Recently, Wuhan’s two major clothing brands “Giovanni” and “Zolme” not only ranked among the top ten women’s clothing sales in the country, but were also listed among the 50 key textile and clothing terminal consumer brands in the country identified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. enterprise.
As the birthplace of Han-style women’s clothing, Wuhan has always been an important light industry production base and distribution center in China. In the 1990s, “Han-style clothing” emerged and became popular across the country. It once occupied 6 of the top 10 women’s clothing brands. This article will focus on local mid-to-high-end women’s clothing brands in Wuhan, and gain a glimpse of the power of local brands from its development path.
The rise of “Han Style Clothing”
is a “leap” in the history of Wuhan’s light industry
The early stage of reform and opening up was the primitive accumulation stage of Wuhan’s clothing enterprises. Wuhan’s garment industry has been prosperous in 2015. The city’s garment enterprises have grown from more than 100 to more than 1,600, with sales revenue reaching 6 billion yuan. With regional advantages, consumer market advantages, and business-led industrial advantages, it has created a “Han style clothing” brand. name.
In the 1990s, many Wuhan department stores, represented by Wushang Group, successively established clothing departments and began to find and guide local powerful clothing brands to enter shopping malls. “Taihe, Yaqi” , Hongren (required area: 50-100 square meters, representative projects: Nanjing Jiangning Golden Eagle Shopping Center, Chengdu Qunguang Plaza, etc.), Aidi, Hexiang, Yuantian, Glacier” and other local women’s clothing are emerging and occupying the market. Major luxury stores are keen to seize a conspicuous position on the first floor. They take the lead in taking the brand route, actively cultivate high-spending customer groups, and accumulate a wave of highly loyal “new rich” fans. The “transformation” of Han style women’s clothing is quickly entering the fast lane. .
During 2014, the government put forward requirements for structural upgrading and brand expansion in Wuhan’s women’s clothing market. It will allocate 20 million yuan of special funds every year to support the brand building and market development of clothing companies. development, financing discounts, etc. The company focuses on high-end processing of women’s clothing and knitted clothing, and comprehensively enhances the high-end women’s clothing brand market in terms of talent introduction, equipment upgrading, and brand promotion, and makes differentiation between brands.
Seize the core business district
Wuhan women’s clothing brands are leading the way
Introducing advanced design talents, focusing on product research and development, improving service levels, focusing on business district location selection, and winning many industry awards. Many brands, such as Giovanni and Red Man, have followed the upgrading of the market and have taken the lead in occupying commercial buildings such as Wushang, New Century Department Store, Zhongnan Commercial Building, and Belle Plaza. They not only occupy major luxury shopping malls, but are also keen to occupy conspicuous positions on the first floor. Their emergence has further revolutionized the women’s clothing consumer market in Wuhan, and each has its own unique style attracting fans with the same philosophy.
Giovanni, praised as a “dark horse” of domestic women’s clothing brands, Its brand design concept incorporates Italian neoclassicism and takes into account the implicitness and modesty of Eastern culture. It was hailed as the “domestic cutting-edge women’s wear” by “China Fashion Times”. Now, it has entered Wushang Plaza, Hanshang 21st Century, Wushang City Olympics Lai and many other shopping malls.
Taihe women’s clothing, which is frequently awarded, has won the “Golden Bridge Award for the National Best-Selling Product”, “China’s Top Ten Women’s Clothing Brands”, and many other awards. In 1997, Taihe invested RMB 20 million bought out a set of five-second prime time ads on CCTV. In 1998, it was rated as “China’s No. 1 Women’s Wear Brand” by the “Industrial and Commercial Times”. At the same time, it acquired the magazine “Chinese and Foreign Clothing” and turned it into “TAHAN”, a powerful The strength of the brand background has established an important position in mid-to-high-end high-end women’s clothing.
As the main target customer group, Hongren Clothing is a women’s clothing brand established by multinational designers, with “classic, elegant and feminine” The style focuses on professional women and creates three series of fashions: light business, light leisure and light luxury.
As one of the top 50 private enterprises supported by the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government, the annual sales revenue of “Red Man” in 2012 could reach 500 million yuan. It was the first to implement a recall system for unqualified products in China to ensure that consumers benefits, which also proves the product strength and social responsibility of its brand.
Multi-dimensional attack
Brands began to save themselves
Wuhan’s time-honored women’s clothing brands are also facing problems such as insufficient brand positioning, serious homogeneity, and lack of a complete industrial supply chain. Facing the market “test”.
Since 2013, under the impact of e-commerce, Chinese clothing companies have begun to close stores. Giovanni “killed Ma Su with tears” and closed 120 stores across the country in one go, shocking the industry. The following year, the company tasted the dividends of e-commerce for the first time. The company’s sales reached 600 million yuan, and online sales exceeded 90 million yuan. Without investment from offline entities, profits greatly exceeded those of physical stores, which also forced the brand to transform.
With the rapid development of TAHAN Taihe Clothing, the value of its brand has become increasingly prominent. However, it fell into a trademark registration dilemma during the golden period of development. In 1995, Wuhan Taihe Clothing Co., Ltd. applied to the National Trademark Office to register the “Taihe” trademark but failed because the trademark had been applied for by a Jiangsu clothing company. Seriously restricting the development of enterprises and the brand value accumulated over many years. The halo of “women’s clothing Taihe TAHAN” has faded, becoming the epitome of the loss of mid-range women’s clothing.
With a struggling attitude
Achieve “two-way rush” with the times
Wuhan It is a city of heroes, and Wuhan’s local brands are also resilient. Despite the vagaries of the market, Wuhan’s women’s clothing brands are still on a steady and steady path.
// 1. Houlang helps revitalize the women’s clothing market
In recent years, Wuhan’s new local women’s clothing original designer brands haveSoaring, MOMIWEI won the Douyin E-commerce China Fashion Influence Brand Award in 2020. FORELE, founded by independent designer Gao Ruixuan, went abroad and opened studios in Melbourne and London, and was sought after by domestic celebrities. Attempt, a national fashion brand that has been copied by celebrities such as Ouyang Nana, has grown into a new force in Wuhan.
//2. Differentiation of materials
Nowadays, the market tends to be homogeneous and the customer groups are more segmented. Some local brands have shed their “civilian, high-quality and low-price” image. Labels, using different brands in fabric materials, show off their manufacturing capabilities on a track with serious homogeneity.
Leader Giovanni uses materials to interpret oriental culture and launches the “Xiangyunsha Series” high-end mulberry silk. At the China International Fashion Week 2020 Spring and Summer Series, the celebrity shows off the “Light of Life” high-end ready-to-wear. The series is in line with high-end fabrics and the materials are differentiated. Zolmei will combine high technology and design technological “three-proof fabrics” that are anti-bacterial, anti-oil, and waterproof for the “Zormei” women’s down jacket launched in winter.
//3. Accurately positioning customer groups and selecting locations is a matter of knowledge
Focusing on quality, maintaining a high-end image through stores, and settling in heavy luxury shopping malls to expand high-end customer groups are its everlasting goals way. Hongren, Giovanni and Zolmei almost occupy the front doors of Wuhan’s mid-to-high-end shopping malls, playing a huge role in their brand influence.
//4. Digital transformation and embracing “new retail”
In terms of policy, Hanpai Clothing leverages the digital economy and strives to achieve revitalization on the new track of live broadcasting. On June 12 this year, the Hanzheng Street e-commerce gathering place – Yunshang·Wuhan International Fashion Center Sky T-stage, Hubei Provincial Internet Business Association Hanpai Clothing Live Broadcast Base was unveiled, and the new Hanpai Clothing Industry Base was officially opened in Yunshang. Keeping up with digitalization shows that Han-style women’s clothing can carry forward its advantages across the country.
It is reported that before digitalization became popular, Hongren took the lead in introducing ERP system and big data management in 2007 as the first step to test the waters of the brand.
Taking advantage of the new retail trend, Giovanni has deployed 300 direct-operated stores across the country offline. In addition to conducting live broadcast promotions on major e-commerce platforms, it also tests cross-border e-commerce through Amazon, Alibaba International Station, eBay, Shopee, AliExpress and other platforms cover Europe and West Asia, bringing about omni-channel business transformation.
//5. Talent cultivation, contribution
Talent cultivation is also a strong core of brand competitiveness. According to statistics, there are 89 universities in Wuhan with more than 1.3 million students, second only to In Beijing, in terms of the brand’s emphasis on talents, Hongren responded to the government’s initiative to retain millions of college students and gave college students a long-term development plan, from job exchange to implementation of job responsibilities.
Summary
As Wuhan enters a new first-tier city, local time-honored high-end women’s clothing companies still need to transform from extensive to refined. Women’s clothing brands have been upgrading towards digitalization, high-end and refinement, and have achieved market breakthroughs and seized the spotlight through brand sharpening, and have ushered in their own “highlight” moment.
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