The rise of domestic women's fitness clothing brands, who will be the next Lulu Lemeng

China Business Daily (reporter Jie Yuxing) there are new trends in the women's fitness clothing market. Recently, the cutting-edge fitness apparel brand raw.j obtained financing. It is understood that with the increasing consumption of domestic women in sports, many sports brands focusing on women have entered the market. Who will be the next Lulu Lemon has attracted much attention from the industry.

The rise of women's fitness clothing

It is reported that raw.j recently completed two consecutive rounds of financing of more than tens of millions of yuan from Gimpo Disu and Deju Brothers Venture Capital, and the financing will be used to continue to develop more new products.

According to public information, raw.j was founded at the end of last year and focuses on cross-scene women's fitness clothing. At present, its Tmall flagship store has nearly 20,000 fans, and its online products include air vests, fitness tights, sports sweatshirts, jackets, sports suits, etc.

In addition to raw.j, more and more women's fitness clothing is mushrooming. For example, The Runaway Lolita, Particle Fever, Maia Active, etc., each brand's hits and features are different.

For example, Lolita was founded by fitness blogger Chen Nunyang, targeting young female users aged 18-35, focusing on 100-300 yuan of cost-effective sports fashion women's clothing. It is reported that Chen Nuanyang is a fitness enthusiast with 3 million followers on Sina Weibo. The brand used the influence of the founder to accumulate a wave of high-viscosity "seed users" in the early days, and then announced that the artist Yu Shuxin became the brand spokesperson, attracting a wider number of young female consumers.

Particle Mania focuses on functional, technologically inspired women's fitness clothing, such as sports long sleeves made of high-elastic fabrics, windproof and waterproof universal storm jackets, sports sweatshirts with reflective drawstring details, and "polygonal quilt" cotton suits. From the perspective of price, particle mania is more biased towards high-end consumers, and its products are priced at about 1,000-3,000 yuan.

Maya's positioning is a sports brand "designed for Asian women", focusing on sportswear suitable for Asian women's figures, targeting fitness women aged 25-35, and star products are "small waist pants" and "cloud pants".

In addition to cutting-edge brands, established companies such as ANTA and Li Ning have also participated in the competition of this subdivision track. In October this year, Li Ning officially announced the signing of young actor Zhong Chuxi as li ning women's sports fashion ambassador, and the current costumes promoted by Zhong Chuxi include Li Ning women's sports tops and yoga pants.

Anta also told the China Business Daily reporter that the future will focus on women's fitness clothing. Zhu Chenye, vice president of ANTA brand and cmo, said that before the core categories of ANTA were running, basketball, comprehensive training, and sports life, anta will set up a separate women's category, which is also the fifth category of ANTA, and launch products according to subdivision scenarios. "We will integrate various sports scenes under a women's category, so that more female consumers can fall in love with the ANTA brand."

Women's fitness consumption is in the spotlight

It is understood that women's consumption in fitness is growing. According to Jingdong's "double 11" opening data, in the ten minutes from 20:00 to 20:10 on October 31 this year, the turnover of high-end professional women's yoga clothes increased by 250% year-on-year.

According to the "2021 Women's Exquisite Life Atlas" released by Jingdong, the investment in sports consumption of female users increased significantly last year, an increase of 38.6% year-on-year. Among them, women in first-tier cities pay more attention to diversified and experiential sports methods.

Cheng Weixiong, a brand management expert in the footwear industry and Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., told the China Business Daily reporter that fitness itself is just needed for women, because women have a beauty-loving nature and attach great importance to body shape. "With the continuous improvement of living standards, women in domestic cities have a higher pursuit of health and beauty, coupled with the new crown pneumonia epidemic has stimulated the enthusiasm of the whole people for fitness, which has promoted the growth of women's fitness consumption."

According to the "2021 China Gym Industry Market Status and Consumption Trend Investigation and Research Report" released by Ai Media Consulting, the proportion of women in China's gym consumer users this year is 61.8%. In addition, 12.1% of female exercisers spent more than three hours in a single workout, compared with only 2.6% of men in this data.

Some industry analysts told China Business Daily that the female fitness consumer market has been quite active recently. From the perspective of product use scenarios, in the past, fitness consumption was often associated with competitive sports scenes, and now many fitness consumption is also linked to fashionable and casual life scenes. From the perspective of brand choice of spokespersons, in the past, some brands would choose sports stars and popular idols, but now more and more brands will choose Internet celebrity fitness bloggers, yoga instructors, etc. In general, the original focus on functional professional fitness clothing slowly "out of the circle", relying on marketing and "appearance" to capture more and more women.

Who will be the next Lulu Lemont

From the current situation, more and more brands have accelerated their attacks, and the competition in the women's fitness clothing track is becoming increasingly fierce. As the head runner on this track, Lulu Lemon's every move has attracted a lot of attention. It is understood that Lulu Lemeng regards white-collar women aged 16-45 as the main consumer group, and the price of its products has been high. From the beginning of the brand's inception, Lulu Lemeng has chosen professionals represented by yoga instructors to endorse the brand's professional sports attributes and enhance user stickiness through community marketing.

At present, it has expanded its business. In addition to women's fitness clothing, Lulu Lemeng also launched men's sportswear, personal care products, and acquired the home fitness equipment brand Mirror for $500 million. With Mirror, brands can increase interaction with consumers and build a strong "Lulu Lemon community." It is understood that Lulu Lemeng is also preparing to launch the brand's first footwear product in early 2022.

According to public information, in the second quarter of this year, Lulu Lemeng's revenue increased by 61% year-on-year to $1.5 billion. Lulu Lemeng expects revenue to reach $1.4 billion to $1.43 billion in the third quarter of this year and $6.19 billion to $6.26 billion for the full year. This means that Lulu Lemeng may reach the 2023 revenue target at the end of this year, two years ahead of schedule.

In the Chinese market, Lulu Lemeng carries out a variety of activities, such as organizing yoga classes, jogging, etc. In addition, the company plans to continue to open stores in the Chinese market and settle in second- and third-tier cities.

So, can domestic brands become the next Lulu Lemon? Cheng Weixiong believes that there is still a certain gap between domestic brands and foreign brands. For example, in terms of marketing, the marketing homogenization of domestic brands is serious. The China Business Daily reporter found that most brands regard "female independence" and "not defined" as an important product label, while foreign brands are more diversified in the creativity of marketing promotion.

"In terms of channels, domestic brands, especially new brands, are too focused on online sales, while foreign brands are doing quite well in offline channels, and the consumer experience is better." Cheng Weixiong said.

The above-mentioned interviewed industry analysts also believe that domestic brands need a more subdivided differentiated layout, women's fitness needs are actually many, many needs may not be realized by consumers themselves, and brands need to understand consumers more deeply in order to meet the needs of vertical segments, which can also avoid homogeneous competition.