Source | New entropy
Author丨Sakuragi Editor丨Ippah
Summer has not yet arrived, and the hot category of sunscreen clothing has been quietly brewing. Open Xiaohongshu at this moment, under the keyword of sunscreen clothing, there are already more than 170,000+ notes and more than 470,000+ products. In fact, this wealth is also confirmed at the data level.
According to the "In-depth Research on the Current Situation of China's Sunscreen Apparel Industry and Future Investment Forecast Report (2023-2030)", in recent years, concepts such as "sunscreen is anti-aging" and "sunscreen is needed in all seasons" have gradually become popular among the people. The market size of China's sunscreen apparel industry increased from 45.9 billion yuan in 2016 to 67.5 billion yuan in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.9%, much higher than the global average growth rate, and the market size is expected to reach 95.8 billion yuan in 2026, with a compound growth rate of 9.4% from 2022 to 2026.
With the continuous growth of the category, it has also attracted many brands to enter the game, in addition to the leading Jiaoxia, domestic emerging brands OH Sunny, Bananai, Sinsin, etc., traditional clothing companies such as Bosideng, Uniqlo, Anta, as well as 1688 and Pinduoduo White Label, have released new products, further heating up the heat of the track.
However, behind the excitement, as a fast-growing track, there are still many pain points and needs of consumers, and the uncertainty of the overall standard and evaluation dimension is one of the most typical examples. In the face of a large number of products, consumers' choice difficulties are also deepening, how to evaluate the price and functionality? Is sunscreen clothing really the so-called "IQ tax", how should white labels and brands choose? Is it the pursuit of the ultimate sunscreen number, or the pursuit of the balance of comfort? A series of questions, not only affect the establishment of the category mentality, but also limit the development space of the category.
On the other hand, the lack of standards for the brand, seems to be very tricky, from the product point of view, the brand's involution often enters the "partial" situation, in the industry "unipolar sunscreen" has become the focus of some brand marketing, the accompanying result is: the product emphasizes a certain aspect of the function, ignoring the overall balance, thereby affecting the consumer's product experience. When the consumer experience is not stable, it is also draining people's enthusiasm from a category perspective.
Consensus standards have become a key factor affecting the development of the category of sunscreen clothing.
In fact, looking back on business history, in the consumer track, the release of consensus standards often plays a positive role in promoting the development of categories. In the field of food, Mengniu and Yili have participated in the formulation of standards in the dairy industry for many times, which has promoted the rapid development of many categories of dairy products, and Coca-Cola, a super single product, has formulated a series of standards and specifications in the production, packaging and sales of carbonated beverages, which has also quickly established a super influence in the world.
For the sunscreen clothing track, is there such a brand that can start from the standard and establish category influence?
01. The sunscreen clothing market is big enough and rolly enough
In the summer of 2023, a photo in the subway appeared on Weibo hot search, and in Beijing under the high temperature, the "masked woman" appeared in a film and became the most popular fashion outfit. Quietly, sunscreen clothing has become the consensus answer for consumers' summer sun protection. The outbreak of 618 and Double 11 categories that year also confirmed that sunscreen clothing has been recognized by consumers.
With the rapid development of the category and the recognition of consumers, the involution of the market is also deepening. At the end of the brand business, sunscreen clothing has almost become a testing ground for its own R&D and marketing, from digital chaotic product standards to dazzling marketing concepts, with the growth of demand, almost uninterrupted in front of consumers. On the consumer side, the huge gap in the price band of the product and the complexity of the functionality have also made the original simple purchase decision increasingly complicated. Consumers seem to be able to rely only on Xiaohongshu Douyin's evaluation to make judgments, and the notes on lightning protection and stepping on pits on the huge number of sunscreen clothing are a certain reflection of the current market.
The reason why there is such a controversy in the category is that in fact, looking back at the history of the development of sunscreen clothing can find some clues. According to the survey, the inspiration for modern sunscreen clothing first came from the skin windbreaker/windproof jacket produced by an outdoor brand in the United States, and in China, Jiaoxia took the lead in localizing and upgrading it, so that today's sunscreen clothing is available. Before 2023, sun-protective clothing, as an upgrade and complement of sunscreen, has just been launched and received good feedback. But skepticism also comes with it, and in many of the videos of bloggers, a popular claim is often brought up that even an ordinary piece of fabric can block more than 80% of UV rays. The "IQ tax" began to appear in the sun-protective clothing category. At the same time, it seems that in response, brands have begun to add to their fabrics and sunscreen numbers.
According to public information, the main role of sunscreen clothing is to protect against ultraviolet rays, of which ultraviolet rays (UVB) and ultraviolet rays (UVA) are the two "culprits" that cause people to tan and sunburn. Sunscreen clothing brands apply special treatments to the fabric, such as increasing the thickness of the fabric, the density of the fabric, or applying sunscreen additives to the inner layer of the garment to enhance the protection against UV rays.
But this also brings problems such as sunscreen clothing that is too thick and airtight. "I took off my sweat and almost covered my prickly heat. A certain Xiaohongshu blogger wrote in a lightning protection post. To solve this problem, many companies have begun to increase the complexity of the material, incorporating UV-reflecting raw materials into the fibers, which can reduce the thickness and protect against the sun. Correspondingly, the "concept marketing" of sunscreen clothing materials has become a new main tone.
Concepts such as "fabric contains hyaluronic acid, moisturizing and sunscreen two-in-one", "fabric contains xylitol, 5 degrees Celsius off the upper body" and other concepts have been continuously introduced, and TiO2 sunscreen factor, wet sunscreen technology, skin surface microclimate and other unclear "professional words" have also become essential "additives" for sunscreen clothing brands in marketing. In the face of complex concepts and functions that cannot be verified, the name of "IQ tax" has once again become the public's cognitive label for sunscreen clothing.
On the consumer side, after experiencing the popularization of concepts and cognition, they will hesitate in the face of the low price and good sales of white labels. The huge price band, as well as the planting of KOCs, have confusing the originally clear purchase intentions again. And which product to choose in the end, in the conclusion of a grassroots research, is, "Look at the short video or Xiaohongshu of which one you swiped that day." Under such standards, the uneven user experience is almost inevitable.
In fact, from the many questions about the "IQ tax", it can be seen that under the rapid development of the sunscreen clothing category, the competition intensity of players entering the market is constantly increasing. Brands seem to be iterating quickly without a systematic standard, and in order to meet the needs of consumers, the more one-sided enhancement of product functions has also challenged the wholeness. Such a fact will be manifested in the undisclosed product standards and values before 2023, blindly emphasizing channel marketing and emphasizing traffic. Today, it is reflected in the flying of technology and values, and there is no unified industry bottom line standard.
In summary, the voice of "sunscreen clothing is not an IQ tax" shows that the confusing standards have caused mental disturbance to consumers, and for a high-quality track that may exceed tens of billions in the future, change is urgent.
02. The first numerical standard for the sunscreen clothing market
How to set the bottom line standard for sunscreen clothing?
In fact, from the perspective of the industry, the relevant standards have been constantly improving and evolving. For example, GB/T 18830-2009 "Evaluation of Ultraviolet Protection Performance of Textiles" stipulates from the national dimension that UV-proof products must meet both UPF (ultraviolet protection coefficient) greater than 40 and UVA (long-wave ultraviolet transmittance) less than 5% in order to have sunscreen function. In 2019, Tmall also launched, "Standard Hexagon for Sunscreen Clothing", which combines the national standard of "Outdoor Sunscreen Skin Clothing" promulgated in 2019 and the functions and characteristics of various types of sunscreen clothing in the market, combined with the actual application needs of outdoor scenes, and lists six standards such as sunscreen and breathability.
With the development of the industry, the progress of standards has been completely improved this year. Jiaoxia, which has the largest market share of sunscreen clothing, recently released the first six-dimensional standard for the sunscreen clothing industry with iResearch Consulting - "China Sunscreen Clothing Industry Standard White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the white paper, read the original text at the end of the article to view the full report), and the "White Paper" has also won the joint initiative of "China Consumer Daily". Through specific quantifiable values, in the six aspects of sunscreen UPF value, wash resistance, ultraviolet blocking rate, air permeability, cooling coefficient and gram weight, comprehensive skin health experts, fabric experts, massive consumer demands and other opinions, for the industry and consumers to provide a scientific, reliable, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use practical numerical standards.
As a leader in the industry, Banana has also conveyed its honest attitude to consumers through the transparency of standards.
The six-dimensional standard launched by Jiaoxia takes into account the functional balance and scientific practicality of sunscreen clothing in terms of numerical value, and strives to take care of consumers' multiple use feelings from the daily application scenarios of consumption. Specifically, the choice of UPF50+ provides consumers with sun protection for most daily use scenarios, and the standard of ultraviolet blocking rate of >99% ensures that consumers not only do not tan their skin, but also protect themselves from sunburn, and the air permeability rate > 180mm/s to meet the sufficient air permeability of clothes while ensuring that the skin is dry for a long time.
In high temperature weather, 0.18-0.20qmax[J/(cm²•s)] of knitted fabrics is the basic coefficient of coolness of sunscreen clothing, which means that it is not only cool to the skin, but also cool for a long time. The main body fabric unit weight is 75-190g/m² and UPF50+ is still maintained after 30 washes, which ensures that the lightness and durability are required.
To a certain extent, the standard of sunscreen clothing launched by Jiaoxia is not a "high threshold", and even these values do not seem to be very powerful, taking UPF50+ as an example, most brands on the market can meet this standard. However, from the perspective of product balance and transparency, this standard hits the pain point of the market - that is, the lack of all-round, practical, and quantifiable standards. Further, the six dimensions and numerical standards cover the most real wearing experience of consumers, and the specific data capture is also tailored from the real weather, body feeling, function and other scenarios.
This also means that users can effectively understand the balance of different brands in the industry through data comparison, improve awareness, and help consumers identify products similar to "unipolar sunscreen" or one-sided emphasis on a certain aspect of the function. In other words, it is the bottom line at the product data level and the baseline of the product's sense of balance in specific consumption scenarios. And at the same time, it is not easy for brands to meet such standards.
From the perspective of the industry, the launch of this standard is also a milestone, which not only further standardizes the industry, but also part of healthy competition. Through the implementation of this standard, to a certain extent, the brand can achieve the quality similar to that of the industry leader, so as to be empowered by the leading brand effect and further bless itself. On the other hand, some brands that meet the standards can also further strengthen the mentality of the category through this standard. To a certain extent, in the future, "banana with the standard" may become the same popular marketing phrase as "banana substitution" in the future, so that some brands can complete the copy.
Through stable standards, it can not only make the industry cake bigger, but also allow the brand to innovate based on its own characteristics to meet the needs of different consumers.
In fact, from the perspective of motivation, as the leader of the industry, Jiaoxia has always had a leading market share and growth rate, and the announcement of sunscreen clothing standards is, to a certain extent, more like an "open source" for its own competitiveness. After all, judging from the sales volume, it is already a certain "consensus" of consumers to choose good sunscreen clothing by following the banana. To provide such standards to the industry, from the company's point of view, it forces Jiaoxia to continuously improve itself on top of the standard in order to continue to maintain its leading position.
03. Lead the battle for the brand's establishment
Looking back on the history of Jiaoxia, as the pioneer and leader of the sunscreen clothing category, the success of hard sunscreen categories such as sunscreen clothing has achieved the "commercial fundamentals" of Jiaoxia, and also made the hard sunscreen track gradually enter the mass market from a niche category. To complete the transformation from the first sunscreen clothing to the first sunscreen in the banana, to a certain extent, the category mentality of sunscreen clothing and other products is also directly bound to the banana.
As more and more brands join the sunscreen track, the prosperity and chaos of the track have further deepened. Every time sunscreen and related categories appear to have a negative perception similar to the "IQ tax", as the leader, Jiaoxia seems to have to bear the impact. The responsibility of the category leader means that the development of the overall track of sunscreen clothing is not only a participant for Jiaoxia, but also a natural leader.
This is also why the "White Paper" is more like a battle for Jiaoxia. If the sunscreen clothing category continues to grow savagely and increases the involution in the non-core demands of users, the consequences may bring a greater blow to the industry and consumers. The confusion of consumers will also hinder the continued growth of the industry.
On the other hand, in 2024, Jiaoxia will not only increase the guidance of the category, but also make a huge investment in order to enhance the awareness of the category.
In addition to the release of industry standards for sunscreen clothing, in 2024, Jiaoxia will open the era of brand dual spokespersons, following the official announcement of Jay Chou as the brand spokesperson in March 2023, Jiaoxia once again officially announced the brand spokesperson Yang Mi, and joined hands with two national-level artists to take a step forward on the road to becoming a lifestyle brand. This time, the cooperation between Jiaoxia and Yang Mi after ten years of acquaintance shows the brand's determination to continue to penetrate the whole population and all categories, and conveys the tonality and texture that a lifestyle brand should have to the outside world.
Jiaoxia and Yang Mi's first TVC was shot for the six-dimensional standard of sunscreen clothing, and the selection of stars with high national popularity as spokespersons will help Jiaoxia enhance the national degree of the brand, and it is also the most suitable starting point for broadening from market segmentation to mass market.
From the vertical subdivision track to the field of public life, Jiaoxia adheres to the integration of scientific and technological innovation and consumer user scenarios, and takes "lightweight outdoor" as the main line to continuously improve brand recognition and build a high brand moat. As the "commercial basic plate" of Jiaoxia, the persistence and continuous innovation of the sunscreen track provide momentum for the growth of Jiaoxia.
Behind the battle is the responsibility of the banana leader, but also the optimism about the prospects of the track, healthy competition, and common development can bring more increments to the track. And the sun-protective clothing that takes off the "IQ tax" hat can have better prospects.