Image source: Visual China
Blue Whale financial reporter Wang Hanyi
On January 4, "Xue Zhiqian's clothing brand down jacket is unqualified" appeared on the hot search, causing heated discussions. In this regard, the brand apologized overnight and said that it could apply for a refund. It is not uncommon for celebrities to set foot in the clothing industry, and there are not a few who have aroused doubts and group ridicule.
In fact, behind the strong brand exposure, the lack of control of the complete business link is a very important reason.
Dangerous People羽绒服抽检不合格
According to the Blue Whale financial reporter, recently, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau announced 2 batches of supervision and random inspection of unqualified down jacket products, among them, Shanghai Yanxun Trading Co., Ltd. sold by its nominal production (or supply) of the "DANGEROUS PEOPLE" brand short down (model specification: 175/88A L; item number: 22410DJ287N), the filling nonylphenol + octylphenol + nonylphenol ethoxylate+ octylphenol ethoxylate, the measured measured 234.41mg/ kg (the standard value should be <100mg/kg), which does not meet the standard requirements.
Image source: Screenshot of the WeChat public account of Shanghai Market Regulation
"Alkylphenol (AP) and alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEO) are environmental hormones. The project is unqualified and can easily affect the normal hormone secretion of the human body. The Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation pointed out.
On January 4, Dangerous People's official Weibo issued a statement letter on the results of the spot check by the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau, which mentioned that "after a quick self-inspection, it was found that the unqualified product was the sixth batch of the product." The company immediately contacted the manufacturer and asked it to stop producing the product and conduct a self-inspection, and the company has also canceled the follow-up cooperative production relationship with the manufacturer on the product. ”
图片来源：Dangerous People官方微博
The statement letter also mentioned that consumers who have purchased the product after January 1, 2023 can apply for a refund through the original purchase channel, and the company will refund the money for all consumers as soon as possible.
On a social media platform, a netizen posted a page with a successful refund, and said, "I bought it in January 2023, and after contacting customer service, it was returned in less than 10 minutes." ”
Dangerous People (hereinafter referred to as "DSP") is a menswear brand launched by Xue Zhiqian in 2015. According to the investigation by the Blue Whale financial reporter, as of January 8, its Tmall store had 1.89 million fans, and the Jingdong store had 549,000 followers. In addition to the new small black box launched this year, the price of the new product exceeds 1300 yuan, and the price of the rest of the products is between 199 yuan and 499 yuan.
Tianyancha shows that Shanghai Yanxun Trading Co., Ltd. changed its investor (equity) in January 2019, Xue Zhiqian withdrew from the ranks of shareholders and added Xin Liang, which is currently jointly held by Xin Liang and Zhang Fan.
Although he has withdrawn from the ranks of shareholders, Xue Zhiqian is still the brand manager of DSP, and often appears in the live broadcast room to promote the product.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, told the Blue Whale financial reporter that there was a problem with the sampling inspection of Xue Zhiqian's brand down jacket, which may be caused by quality problems in the production process or inadequate supply chain management, which made the product fail to meet the standard.
There are many self-created brands by celebrities, and there are few breakthroughs
Whether it is mainstream artists such as Xue Zhiqian and Bai Jingting, or idol stars such as Huang Zitao and Wang Hedi, or rappers Ma Siwei and KNOWKNOW who have gradually entered the public eye in recent years, many artists are operating their own clothing brands.
Jiang Han believes that on the one hand, many celebrities have a strong interest in fashion and clothing design, and they hope to show their fashion taste and design concepts through their own brands, and on the other hand, celebrities themselves have high visibility and influence, and they can promote their brands through their popularity and attract fans and other consumers to buy. In addition, clothing brands have higher profit margins, and celebrities can obtain higher economic benefits by making their own brands.
The commercial dividends brought by the "artist halo" have made celebrities focus on the clothing business. Relying on the personal influence and fan base of celebrities, although the initial stage can be a good empowerment for brands, some brands may be able to gain a firm foothold.
But the opposite side of the advantage also means higher attention, and fans will have higher requirements and expectations for the product. Many celebrity brands are considered to be cutting leeks because of price, quality, after-sales service and other issues, and many brands are forced to close their doors before they are on the right track.
Previously, Lu Han's personal fashion brand was questioned by fans about the clothes bought for 1,500 yuan, "there are threads everywhere".
Ouyang Nana's own brand NABI was also caught in the same controversy. A pure white nightgown of 988 yuan, 2 pairs of pure white cotton socks of 168 yuan were complained of "sky-high prices", in addition, the composition of the nightgown is 86% polyester, 13% viscose and 1% spandex. Polyester, the main material, is also recognized as a "cheap fabric" in the industry. Some netizens believe that on the whole, the nabi nightgown is not sincere enough in all aspects from fabric, version to workmanship. The Blue Whale financial reporter's investigation found that the NABI Mini Program has been in a state of cessation of operation.
If the cold of the nabi brand is a temporary misjudgment of the consumer market by the new generation of stars such as Ouyang Nana, then the gradual disappearance of many brands over the years shows that the star-created brand is not a simple entrepreneurial road.
At the beginning of 2023, Yu Wenle's personal brand MADNESS, which has been established for more than 8 years, has been reported to be closed on Tmall, Edison Chen's personal brand JUICE has also withdrawn from Sanlitun after 7 years of operation, and STAYREAL, a trendy brand founded by Mayday Ashin and illustrator Fujiliang, has also closed offline stores.
In this regard, Jiang Han analyzed: " First, the star may lack professional knowledge and experience in the clothing industry, resulting in the supply chain management in the production process is not in place; the second is that the brand positioning is not clear, and the product style and price are out of touch with the market, resulting in consumers not buying; the third is over-reliance on the star effect, the product itself lacks core competitiveness, when the star effect gradually weakens, the brand is difficult to maintain good market performance; fourth, the clothing market is fiercely competitive, domestic and foreign brands are numerous, and the star clothing brand needs to face fierce competition with other brands, and a little carelessness may lead to poor market performance。 ”
Lack of complete business link control
Why are celebrity clothing brands prone to "overturning"? What is the operating mode behind the business of celebrity clothing brands?
In the "White Paper on the Development of Trend Culture" released by CBNData, it is pointed out: "Some celebrities create a brand first, and then hand it over to the outsourcing team to do, they don't know much about trend culture, and blindly doing it will be counterproductive." ”
Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Consulting, said that at present, most of the celebrity fashion brand business can be understood as OEM business. In the whole business process, most celebrities don't actually understand the brand business, but hand it over to brokerage companies or other partners to take care of, and celebrities mainly play the role of drainage and are responsible for front-end traffic. Zhang Yi believes that this is also one of the reasons why most celebrity fashion brands are not very successful.
Taking Ouyang Nana's brand nabi as an example, the agency behind it, "Stick Stack", is a company whose main business is the operation and incubation of international fashion brands.
Judging from the model of the brand created by Xue Zhiqian, it also relies on third-party factory OEM. Although OEM is a very common mode of production, it also means that brands need to carry out stricter supervision and control of product lines.
Strong exposure is the first step for a brand to get out of the circle, and how to quickly adjust tactics to cope with the changing market is the key element for the long-term development of the brand.
Cheng Weixiong, a senior brand management expert and founder of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., told Blue Whale Finance: "Only star IP personalities cannot be called brands, and brands should have their own unique style and tonality. If you are a buyer, you should do the corresponding purchase according to the brand's own style and tonality, or do not be a buyer, have your own design and development team, do a good job in style research and development, and then do a good job in the corresponding factory screening, and finally place an order, and at the same time carry out QC follow-up after-sales. Without prenatal and postnatal follow-up means and measures, 'rollover' is inevitable. ”
Zhang Yi suggested that celebrities need to have a strong supply chain as a support to make fashion brands, and the quality should also be guaranteed while the price is high, "No matter what products are made, all premiums should be supported by product quality, otherwise it is likely to backfire and eat the stars themselves."
It is true that celebrities in the clothing business should be familiar with the whole business link of products from production to sales, the different requirements of different nodes, and be responsible for the results.
After all, marketing is only a small part of the entire business chain.