Text | Yao Lan Edited by | Qiao Qian
In 1977, space engineer Rudy walked into a Nike conference room with a pair of "air cushions that seem to have been transported from the 22nd century." He told Nike CEO Phil Knight that he had come up with a way to "inject air into his sneakers."
Humans have been wearing shoes since the Ice Age, and the basic design of shoes has not changed much in the past 40,000 years. To Knight at the time, "air cushion shoes" were like jetpacks and moving walkways, something that only appeared in comics.
With suspicion, he wore these shoes and ran for 10 kilometers, and finally the "feeling of emptiness" on his feet prompted him to buy the patent for the technology. Two years later, Nike's first Air Tailwind equipped with air cushion technology was launched, and a generation of legends began.
Image source: Network
In the following 40 years, Nike has successively launched a series of midsole cushioning technology products represented by Max Air, Zoom, ZoomX, Lunar, React, etc. It can be said that relying on the industry position laid by the exclusive technology of air cushions, Nike has been able to maintain stable and sustained growth for decades.
Cushioned shoes are to Nike what fleece sweaters are to Uniqlo.
As one of the "Top 100 Inventions of the 20th Century" selected by Time Magazine, early fleece was mostly used in the production of high-priced outdoor clothing, and its manufacturing technology was also monopolized by the United States.
In 1998, Uniqlo, which had just completed the transformation of the SPA model (referring to the integrated business model in which enterprises participated in the whole process of commodity planning, production, logistics, sales and other industrial links), launched the first homemade fleece garment, which was priced at only one-fifth of the Us woolen wool, and sold 2 million pieces in the first year alone. By 2000, 12 million fleece shirts were planned to be sold, and 26 million were sold directly, making it the most popular product in Japan at that time.
Starting with fleece, UNIQLO began to cooperate with well-known fiber manufacturers such as Toray to develop functional fabrics, and "sense of technology" became an important label for Uniqlo.
"From the perspective of the development history of international giants, functionality has always been a very important selling point in the footwear industry." Cai Weijian, head of the Peak Innovation Plant, told 36Kr.
More up-and-coming stars are also confirming this.
Lululemon, which has set off a marginal revolution in the field of yoga clothing, has a market value of nearly 40 billion US dollars, approaching the veteran giant Adidas; Allbirds, known as "the most comfortable shoe in the world", was listed at the end of last year, and "environmental protection" is the key word in its prospectus; the running shoe brand On Ang, which was founded in 2020 and endorsed by Swiss tennis superstar Federer, swept the sports circle... Material innovation, which focuses on "functionality + sustainability", has become the secret of the upgrading of the footwear industry.
In this article, 36Kr tries to answer the following questions:
1. Why is "functionality + sustainability" becoming an important direction for shoe and apparel innovation?
2. What challenges do you face in applying new materials and new technologies to the footwear industry?
3. In the face of the iron curtain of giants, what opportunities can domestic brands seize?
"Roll", the source of shoe and clothing innovation?
For many years, China's footwear industry to the low-end OEM mainly, domestic sports brands at the beginning of the establishment of the lack of resources, it is difficult to do extremely risky R & D innovation, more is low-end imitation. But in recent years, the rise of domestic brands has changed this situation.
"Li Ning finished the show in New York in 18 years, this wave of national tide coupled with the Background of sino-US trade war, a new generation of young consumers are looking forward to domestic sports brands." When the public opinion potential of the whole society accumulates to a point, but whenever there is a brand that comes up with technology that can be compared with the leading European and American brands in the past in terms of performance, young people will not hesitate to choose to support. A head sports shoes and apparel brand product innovation person in charge said.
Image source: Visual China
The trend of fashion is unpredictable, and the barriers to innovation in packaging and marketing are not high. Practitioners in this industry have realized that the product differentiation brought about by material and process innovation has a better chance to bring up a brand (far away from Nike, Uniqlo, and recently lululemon, Archaeopteryx, Disanter, etc.) and make it fundamentally capable of crossing cycles.
"It is difficult for the clothing industry to see too many entrepreneurial projects in the direction of design, but functionality is a quantifiable, more objective, and easier to commercialize thing," Bi Yiran, founder of the functional clothing brand UPPERVOID, which cuts from the outdoors, told 36Kr, "The industry is too rolled, forcing new brands to pay attention to fabrics and do some real innovation." ”
Due to the large investment in the early stage of fabric research and development, whether it can make money in the end, big brands will hesitate, which gives new brands the opportunity. "Once you can make a technology into a housekeeping skill and occupy the category mind, you have the opportunity to overtake in the corner."
In addition to business, another layer of impetus for the development of material science and technology comes from environmental protection.
The epidemic has deeply raised human awareness of their own vulnerability, and people hope that brands will do more in environmental protection and social responsibility, especially for the fashion industry, the world's second largest polluting industry.
The "blood" of the global footwear and apparel industry is oil. According to Quantis' 2018 analysis, about 57 percent of footwear and 64 percent of clothing are made from synthetic materials, which are mainly plastics, which are made from petroleum-refined products.
Raw materials are extracted from oil and made into clothes, which consumers wear several times and usually throw them in the trash. After that, it may face two fates: one is landfill or incineration, and the other is recycling, making lower value-added textiles, such as sock mops and mop, etc., and the final fate is the first. Looking at the production and processing end, it involves spinning, weaving, dyeing, garments, etc., which will also produce a lot of pollution.
A report titled "The Fashion on Climate" notes that the global fashion industry generated about 2.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, equivalent to 4% of the global total, and equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of France, Germany and the United Kingdom; a report by Tianfeng Securities shows that China produced more than 24 billion pairs of shoes and sold 180 billion pieces of clothing in 2019.
From the perspective of the brand side, emphasizing low carbon and environmental protection, in addition to harvesting brand premium and consumer goodwill, is also naked commercial competition - to some extent, the emergence of an emerging material is the negation of old materials.
"When we push plant-based materials, some advertising slogans stimulate their counterparts who do petroleum-based materials, and they will call directly and ask if they can stop talking to the market." The person in charge of a sports brand product told 36Kr that "the head companies are spending money to educate the market without hesitation, and once the public accepts it, this matter itself is a high barrier to competition." ”
For footwear and apparel companies, the application of new materials to achieve "functionality + sustainability", no matter what level of consideration, has become a must for development.
In fact, supply chain vendors in this area have taken the lead in benefiting.
Founded in 1977 in Taiwan, Ruhong, taiwan, is a fabric and garment processing business (weaving - dyeing and finishing - stereotyping - garment) production enterprises, since the transformation of functional fabric development, quickly achieved a surge in performance and valuation, the market value in 8 years from 2 billion yuan to 25 billion yuan, after the epidemic is the highest rise to 40 billion yuan.
Today, the tech company with more than 380 developers offers up to 3,000 new fabrics to the market each year, serving international brands such as Nike, Puma, Champion, lululemon and more. Among them, Lululemon's famous original iconic yoga fabric Luon is developed in cooperation with Ru Hong.
Image source: lululemon official public account
Shoes and clothing "plot change" must pass these two levels
However, the application of new materials to the footwear industry still faces two challenges:
First of all, how to identify the real needs of consumers.
"Consumer goods are not the same as the technology industry, for example, a new generation of mobile phones, we will want to last longer, the screen is clearer, the use of no card, in other words, consumers can accurately describe their needs; but if it is to buy a new generation of clothing, consumers can not say how to make it progress," Bi Yiran told 36Kr.
UPPERVOID once contacted a Swiss fabric supplier, the other side developed a black fabric that does not absorb heat, and the clothing made will be very comfortable to wear in the summer, "but before the birth of this product, consumers will not suddenly come to ask, do you have black non-absorbent clothes?" ”
From the perspective of selection, this actually has an element of "gambling".
Bai Xiaot founder Daniel Zhang once gave an example: a few years ago, some clothing companies implanted the circuit board in the flexible screen into the clothes, which is equivalent to hanging a super large charging treasure on the clothes, which can continue to heat up in winter and improve cold protection. "It sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't sell well in the end because no one can carry a big battery all day long."
In Bi Yiran's view, fabric research and development still has to find something unchanged in the midst of change, "for example, the outdoor is the worst of all clothing use scenarios, its primary need is to wear, we will look for some new materials from rocks and even metals, because plastic will pollute, wood will decay, but hundreds of years ago gold and silver bronze can still be used." ”
Even if a material is perfect, it does not mean that it is suitable for use in products.
September, founder of the main plant-based children's clothing brand, told 36Kr, "PA56 (nylon 56) can currently be extracted from plants, it will be softer and stronger, but if it is to be used for commercialization, the price is an issue, and mass production requires a cycle." "At what point in time do you want to cut into the market and lead the market, it needs to be considered."
Second, there is a mismatch in talent resources.
Most of the innovations in this wave of new materials for shoes and clothing occur at the intersection of disciplines, which puts forward higher requirements for practitioners.
For example, the application of a new type of man-made fiber, from weaving into color cloth, weaving and adjusting machines, dyeing and shaping, fabric storage, to garment factory pre-shrinkage, version adjustment, printing and cutting, all links need to be conquered by the brand side and with various suppliers, and the whole process will be closer to the development logic of scientific and technological products than the development logic of traditional fashion brands.
"Teams need professionals who have a clear understanding of the front, middle, and back end of the link, and have strong communication and coordination skills, otherwise these innovative projects will only end up." Cai Weijian said.
On the one hand, there is growing demand, but on the other hand, there is a growing shortage of talent supply.
"For example, those well-known outdoor brands abroad, you will find that the founders themselves are often senior players, and they chose this industry because of their heartfelt love," Bi Yiran told 36Kr. But in China, "I really can't find a job in this business."
Li Kang also said that the current "industry-university-research" linkage of China's footwear industry is not doing well, and it can even be said to be superficial.
Previously, his company had arranged for a part-time doctor to give lectures for the team, but the other party's attitude was not serious, and the teaching effect could be imagined. "Some colleges and universities have been broken, and the wall in front of the school has 100 companies' logos, saying that these 100 companies are related to him", in Li Kang's view, this is more like a kind of propaganda and platform, "How can a professor be involved in so many projects at the same time?" How much real support can this participation give to the enterprise? ”
There does not seem to be an absolute standard answer to how the line of industry-academia research should go. In this regard, Du Bin, founder of the functional sports brand OMG, also gave his own views:
In her view, many university topics are often "shelved" after successful research and development, application for invention patents (even national invention patents), and utility model patents, and it is difficult to transfer them from universities. Her practice is to cooperate with specific universities on a regular basis every year to directly translate and apply the latest scientific research results of institutions.
In addition, they will also cooperate with the National Textile Fabric Museum, "The role of the National Textile Fabric Museum is to introduce the best new materials and new technologies in the world to The country, and at the same time to recommend the good new materials and new technologies in China to foreign countries." ”
Du Bin believes that although domestic head sports brands such as Li Ning and Anta will also introduce new technologies through similar channels, everyone will compete on the same stage, but the advantage of the new brand is that it is small in size and fast in response.
In Bi Yiran's view, the new brand is responsible for providing demand and direction, universities and supply chain links are responsible for research and development, coupled with the support of venture capital, all three are indispensable. In this way, UPPERVOID, which was established for one year, has obtained 4 utility patents and 1 invention patent.
Black Tech's Curve Overtaking: Those "Tiny but Extreme" Opportunities
The most important thing in the consumer market is the endless stream of new concepts, which are hard-core innovations and which are marketing hype?
36Kr found in the visit and research: in addition to functionality and environmental protection, new brands almost without exception have chosen "comfortable body feeling" as a breakthrough direction.
Huang Wei, senior director of Xtep Innovation R&D Center, made an image analogy: "Everyone is talking about black technology, but what is black technology?" Can experience is called black technology, a thousand words is not as good as a second of experience, consumers bought your products, through a few days after the discovery and publicity of the same, you in his heart is black technology. ”
Pang Xiaomin also repeatedly emphasized a point of view to 36Kr, the new brand instead of competing with nike, Adidas and other big brands in basketball, football, running and other sports scenarios, it is better to launch a "middle-value product" with comfortable, fashionable and light sports attributes for young users who are "lazy and efficient" to meet their daily needs for cross-scene free switching, and obtain the most use time with maximum applicability.
Because of this, we have seen categories such as sports outdoors, underwear, and close-fitting outerwear becoming more and more active in material technology innovation.
For example, in order to solve the embarrassing displacement of the chest pad during exercise and the washing problem after exercise, MAIA ACTIVE ("Maya") this year launched the integrated cup "Unplugged Pad BRA" high-strength series that fits the breast shape of Asian women, and the cup adopts a dot-like breathable process to accelerate heat dissipation, while having a high-strength shockproof effect; on the other hand, the front zipper design includes a safety buckle, which can solve the "pain of wearing and taking off" before and after exercise.
Yuan Wei, founder of COCOFIT, believes that in the direction of elastic comfort, the production capacity of nylon 66, adjusted polyester fiber and new spandex fiber have different material innovation application opportunities; warmth is a centralized track for continuous fiber/fabric innovation; there are also many alternative technological innovation opportunities in the direction of aerogel, man-made fiber and natural fiber blended materials.
"Our entire R&D orientation is about comfort." Huang Wei told 36Kr that "planting a red flag" in the field of professional running is the top priority of Xtep, and to reflect professionalism in this field, it is necessary to solve the problem of "humid heat comfort" - running is strenuous exercise, sweating more after exercise, and the body will go through the process of heating up and then cooling - this problem will be studied thoroughly, and the functional value and emotional value of the product will also be there.
Bi Yiran also told 36Kr that UPPERVOID never intends to be a "flat replacement", but to meet the "new outdoor crowd" that pursues comfort more. "Professional outdoor brands, considering the waterproof problem, will make the shoes and clothes very hard and wear-resistant." And our users can give up some wear resistance, but ask for more 'soft'. The wear-resistant fabric is very thick because it is very thick, and it is very simple to make waterproof. But thin, soft fabrics are difficult to make waterproof, and this is also the direction we are breaking through. ”
Adhere to the innovative direction of "functionality + sustainability" and come up with the spirit of creating the ultimate single product - this is probably the biggest difference between the new generation of footwear brands and traditional giants in terms of concept.
Born in Vancouver, Canada, Lululemon shows the legendary story of how a "niche brand" grew up from the gap between the sportswear duo: although the market value once shrank seriously due to management misrepresentation, product quality and design problems, and even on the verge of bankruptcy, by 2018, lululemon has grown at a much higher rate than its peers, creating an investment myth of ten times the market value in ten years, and since the beginning of 2018, Lululemon's stock price rose from $70 to $280, a three-fold increase in 4 years.
Lululemon's secret is excellent marketing, successful category expansion, and product innovation that cannot be ignored through material innovation.
At the beginning of lululemon's establishment, yoga clothes generally had problems such as poor comfort, poor perspiration, and lack of closeness, and lululemon's new fabric solved these problems, making women practicing yoga feel nude and skin-friendly.
Opportunities like this "tiny but extreme" may be the starting point for the birth of new faces of Chinese footwear brands in the next 5 to 10 years.