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The Fate Of The Global Swimsuit Lies In This Obscure Chinese Town.

2019/7/24 10:51:00 0

Swimwear

Miami Beach fashion week, the world's largest swimsuit event, came to a close on 15 July, and more than 1000 brands showed their swimsuits to 7500 potential buyers at the fair. In the same week, manufacturers in the coastal city of Xingcheng quietly produced about 4 million swimsuits.

The city of Xingcheng, Beijing Province, which is 6 hours away from Liaoning, has only about 500 thousand people. It does not see Miami's prosperity. The description of Lonely Planet is that "the edge of the city is messy," and "the beach and the calm sea are quite passable". However, this city has become the global swimsuit manufacturing center. Bikini shaped awning above the two spacious open-air theaters on Bikini square shows the city's new identity.

30 years ago, Xingcheng was only a fishing village. There were 20 family workshops producing swimsuits. In 2010, it was awarded the title of "China swimsuit capital" by the China Federation of textile industry and the China clothing association. However, it has only begun to dominate the world swimsuit production in recent years.

"It took us 30 years to achieve the sales target of 5 billion yuan," Li Haifeng, President of the Xingcheng swimsuit Industry Association, told China Daily. But with the help of electronic commerce, we have increased this figure by two times in 3 years. "

"The local government has introduced a series of policies to foster e-commerce. Today, there are more than 36000 swimwear shops in Xingcheng, which sell swimsuits to more than 140 countries and regions across the world through cross-border e-commerce platforms," said Bokuan Chen, a data analyst at DX consulting.

Xingcheng has more than 1200 swimsuit manufacturers and employs over 100 thousand people. Its products are mainly sold on websites such as Taobao, Tmall, Jingdong and Amazon. In 2018, a total of more than 200 million swimsuits were sold in Xingcheng, generating a total income of 15 billion yuan. Li Haifeng said that the city "contributed 80% of China's online swimsuit sales and 25% of the global swimsuit market."

Manufacturers in Xingcheng have been dominant in the domestic market. According to Liu Xiaojun, vice mayor of Xingcheng, the city swimsuit industry earned $1 billion 870 million in 2015, of which only 80 million US dollars (4.27%) were exported.

During the recent 6.18 online shopping festival in China, Balneaire defeated other local brands such as Yu you, Yu Ke and Lining, and won the swimsuit sales champion. The latter three sold 1 million 450 thousand swimsuits in Taobao and Tmall last month. Balneaire's Amazon online shop displays its Italian style bathing suit, as well as its stores in the United States, Spain, Dubai and Australia. These swimsuits are all made in Xingcheng, and the distance from that little place to St. Paul's is 20 times that of Pyongyang.

  Places under the sun

The success of Balneaire can be attributed to two points, one is the marriage with foreign design, the other is the understanding of the domestic market. As far as the former is concerned, it has two design teams in Milan. For the latter, the taste of the domestic market, especially the mass production end, is quite different from that of the international market.

China lacks the mass base of beach culture. Although there are differences in data among provinces, on average, 80%-90% Chinese do not swim. Until the last generation, swimming pools and beach vacations were still patented by a few privileged classes. This means that today's young consumers, especially the post-90s and the 00 generation, are the first to learn to swim in their families.

Of course, there are many famous beaches in China, especially in the northeastern cities of Dalian and Qingdao (in the peak season, there are only 40 thousand people in Dalian every day). However, the growth of outbound tourists is the main force to change the trend of bathing suit market.

Nevertheless, most Chinese tourists do not choose easy "flying down" beach holidays, even those who go to the tropics.

On the contrary, Nelson's (Nielson) market research shows that Chinese tourists pay more attention to shopping when they travel (this is probably 3 times the cost of other countries' tourists), natural landscapes, historical monuments and theme parks, and beaches are at the top end of the list.

The most commonly used search term for Chinese female consumers when choosing swimsuits is "conservative".

This fact is reflected in the style of men's and women's bathing suits. In June, sales of tight swimming trunks on Taobao and Tmall (908306 pieces) were more than 4 times that of men's beach pants sold for surfing (203641 pieces). According to market data company Edited, although the bikini accounted for 68% of the global female swimsuit, only 147660 sold on Taobao and Tmall, representing 1/10 of the 1384307 swimsuits sold over the same period.

Bokuan Chen believes that the Chinese swimsuit is more popular than bikini because of its conservative culture and preference for fair skin. In addition, skirts are very popular because Chinese women think skirts are more slender. Indeed, Jingdong data show that the most commonly used search term for Chinese female consumers in swimming suits is "conservative".

Overseas opportunities

Despite the potential disadvantages of design styles, foreign popular brands are investing more in China.

Kayla Marci of Edited said: "compared with the same period last year, the swimwear styles of Zara and H&M brands in the United States and Britain have decreased in the past three months." But in China, "H&M launched 120 products in 2018, and this year it launched 233 models, an increase of 94.2%".

These businesses aim at China's new generation of young middle class. They are willing to spend money on international travel, pay attention to self investment and quality of life, and lead the Chinese people to pursue the trend of health. The understanding of beauty has shifted from traditional "white, thin, beautiful" (fair skinned, slender, beautiful) to a more positive and internationalized way of life.

Helen Tang, 27, is a representative of China's new generation of consumers. She is a fitness trainer in Shanghai. She has muscular muscles and wheat skin. She often travels to tropical areas like Thailand. She likes to show her body shape that she tries to build.

"I am a real bikini fan. Most of my bikini were bought on Taobao. I like this kind of figure that can show the figure. The classic style that Chinese women usually choose to wear is too tight. She said with a smile.

Although consumers like Helen Tang are still few, they offer opportunities for high-end swimsuit brands both at home and abroad. The target customers of these brands are the Chinese who like to travel, because this group is often richer and more international.

For the right foreign brands, Chinese people have huge business opportunities for swimsuit's special preferences. The brand Marysia, which was founded in 2009 and is based in Losangeles and also participated in the Miami swimsuit exhibition, is an example. The brand's founder, surfer and former ballet dancer, Marysia Dobrzanska Reeves, said: "Chinese people's preferences are very much in line with the characteristics of our brands. Our female conjoined swimsuit is popular in the world, which is a good proof that this swimsuit has a large share in our sales performance. We hope that these styles will also perform well in China.

In addition to sales in the high-end chain corporation Lane Crawford, which is headquartered in Hongkong, Marysia settled in China in July 15th this year through the WeChat store.

Bokuan Chen said: "in addition to summer, some consumers will also buy swimsuits for holiday trips during holidays such as Spring Festival and golden week. According to my observation, Chinese tourists' favorite holiday resorts are islands and coastal areas. Of course, there are no swimsuits in those places. "

Swimsuits and resorts are a way of life, which is increasingly attractive to Chinese young consumers with international tastes and spending power.

In 2018, the number of Chinese citizens outbound tourism was nearly 150 million, consuming 120 billion US dollars. According to data from Ctrip, a travel service provider in China, nearly half of the outbound destinations are beaches or islands. Australia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore receive more than 10 million Chinese tourists every year. 20% of tourists contribute 80% of overseas consumption, which indicates that the wealthy in China can afford to burn.

Of course, many Chinese consumers will choose to buy a more competitive domestic brand bathing suit before they go to the beach.

But Reeves said she was not worried about it.

"Marysia is a luxury brand in swimsuit industry," she said. We have no intention to compete with locally produced swimsuits.

But swimsuit brands in Xingcheng do not limit their positioning to cheap products. Balneaire is a good example. The price of the brand bathing suit on Tmall has ranged from 108 yuan (16 US dollars) to 2688 yuan (US $390), almost catching up with Marysia, which sells for 440 dollars on the Lane Crawford website.

For overseas businessmen who want to seize market share, the key is not price, not even style, but the idea. Swimsuits and resorts are more of a way of life, and this lifestyle is increasingly attractive to young Chinese consumers who are internationally aware, willing to give superior impressions and experience.

Source: BOF Author: Sam Gaskin Casey Hall

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