Text | Origin Finance
The three treasures of the middle class have changed again.
The House of the Dead: The flower of the heart 、拉夫劳伦、萨洛蒙、HOKA、昂跑、Birkenstock......
Recently, the middle-class Sambo has changed again, and there is a niche outdoor brand mont·bell.
Young people who travel to Japan must line up to bring two pieces back to China, and in their minds, Mont Bell has replaced cosmeceuticals, snacks, and toilet seats as local specialties. Even Shanghai, the "fashion capital" of China, is full of trendy people wearing Mont Bell tops on the streets, and Mont Bell has replaced Archaeopteryx as the "new standard for Shanghai's middle class".
How did Mont Bell catch fire, and how far could this outdoor wind blow?
01 It's cheap and easy to use
All outdoor signs are thanks to Archaeopteryx. It has made the jacket, which no one cared about ten years ago, a popular item for the whole people today, making the main functional outdoor clothing have a fashionable taste, and the "symbolic value" worn by some brands is even comparable to luxury goods.
Wearing a bird's hard-shell jacket to work, it's fashionable.
But when you walk into the store and take a look around, you find that you only have enough money in your pocket to buy a woven bag, and that's when the so-called "flat" appears.
If Archaeopteryx is synonymous with professionalism, then those who buy Mont Bell are interested in a cost-effective price.
As a Japanese outdoor brand, compared with hard-core European and American brands, Mont Bell is not only practical and comfortable, but also more jumpy in appearance and color, attracting a lot of beauty parties, and more importantly, it is also more friendly in price.
For example, a daily series jacket using GORE-TEX fabric, mont·bell can be won for 1799 yuan during the big promotion, which is to be replaced with Archaeopteryx and Kaile stone, at least three or five thousand bases. This explains why Mont Bell has suddenly become a favorite of Chinese consumers.
图源：mont·bell官博
Mont Bell is one of the pioneers of Japanese outdoor brands. In 1969, the 21-year-old Japanese mountaineer Isamu Tatsuno climbed the north face of the Eiger Peak, known as the most dangerous peak in Europe, in the fastest time.
After returning to Japan, Isamu Tatsuno became a focal point in the Japanese mountaineering community.
During this journey, Tatsuno discovered that conquering any mountain range in the world required not only unparalleled courage and perseverance, but also the protection of professional outdoor equipment, which inspired him to improve the outdoor equipment of the time, and Mont Bell was born.
Isamu Tatsuno used a second-hand sewing machine to develop a sleeping bag made of DuPont's Hollofil® material, which is warmer and more portable; Hypalon coating is also used to create a more durable and waterproof raincoat. The following year, Mont·bell's products were exported to Europe's largest sporting goods store.
Isamu Tatsuno has always adhered to the concept of "starting from the higher needs of outdoor sportsmen", and is committed to developing the lightest outdoor clothing and equipment. Mont Bell is all about simplicity, all designs are function-oriented, and the design style injects life into outdoor clothing with minimalist lines and smooth cuts.
Isamu Tatsuno once mentioned in an interview: "When we develop a product, we usually consider not 'whether it sells well', but 'whether it is needed'. ”
After its birth, the brand quickly gained popularity, especially among outdoor enthusiasts in Asia.
02 Outdoor new top stream
Mont Bell pursues lighter weight on the one hand, and more favorable prices on the other hand, and is known as the "outdoor Uniqlo".
Mont Bell was born in the prosperous years of Japan, but grew up in a depression. In the 90s, Japan's economic bubble burst and entered a low-desire society, and many high-luxury brands suffered from public creation, while simple and simple brands such as Uniqlo, Muji, and Nitori began to become popular.
Mont Bell took advantage of the trend and restructured its product line in 1995 to carry out a complete price revolution and carry out the affordability to the end. It is not recommended that customers buy the most expensive, but recommend customers to choose more cost-effective self-developed fabric products according to the scene, buy the right one, based on this, establish their own moat of outdoor products, and gradually become one of the overlords in the outdoor field in Japan.
In today's Japan, the outdoor market is relatively mature and the competition is fierce. Mont Bell has been taking the affordable route in Japan for decades, with an average price of 300-500 yuan, so when you go to the Mont Bell store in Osaka, you often feel like visiting a hypermarket.
However, after Mont Bell entered the Chinese market, it seemed to change its face and take the path of the middle class.
According to the data, mont·bell currently has 17 stores in the Chinese mainland market, distributed in large shopping malls in first- and second-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Ningbo, adjacent to outdoor upstarts such as Salomon and HOKA.
Mont·bell's product line is similar to Decathlon, which is very rich, covering outdoor sports such as hiking, running, camping, cycling, traveling, rock climbing, swimming, mountaineering, fishing, skiing, etc.
In terms of price, from the Tmall flagship store, you can see that the coat is about 1,000 yuan, and the T-shirt is 3,500, which is a little more expensive than Japan, and it is a proper middle-class line.
Even so, Mont Bell has captured a lot of middle-class consumers. On Xiaohongshu, many bloggers have posted their own buying strategies and dressing guides, "It's not that Archaeopteryx can't afford it, but Mont Bell is more cost-effective."
Source: Little Red Book
Go out to hike and climb the wild mountain, others look at your logo, the old guns are known, and the novice looks unfathomable, and it costs not much money to install it, how suitable it is.
03 What is the outdoors compared to
Compared with the field of fashion and fashion, there is still a lot of room for expansion in this blue ocean of outdoor sports. However, at present, the competition among mid-to-high-end outdoor brands in the Chinese market is very fierce.
Taking the jacket category as an example, the spire is Archaeopteryx, and the upper layer is a number of overseas brands that have been deeply cultivated for more than ten years, such as Beimian, Descente, Salomon, HH and China's Kaile Stone, etc., and the grassroots is basically occupied by domestic brands such as Camel, Boxihe, and Pathfinder, in addition to Uniqlo, Banana and other popular brands have entered the ranks of outdoor products.
As far as the product is concerned, Mont Bell is currently in an awkward middle ground, with professionalism and fashion being "less than the top, more than the bottom".
In terms of financial strength, Arc'teryx and Salomon are both backed by Anta Group, Kolon has grown huge this year, and Descente is expected to become Anta's third 10 billion brand, compared to Mont Bell, which is also in a weak position.
But the ultimate battle in the outdoor market is not only about the volume of fabrics and the price of rolls, these comparisons are nothing more than that I am a little cheaper than you, and you are smoother than me, and in the end it depends on the supply chain capacity. Whoever has stronger channels and stronger local adaptability is likely to develop in the Chinese market for a long time.
Previously, the Mont Bell China team hoped to move closer to the first-tier shopping malls in terms of brand location, and from the current situation, the advantages of its channels were not obvious.
图源：mont·bell官博
Perhaps in today's slightly crowded outdoor track, Mont Bell's main high cost performance is a sharp blade to cut into the market. It can be a little more expensive, but remember not to go up too much.
Resources:
- [1] "Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the middle class are crazy to grab the "Archaeopteryx Flat"? Interesting report
- [2] "Jacket 2024: Montbell Goes Popular, Korondi Sant Soars, Camel Boch and Big Sells" Chop Pepper Spicy