The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu
Professional hip-hop shoes.
More than a month ago, when 33-year-old Wang Wenlu and 20-year-old Shang Xiaoyu won the first gold and bronze medal in breakdancing in history on the stage of the National Games, the two street dance masters representing the Shanghai team wore professional street dance shoes that were different from other athletes.
More than a month later, when the 4th China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as the Ciie Expo) kicked off in Shanghai, this "history-making" professional street dance shoe appeared at the Expo site again, becoming a highlight of the "Sporting Goods and Events Zone" of the Consumer Goods Pavilion.
"Hip-hop is a sport that can hone the sportsmanship of young people and create a hard sports character. Therefore, we also hope to make a street dance shoe to help young people who love street dance and promote the development of Chinese street dance. ”
In an exclusive interview with the surging news reporter, Zhang Ruiyan, senior vice president of branding and communications at Skechers China, said that when street dancers really have the professional equipment of their own projects, they can find a sense of belonging.
The Expo has become an opportunity, not only for sports brands to show their sports culture, but also for some "niche projects" to have a stage for cross-border promotion and display.
Expo sports exhibition area.
Bring professional "hip-hop shoes" to the Expo
This year's CIIE is actually the second time that a "sporting goods and event zone" has been set up in the consumer goods pavilion. However, for sports brand Skechers, this is the third time they have appeared at the Expo.
At the second CIIE, Skechers, as the only sports brand, appeared in the consumer goods pavilion, in the words of Zhang Ruiyan, senior vice president, at that time, the other pavilions around him were consumer goods in other fields, and they felt very lonely.
Today, for the second consecutive year, ciie expo has set up a "sporting goods and events zone", which is also a proof of the sustainable development of sports in China.
This time, the Expo brought another "first" - that is, the first pair of professional street dance shoes that won the breakdancing gold medal at the National Games.
In fact, breakdancing has been "in the hall" in China's sports circle for some time, from the Youth Olympic Games to the Second Youth Games, to the just-concluded National Games, break dancing is one of the competitions. But it wasn't until this National Games that the break dancers who represented Shanghai really put on the so-called "professional street dancing shoes".
Zhang Ruiyan.
The reason why this cannot be ignored is that although hip-hop has become an Olympic sport, this form of street sports that once flourished "underground" is not a "mass sport".
Zhang Ruiyan told the surging news reporter that due to the company's young culture, coupled with her colleagues also have the first batch of Chinese street dance enthusiasts, creating professional equipment for this sport has become one of their development directions in recent years.
"We've been sponsoring hip-hop athletes before, but we found that their equipment is worn very quickly, and the stability of ordinary board shoes is not ideal, so in the case of ensuring wear resistance, we added our own technology to ensure comfort and stability."
The final of the first hip-hop competition at the National Games also proved that professional hip-hop equipment can indeed help athletes play in a more ideal state. Interestingly, through the promotion of large-scale events like the National Games, professional street dance equipment has also begun to "break the circle".
"We found that not only young people who like hip-hop dance will pay attention to these professional equipment, but also many young people who love popular culture will also be interested."
According to Zhang Ruiyan, the production of the first street dance shoes is actually a "gamble on the future", "We will continue to develop better street dance equipment to promote the development of Chinese street dance." ”
Sport is also a tech experience
From signing Li Zhixuan, the "first sister of China's marathon" to help her make professional running equipment, to forming China's hip-hop all-star team to create the first professional hip-hop shoes and hip-hop costumes, Skechers is gradually deepening the Chinese market.
When the Expo "settled" in Shanghai, they entered the platform the following year. Today, they have participated in the Expo for the third time as members of the sports industry professional committee.
"From the first time we came to the Expo to the third year today, we have some changes every year. In the first year we only showed some of our merchandise, the second year we brought 'black technology', and in the third year we expanded the children's clothing area to show our future development priorities. ”
Zhang Ruiyan told the surging news reporter that the learning and exchanges at the Expo helped them broaden their thinking, "The current double reduction policy allows children to have more time to exercise, so we will also increase investment in children's sports." ”
At the scene of this Expo, a "little monster" image called Lagung Animal is a new IP image created by them, and attracts children and teenagers through cartoon characters and stories.
Of course, the children's sports market has long been a "rich mine" that major brands are competing to tap, including foreign brands Nike and Adidas, as well as domestic brands Li Ning, ANTA and Xtep, all of which have their own sports children's clothing.
Because of this, in addition to the development of children's sports equipment, the brand also hopes to use the opportunity of the Expo to find more opportunities to "break the circle".
"We see a lot of industry exchanges here, this is really a good opportunity", Zhang Ruiyan said that this is why at the same time as the launch of the "Comfort Technology Company" brand positioning, Skechers also launched the "sneakers" rental service at the expo site.
"Visiting the Expo is a manual task, we let exhibitors and visitors experience our equipment, if you feel comfortable, you can wear it to the exhibition."
Compared with bringing arch support technology, memory foam insoles and zero-boundary foam technology to the Expo, Zhang Ruiyan admitted that sports brands prefer to "break the circle" and cooperate with more businesses in different fields - this is actually the core of the Expo.
"China's market is very large, there are many needs of different consumers, and sports brands can not only promote the development of sports, but also help more people get better technology experiences in more fields."
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Luan Meng