In the past 20 years, both fast fashion brands and high-end clothing brands have experienced a stage of rapid development. In the 15 years I have been engaged in the clothing industry, both trading companies and factories have experienced great changes, as shown below.
First, no matter in the international market or in the Chinese market, the most important problem to be solved by major brands is the inventory problem. Among them, the inventory of fast fashion brands is more serious, the state of two-level differentiation is more serious, and 20% of companies are in a profitable state. However, 80% of companies are facing difficult market environment challenges. The inventory has led to difficulties in capital turnover, financing, and sales channels of most companies, You have to be very careful in the face of every step that follows.
Second, with the change of society, people's living standards are constantly improving. For example, in the Chinese market, in the past 20 years, people's living standards have improved. From living needs to psychological needs and identity background needs, people are increasingly demanding for clothes. What to wear at meetings, at home, at parties, or even unwilling to wear the same clothes as others. As a result, the order quantity of the whole clothing industry has decreased from 1000 pieces per style to 300 pieces per style in the past. Such changes are testing brand companies and factories. For brand companies, they need to constantly introduce new designs and solve inventory problems. For factories, factories that can make skirts in the past will also make orders for suits and cotton padded clothes. The scale of the factory is also large. But with the decrease of the order quantity, customers have more stringent requirements on quality, In the future, the factories will be more professional in producing the categories they are good at. The larger the size of the factory, the greater the challenge.
Third, in an era of increasingly homogeneous products, people are increasingly pursuing innovation, which tests a company's R&D and design capabilities, which is also the key to opening the company's distance. A company only focuses on processing, but does not have its own core competitiveness. It is unwise to rely solely on price competition. When R&D capabilities and production capabilities play a role together, it is the advantage to face this challenge.
Fourth, in the face of more sales channel expansion problems, as far as the Chinese market is concerned, enterprises are starting cross-border cooperation. In order to reduce inventory and increase sales, enterprises are constantly expanding their sales channels. Previously, they were mainly physical stores, but now gradually various online platforms and clubs are selling.
Whether designers or clothing companies, only by constantly learning and improving themselves and mastering more market experience can they solve more problems.