680 million sold real estate to return blood, why did Metersbonwe fall to this?

In order to revitalize assets and reduce liabilities, on December 4, "Meibang Clothing" issued an announcement that it was ready to sell its store near Chunxi Road in Chengdu to Ningbo Youngor for 680 million yuan.

In the past few years, the debt of "Meibang Apparel" has been accumulating, once exceeding 10 billion, and now, it is paying off its debts by selling a large number of stores and shares.

Once upon a time, the brand "Metersbonwe" under the brand of "Meibang Clothing" was once popular all over the country.

The slogan of "not taking the usual path", coupled with the endorsement of Jay Chou, was once sought after by many students.

Even the idol drama "Let's Watch the Meteor Shower" has lines about Metersbonwe:

Duanmu took me to Metersbonwe, and he picked out a lot of clothes and shoes. I don't even know who the girl is when I look in the mirror.

Time is like a wild donkey, running non-stop.

The girl has grown up, and Metersbonwe looks old...

In 1995, the first Metersbonwe store opened in Wenzhou, and on the opening day, it was "unusual" - the owner Zhou Chengjian rolled out all the red carpet on Wenzhou Wuma Street and went straight to the Metersbonwe store.

The name Metersbonwe means "beautiful and special here, raising the prestige of the continental state".

At that time, many people who sold clothing were tailors, and Zhou Chengjian was no exception.

At the age of 14, he learned to make clothes from his relatives, and later opened a small factory in Wenzhou, mainly supplying local clothing wholesalers.

Picking up work during the day and cutting at night, Zhou Chengjian's days are also steady.

However, an accident forced him into the path of a businessman.

Once he received a list of suits, but when cutting, Zhou Chengjian drew the wrong size, resulting in a large shortening of the sleeves of this batch of suits, and he was scolded by the customer so much that he was bloody, and the other party also asked him to compensate more than 100,000 yuan.

In the 90s of the last century, hundreds of thousands of dollars was not a small amount, Zhou Chengjian, in order to cover up his mistakes, thought of a way, bought another fabric to stitch the sleeves, made jacket sleeves, and asked customers to try to sell it.

"If you can sell it, you can sell it, and if you can't sell it, I will pay for the loss myself. ”

Unexpectedly, because of this small innovation, many people shouted that it was novel and beautiful, and the clothes were quickly sold out.

This incident made Zhou Chengjian realize that he could not only make clothes, but also design clothes.

Later, he opened his own clothing stall, and through the reprocessing of some classic styles, he sold many batches of goods and made a lot of money.

With capital, he expanded production, he opened a garment factory with more than 500 people in Wenzhou, and left the wholesale industry to start the brand of Metersbonwe.

"I want to be a brand with a clear price tag and no bargaining. ”

This was his original intention to start a business again.

In the early clothing market, everyone knows that many clothes are not branded, and there are many routines for buying and selling.

Customers inevitably bargain with the shopkeeper:

"300?80 sell or not?

"Okay, okay, if you want it sincerely, I'll give it to you at a loss..."

Zhou Chengjian hopes that his clothes can be uniformly priced, and children will not be bullied, giving consumers a good shopping experience.

This model was very novel at the time.

So as soon as Metersbonwe came out, business was very hot.

On this basis, Zhou Chengjian also figured out a set of "how fast and good to save" development model - on the one hand, to control design and brand marketing, on the other hand, to recruit franchisees, and quickly seize the market.

Many of his former wholesalers later became his franchisees and suppliers.

In 1998, the then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee also went to Meibang for investigation and research, and said: "Xiao Zhou, your model is good, you are borrowing chickens to lay eggs and fishing with nets." "It also allows everyone to study the United States and learn the American model.

There are many brands in Europe and the United States that are global OEMs, such as Adi and Nike, but in Zhejiang at that time, Zhou Chengjian could be regarded as the "first person".

From its inception in 1995 to its listing in 2008, in the past 13 years, Meibang has created a legend in the apparel industry.

But today, Milbank is lagging behind.

The key to falling behind lies in product development and supply chain management.

In the early days of its establishment, Meibang had its own design and R&D team, which was able to make the most fashionable clothing at that time according to market needs, but after going public, one of the company's executives suggested "socializing design and technology".

To put it simply, the core design is also outsourced, which can save tens of millions of costs per year.

After going public, Zhou Chengjian began to engage in other projects, and gradually neglected the management of the company, he felt that this suggestion could save money, so he acquiesced.

But it was this suggestion that made Meibang's design go downhill from then on.

Design began to fail to keep up with the changes in the aesthetics and consumption habits of young people, and clothes became more and more difficult to sell.

So much so that many students began to complain:

"Sell yourself as a rural brand. ”

"The countryside kills Matt, and it feels like he can't even wear it into the city. ”

In this case, Meibang lost the core of fashion - fashion.

Modern Advertising magazine even commented: "Metersbonwe is aimed at teenagers, but the teenagers have grown up and it hasn't yet." ”

On the other hand, Meibang not only saves design, but also saves quality.

Seeing that the CEO wanted to "reduce costs and increase efficiency", another executive proposed: Or, the supply chain should also be socialized and outsourced?

Zhou Chengjian even adopted it.

As a result, Meibang began to purchase finished products everywhere, because the quality of the products was uneven, and Meibang also lost its ability to control the products.

2007-2018 Milbank's total operating income and revenue growth rate

Source: Wind, Tianfeng Securities Research Institute

After 2008, the domestic economy has developed very rapidly, the national consumption level is also rising in a straight line, and international brands have also entered the domestic market in a big way at this time.

Under the hunt of mature international brands such as Adidas, Nike, Uniqlo, H&M, etc., Meibang still takes it lightly and still does not respect consumers enough.

The disadvantages of the asset-light model began to emerge in 2012:

Products cannot be sold, inventory is seriously overstocked, huge advertising costs are high, and enterprises cannot make ends meet.

As of the end of 2022, there are only 29 directly operated stores left, and there are 997 franchised stores.

In 2012, there were 5,220 franchised stores!

In 2015, in order to save Meibang, Zhou Chengjian developed the Youfan APP, in order to promote this APP, he titled the popular variety show "Wonderful Story" in a high-profile manner, and invited the then popular star Li Yifeng to be the spokesperson in 2016.

But the market is no longer buying it.

When a restaurant no longer pays attention to the quality of dishes, when a tailor no longer listens to the sound of sewing machines, the decline of business is inevitable.

Regarding the failure of Meibang, Zhou Chengjian reflected on it as follows:

During the "out of the circle", because he didn't know enough about the market, "I didn't listen to what I should have listened to, and I listened to everything I shouldn't have listened." ”

Previously, he "focused all his energy on the clothing circle, often going to Milan and Paris to exchange clothing designs with local designers", but after the listing, he was "overconfident and deviated".

And this eventually led to a lot of detours.

After more than ten years of sinking, Zhou Chengjian decided to return to the identity of "tailor".

"Some people don't forget themselves no matter how they mix up, but I forget my last name. ”

"There's no way back, the business is doing so badly, unless I give up, or I'm going to think about doing it well again. ”

Now, Metersbonwe is sorting out the current channels and supply chains, and trying to do a good job of design again, taking back the "technology research and development" link.

Of course, it is no longer easy to race against the times again.

12 years ago, Milbank had very good financial results.

In 2011, the Group achieved revenue of 9.945 billion yuan and net profit of 1.206 billion yuan.

But now, Milbank has to keep selling buildings to save itself.

Screenshot of the announcement on the company's intention to sell some of the properties

The market will not grow forever, especially when the macro economy has entered a period of transition, and major garment companies have begun to fight fiercely.

In this case, the structure and dedication of the management have become the most important part of the company's life-and-death competition.

Can Zhou Chengjian return to the identity of "tailor", and can the company reshape its brand image?

There is not much time left for Meibang to think.