a decrease of 2 from 3.824 billion euros in the same period of the previous year. %, of which the sales in Greater China was 409 million yuan, although it increased by 6% over the same period of the previous year, but its growth rate fell sharply from 26% in the previous year.

In stark contrast is the rapid development of fast fashion brands. Many European and American fast fashion brands have entered China in the past few years, occupying almost all core business districts and fashion blocks in first- and second-tier cities in an instant. ZARA is recognized as one of the three most successful brands in the global clothing chain, the other two brands are Japan's UNIQLO (Uniqlo) and Sweden's H&M.

In the latest financial report, China is not only the most profitable market for H&M, but also contributed 70% of the sales growth in the international market and 48% of the total profit growth for Uniqlo. Zara is one of the retailers with the highest store per square meter (average sales per square meter, 1 square = 3.30378 square meters) in the Chinese retail industry.

On the 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek Rich List, only one of the top ten richest people on the list is a fashion industry boss. The ultra-rich is Zara founder Amancio Ortega (Amancio Ortega), ranked third in the world, worth more than Buffett. The society's support for fast fashion can be seen from the boss's market.

The business philosophy of these overseas fast fashion brands fully caters to consumers' fashion-seeking mentality: to dress stylishly and decently, and at a friendly and acceptable price. They allow every ordinary person to experience the most cutting-edge clothing trends, and choose the design philosophy of hiding the Logo while personalizing.

Nowadays, in the context of globalization, fashion has become a feast across borders, and the influence of film is gradually declining. Another scene is more attractive to young people - Milan Fashion Week. The models showed off the next season's fashion items on the runway, and the spotlights shone off the stage. When we are still enjoying the aftertaste on one end of the screen, the fast fashion brands have moved fashion from the T stage to the clothing workshop, copying and mass-producing the latest trendy clothes this year, and hanging them on the window in the shortest possible time.

Take ZARA as an example, its company has nearly 400 designers, these designers are typical trapeze, they are shuttled to various fashion shows in Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo and other fashion capitals at any time. Usually the latest designs of some top brands have just come out, and ZARA will launch imitation fashion items at the fastest speed, and quickly distribute them to stores around the world. For example, if you see the latest 2012 clothes in Paris today, 10 days later, you can buy similar products in the ZARA store in Beijing World Trade Center.

These brands from overseas will change their window displays and main products every week or two on average. The product line covers almost all series in the clothing field, and the style design follows the "international big brand" route. In the context of the slowdown in the global economic growth, the price and fashion sense of fast fashion clothing just caters to many young consumer groups with low incomes, grabbing the sports brand market.

Industry observers pointed out that the "fast fashion" of the clothing industry is not only a business model in a certain field of the clothing industry, but a new consumption concept revolution in the entire clothing field, which is driven by the new consumption concept revolution, A business model change that may soon spread to the entire apparel industry. From the perspective of global trends, the primary driving force behind this unstoppable change is the temptation of "zero inventory" ("zero inventory" refers to reducing inventory to a minimum so that franchisees do not take any inventory risk, a small amount of inventory commodity companies Take it back in a unified way, and then sell it in the form of a discount store). In China's fashion apparel industry, the production-sales ratio is maintained at 60% to 70%, which is a very good level, while ZARA's production-sales ratio is above 85%, and there is almost no inventory pressure.

"Harvard Business Review" bluntly stated that fast fashion is taking the low-end big-name route and imitating the design of top luxury goods. Whenever the economy is in a downturn, there is a new development of affordable fashion, so the fast followers of the trend also have a chance to make a comeback. They use lower prices and "coincidentally similar" designs to easily beat the trend creators . But it is because of this that the popularity of "fast fashion" has also triggered some negative thinking.

First, the "copyright" issue of the design. Some world-renowned fashion brands complained that Inditex (one of the world's four major fashion chains) "plagiarized" their designs, and some brand owners even took Inditex and ZARA to law. However, it is very difficult to investigate such complaints, because similar "fast fashion" brands have made "extremely clever" modifications to "plagiarism" in many cases. However, ZARA has still handed over huge fines for plagiarizing the designs of other brands many times

Second, fast fashion is also encountering the dilemma of "environmental protection". Modern machines, a globalized division of labor, and cheap energy have enabled the apparel industry to meet the growing demands of consumers. Putting together a new outfit is so cheap that clothing has become almost a one-time consumer product. At this time, some people pay that fast fashion is actually a "highly polluting industry": a pair of jeans only sells for 200 yuan. Does this price take into account the impact on the environment during the production process?

A large amount of water is used to make fibers (including 3,000 liters of water to make a pair of jeans from planting to production). The process of dyeing, shipping, and packaging all have a negative impact on the water system, and under the influence of fast fashion, this pair of jeans may only be worn a few times before being thrown into the depths of the closet, and a few years later. Throw it in the trash. With the advent of the era of mass consumerism, more and more single-use items have put enormous pressure on waste disposal. Statistics show that China's current solid waste is growing at a rate of 8% to 10% every year. Although the proportion of clothing in solid waste is not large, its proportion has been rising. Since there are no mature second-hand clothing channels in China, such as vintage clothing stores, second-hand markets, charity shops, etc., it is difficult for consumers to sell old clothes, so they have to discard them.

Third, quality problems occur frequently. The moment the groom knelt down to put a ring on the bride, his trousers suddenly cracked, and the trousers came from a well-known fast fashion brand. In the eyes of many consumers, fast fashion is "first-class design, second-class price, third-class quality". Quality issues are not a new topic for "ZARA". In China alone, it has been on the black list of quality 7 times in two years, and it has also been criticized by consumer associations in Beijing and other places. However, "ZARA" has always been silent. Some people in the industry also said that the quality problem of fast fashion brands is a common problem, and it is a common problem that has not changed after repeated teaching.

If you can get "first-class design" at "second-class prices", even a little lower quality can be tolerated. After all, at a top-notch price is not something most young consumers can afford. And many consumers of fast fashion brand clothing "wear only one season", and the requirements for quality are far weaker than those for design and fashion. Therefore, many consumers have given considerable tolerance to foreign brands with the titles of "design" and "fashion". Even if the quality problems of these brands are repeatedly exposed, they rarely affect sales.

Fourth, "toxic" clothes. The biggest controversy about fast fashion began on November 20, 2012, when the international environmental protection organization Greenpeace released the news on the homepage of its official website that some internationally renowned fast fashion brands used a variety of toxic and harmful substances in the production process. This makes the fashionable clothing with bright surface face the questioning from consumers.

Hot sales are hot sales, and those who are sought after are sought after. None of these halos can cover up the hidden dangers caused by quality problems. Although fast fashion challenges the traditional concept of the clothing industry, it still cannot subvert the basic principles of enterprise development. Qualified product quality is still the bottom line that enterprises and brands must maintain, which has nothing to do with speed or fashion.

In the domestic consumer market, the price of fast fashion is not cheaper than that in Europe, America and Japan. If the gap in income level is taken into account, the price of fast fashion brands is far from the "cabbage price" level that can ignore the quality. . Consumers spend hundreds of yuan to buy a piece of clothing, and will naturally have requirements for quality. As the income of young consumers gradually increases, their consumption concepts and quality awareness will also continue to improve. When facing foreign brands, they should become more rational and their tolerance may be lowered accordingly.

The domestic market still lacks local brands that can compete with "ZARA" and other local brands. The reason why some fast fashion brands take quality criticism calmly is that quality shortcomings have not hurt the key. If there are strong domestic brands to seize the market, the competition will extend to the entire industry chain, and improving quality while controlling costs is the choice that fast fashion brands have to make. Only then can Chinese people enjoy healthier and high-quality products.” Fast fashion" benefits.