In the past year or so, some changes in the Hanfu industry have caused some hesitation among those who once predicted that Hanfu would break out of the industry and become regular clothing and go to the public.
In mid-2021, the old Hanfu brand Lan Ruoting posted on Weibo that it was reorganizing its brand, and its Taobao store was also closed; in mid-January this year, there were many Amway Huajianxi articles on Xiaohongshu Posted on the blog and decided to close the store; in March, Yijin Jiudu Hanfu, which was called a “cabbage store” by Hanfu enthusiasts because of its high cost performance, also announced its decision to officially close its stores and clear out its stores, as well as Lihuadu, Tangchuanji, etc. In addition to these well-known brands in the industry, some small Hanfu stores have quietly withdrawn.
There are some who are pessimists for a while, and there are also those who are still firmly optimistic.
Leave aside the support and love for Hanfu culture, and look at this industry calmly. From a spurt of consumption to an orderly market advancement, the Hanfu industry is going through a process from disorder to order. , in this process there will inevitably be growth slowdown and survival of the fittest.
01
Only love is not enough
Different from other clothing categories, the original intention of many Hanfu brands is not so much commercial behavior, but It’s because of love. These entrepreneurs were not originally businessmen.
In 2016, a girl born in the 1990s named “Xiao Dou Kao’er” (whose real name is Lian Yuxin) created the Hanfu brand “Shi San Yu”. At first, Xiao Dou Kaoer only shared her tutorials on ancient costume updos on Weibo and Bilibili, which received high views. Later, she came up with the idea of opening an online store because of her love for Hanfu. After several twists and turns in the following years, we also experienced the hardships of high cost, inconsistent styles, material problems, a large number of negative reviews, debts, etc. However, along the way, we also gained the recognition and following of a large number of Hanfu fans, and finally stood firm. Steady footing.
Another Hanfu brand “Qichuji” was founded in 2019 by several college students. Due to its fresh and everyday design style and relatively affordable prices, it is well-known in the Hanfu circle. It is so popular that fans of Qichuji often post their mix and match of products and daily clothing on Xiaohongshu.
In 2021, these two brands will usher in completely different destinies. Shisanyu announced that it had completed a Series A financing of over 100 million yuan, and its investors even included the well-known Bilibili and Bubble Mart; and Qichuji, because several founders got their favorite offers after graduation and went their separate ways. , and announced the closure of the store.
Perhaps this is the true portrayal of many Hanfu founders and start-up brands. This is a circle that gathers because of love. Some people stick to the original intention of creating a brand, some people gradually lose sight of it after experiencing it, and some people leave sadly due to lack of preparation for commercialization… Obviously, for a product to achieve industrial development, only love is the key. If it is not enough, how to further expand the scope of influence of Hanfu culture and achieve industry-wide scale effects is a problem that every Hanfu brand and related clusters are facing today.
02
Capital injection, reshaping of order
After the rise of Hanfu culture, more capital began to end, and their initiatives and changes were from another angle Promoting the development of Hanfu industry.
Caoxian County, nicknamed the “Center of the Universe”, is the largest production place for performance costumes in my country. The epidemic in 2020 caused many performances to be interrupted, and the performance costume market collapsed. Caoxian County’s transformation is imminent, and Hanfu has become a new breakthrough .
Today, Caoxian’s Hanfu sales account for one-third of the country’s total. There are more than 2,000 Hanfu and upstream and downstream related companies in the county, and there are nearly 100,000 local Hanfu industry practitioners. Although it has developed so rapidly, there were many problems caused by extensive management in the early stage. The Hanfu industry in Caoxian County has been criticized for its lack of leading brands, lack of brands, and early copycat copycats.
However, this phenomenon gradually pressed the “pause button” under the attention of the Cao County Government. Currently, Cao County is constructing the second phase of E-Shang Town and the third phase of Daji Town E-commerce Industrial Park. In addition, a non-governmental organization called the “Cao County Hanfu Association” is also making preparations in an orderly manner with the assistance of the government. With the support of various policy dividends, Cao County has gradually attached great importance to originality. The government has taken the lead in recruiting a large number of design talents. Many local business owners are trying to activate various possibilities for industrial development. In Cao County, the industrialization and clustering of the Hanfu industry continue to advance. A complete Hanfu industry chain is forming from creative design, raw materials, styles, plate making, printing, production to e-commerce sales and after-sales.
There are industrial clusters that start from production, and there are also industrial clusters that start from culture. Chengdu is the most representative one. As the largest Hanfu consumer city in China, Chengdu also has strong brand strength. In the list of “Top 10 Chinese Hanfu Brands in 2021”, Chengdu has 4 exclusive seats, namely Rumeng Nishang, Zhong Lingji, Ducheng Nanzhuang and Return to the Han and Tang Dynasties.
Leveraging the depression effect of Chengdu’s concentration of brands and consumption, in August 2020, the local government began to build “Chishangjin” integrating culture, industry, commerce, and tourism in the core area of Hehuachi business district. Hanfu specialty industrial district was officially opened in October last year.
In addition to gathering the leading brands of Hanfu across the country, this block also plans to use the fashion resources of Hanfu-related design, display, and research institutions to build a Chinese The largest Hanfu industry cluster has built the neighborhood into a well-known cultural and creative brand domestically and internationally.
Although Hanfu’s current business model is not yet mature, it is still based on�The scale is mainly self-produced and sold, but there are also limitations due to factors such as limited channels, small order quantities, complex processes and low profits, lack of authoritative industry standards, and copycat problems.
However, the entry of more local governments and commercial capital is laying a solid foundation for the development of Hanfu. We believe that the current shock is just a process of deep adjustment in the industry. The rise of an industry often requires both top-level coordination to “strategize” and bottom-level patience to “plan slowly”. The Hanfu market is on its way.
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