Anta joins the yogmy dogfight

When Lululemon surpassed Adidas as the second sportswear brand with a pair of 1,000-yuan yoga pants, it may not be difficult to predict that brands will join the mixed battlefield in the yoga wear market. On October 16, ANTA Sports announced that an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the company entered into certain sale and purchase agreements with certain shareholders of Maiya Garments (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Maiya") on October 13, 2023. Pursuant to the sale and purchase agreement, the transferor conditionally agreed to sell Maiya's 75.13% equity interest and ANTA conditionally agreed to purchase such equity interest. Anta is not the first brand to enter the yoga market, when the market scale continues to expand, many sports brands enter the market to get a piece of the pie, the yoga clothing market melee has gradually begun.

Take what you need

The acquisition is a matter of mutual need.

According to the announcement, upon completion of the acquisition, Maiya (and its subsidiaries) will become an indirect non-wholly-owned subsidiary of ANTA Sports, and the remaining shareholders will be granted the right to sell their remaining equity interests to the transferee on an agreed pricing basis.

According to public information, Maiya was established in 2016, the legal person is Ouyiro, with a registered capital of 18.4721 million yuan, operating the sportswear brand "MAIA ACTIVE" business designed for Asian women. In the seven years since its establishment, the brand has obtained multiple rounds of financing led by Sequoia Capital, Chinese Culture, China Innovation Capital and Belle International.

It is reported that the founder of MAIA ACTIVE issued an article for this cooperation: MAIA's vision from day one is to help more Asian women fall in love with sports, look and feel better... I am honored to join ANTA Group and hope that with the support of the Group, MAIA can enter the next stage and continue to bring a better sports experience to Chinese women.

For the acquisition, the relevant person in charge of Anta did not give more reply, only saying that "the announcement information shall prevail". According to the announcement disclosed by ANTA, the acquisition is to supplement its women's business. "This acquisition complements the Women's segment of the Group and strengthens the Group's ability to offer a range of products that meet the needs of our customers, further strengthening the Group's brand portfolio."

At the level of women's sports business represented by yoga pants, ANTA previously released strategic goals for the next 5 years in July 2021, proposing to deeply develop women's sports categories, take women's favorite sports as the core, develop and design new sports aesthetic women's categories with both technology and beauty, and the turnover scale of ANTA women's categories in 2025 is close to 20 billion yuan. This acquisition may be just the beginning for ANTA.

Cheng Weixiong, a brand management expert in the footwear and apparel industry and founder of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., said that the acquisition shows that ANTA's vision has been pulled back from the international perspective and began to pay attention to domestic emerging brands, especially the newly emerging sports brands in the female market, which helps make up for the shortcomings of ANTA's main brand in women's sports categories when it competes with international big brands such as Nike and Adidas.

Increased competition

When it comes to yoga pants, most consumers, especially female consumers who are keen on yoga, first think of Lululemon, the originator of yoga pants. In the past two years, with a pair of thousand-yuan yoga pants, Lululemon has risen at a considerable speed, and its market value has even surpassed the sports giant Adidas and jumped to become the second largest sports brand.

According to the financial report, in the second quarter of fiscal 2023, Lululemon's net revenue increased by 18% year-on-year to US$2.2 billion, of which the net revenue of the North American business increased by 11% and the net revenue of the international business increased by 52%. Specific to the Chinese market, Calvin McDonald, CEO of Lululemon, previously said in the earnings call: "In the Chinese market, our brand continues to be widely recognized, and revenue increased by 61%. ”

More public data shows that in June 2022, Lululemon's market value exceeded $50 billion, once surpassing the German sports brand giant Adidas.

In terms of the current overall market size, yoga has developed rapidly in China, becoming the second largest exercise for women after running. In this context, the yoga industry has ushered in rapid growth, with an annual growth rate of 37.8% in the past 5 years. In 2021, the mainland yoga clothing market reached 32.21 billion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan by 2025.

As the size of the market continues to expand, more and more players are entering the game. The melee in the yogic apparel market is intensifying.

In 2020, Danskin, Li Ning's high-end women's sportswear brand, launched sports underwear, yoga pants, sports jackets, etc., to enter the field of yoga clothing. Nike launched its first yoga collection in January 2019. In January 2020, Nike launched the Infinalon yoga collection, which focuses on women's yoga clothing; In April of the same year, the Nike Yoga series was launched again. Adidas announced in June 2021 the launch of a new yoga product line to join the market to share the cake.

In addition, there are women's brands Lorna Jane, Alo Yoga; As well as the newly emerging domestic sportswear brands such as Keep, Particle Mania, Runaway Loli, Maia Active and other emerging domestic sportswear brands have launched their own yoga pants products, wanting to get a piece of this prosperous market.

In Cheng Weixiong's view, the layout of brands such as Anta in this vertical market is to further leverage the position of the head brand represented by Lululemon in the domestic market. It is undeniable that the entry of various professional sports brands is gradually increasing the development pressure of Lululemon. Lululemon also previously said in the earnings report that Adidas, Nike, Puma, Under Armour, Columbia and others have direct competition with it.

In the view of Wu Daiqi, CEO of Shenzhen Siqisheng Company, for these segments, the first-mover brand does have certain advantages. If a vertical field already has good products and brands, it is difficult to shake in a short period of time. Anta entering this market segment through mergers and acquisitions will pose more pressure and challenges to some small and medium-sized brands.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Guo Xiujuan Zhang Junhua