It's not uncommon for the zodiac to be used as a design element for the New Year. The Year of the Dragon is of great significance to Chinese and has attracted special attention from clothing brands. Recently, with the help of the zodiac dragon, the "good start" is the "Archaeopteryx", one of the three treasures of the middle class that people love and hate.
Not long ago, Arc'teryx launched the "Year of the Dragon New Year Limited Series", an ALPHA SV jacket priced at 8200 yuan and a quick-drying T-shirt priced at 1000 yuan, which were out of stock on the day of sale. At present, the men's jacket has been fried to more than 12,000 yuan on the second-hand platform, and the number of resold is still very limited.
Image source: Arc'teryx WeChat Mini Program
The "Year of the Dragon Limited" jacket is on fire, but the color scheme of the limited model has caused netizens to complain, "It's really like a work uniform for food delivery", "This color scheme is really not flattering, wearing it is a conspicuous bag" "Is this a yellow robe?"
On the day of the release, the Mini Program was crowded
The Hangzhou store sold out on the first day
A week before the release, Arc'teryx released a creative video for the Year of the Dragon, in which the two protagonists wore the Year of the Dragon limited-edition models, climbed steep rock faces, and danced on the freezing snow. According to the official description, the Arc'teryx Year of the Dragon New Year Limited is inspired by the spirit of the dragon, with "dragon scales" as the core design element to express the connotation of tenacity.
After the video was released, although many netizens complained about "ugly colors" and "too abstract dragon patterns", Archaeopteryx's scheduled mini program was still "paralyzed" by the influx of traffic.
Some netizens reported that the page displayed the wrong verification membership level many times when the sale was launched. According to the clerk of the Hangzhou MixC store, this jacket is allocated according to the membership level and purchase time, and senior Alpha members can buy it first.
A small number of limited-edition jackets were also distributed to core offline stores. The MixC store is the only store in Hangzhou that has been spotted, and the clerk revealed that the limited model was snapped up not long after the store opened on the same day. "In the past few days, customers have come to ask, but the offline stores are out of stock, and the sale has been stopped. ”
According to the clerk, the color and design of this year's limited edition are still more careful. The jacket adopts yellow, which represents nobility in traditional Chinese culture, and it is also the color that everyone naturally thinks of when they think of dragons. The Archaeopteryx logo and zipper have been replaced with a festive red. "The biggest highlight is the embroidered dragon scale pattern on the cuffs, which is an internal linkage between the product and the dragon, indicating that this hard shell has strong protective properties like dragon scale armor. ”
On the Dewu platform, the price of men's jackets has reached 19,899 yuan, and there has been a transaction volume. The page shows that more than 200 people have paid so far, and there are already several purchased reviews in the comment area.
The bidding range of individual sellers on Xianyu is larger, basically more than 10,000 yuan. A seller hung up the label of overseas purchasing, he revealed, "Two days ago, Canada also put a small amount of spot on the shelves, and now the price is very high, and the purchasing agent can also make a small profit." ”
The more you sell in China, the better
Why is the parent company still losing money?
In fact, it has become a common practice for Arc'teryx to release a Chinese New Year limited edition for the Chinese market. In 2021, Archaeopteryx launched a limited series for the Year of the Ox, which was linked with traditional Chinese zodiac elements for the first time.
This decision to curry favor with the Chinese market may be precisely because of the help of domestic capital. In 2019, an investment consortium led by Anta acquired Amafen Sports, the parent company of Arc'teryx. At that time, Anta executives said that after Amalfen was acquired by Anta, the biggest synergy was still in China.
During the epidemic, many people have ignited their infinite yearning for nature, and outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, and cycling have risen, bringing fire to the jacket. Driven by social media, Arc'teryx was the first to be favored by the urban middle class, and the top professional outdoor equipment was worn into trendy clothing for urban sports.
As of September 2023, there are 63 Arc'teryx self-operated retail stores in Greater China, accounting for nearly half of its total global stores. In the first three quarters of last year, Arc'teryx's revenue in Greater China was US$453 million (about 3.25 billion yuan), accounting for nearly half of the brand's global revenue and nearly eighty percent of Amalfen Sports' revenue in Greater China.
In other words, nearly half of the world's Archaeopteryx was bought by Chinese.
With the good sales performance in Greater China, Amalfen Sports' revenue has increased from US$2.446 billion in 2020 to US$3.549 billion in 2022 in recent years, and it also delivered a beautiful answer of US$3.053 billion in the first three quarters of last year.
It's just that the booming revenue still hasn't made Amalfen Sports profitable. From 2020 to 2022, their net loss reached more than $600 million, and it is still unknown whether they will be profitable in the latest version.
The reason for this is that in addition to the popular Archaeopteryx, Amalfen Sports also has other mid-to-high-end brands, some of which have hindered revenue and profits. Therefore, from the perspective of the company's overall gross profit, although it has been improving over the years and has now reached the level of 52.2%, there is still a certain distance compared with the gross profit of more than 70% of some high-end sportswear.
Screenshot of Amalfen Sports prospectus
However, with the launch of the Year of the Dragon limited edition, Amalfen will also be launched. On January 5, Anta announced that Amalfen, a non-wholly-owned subsidiary of its joint venture, had submitted an application for listing in the United States. Their IPO goal is to raise $1 billion, which could be valued at as much as $10 billion after listing.