How To Catch Up With The Movement Of Champion?

At the beginning of the cherry blossom season, tourists to Japan increased.

Orange Street, located in Osaka's Chao Pai street, has always been a shopping destination for fans of the global trend, where Supreme, Champion, Bape, Carhartt and other trend brands are gathered.

Most of the tide shops maintain the usual cold and cheerless tone, but the two storefront shops of Champion attract many consumers, many from China.

These consumers are coming to the basic logo T-shirt, but the stores do not seem to have many choices. They are not willing to leave on the shelves. They also buy friends and relatives, and confirm the styles with WeChat.

Where the Chinese consumers are is the darling of today's market.

Champion, which is catching up with the revival movement, is undoubtedly coming to the highlight for 100 years.

Nowadays, consumers have become very smart. Many people know that Japan is the best place to buy Champion, an American sports brand.

Their understanding of the difference between "Champion" and "Japanese edition" has benefited from the popularity of the sports brand in recent years.

With the indirect promotion of Taobao's imitation version, Champion has appeared in China's streets and lanes.

In September 2017, Champion opened the first store in mainland China in Hangzhou. So far, the number of stores in mainland China has exceeded 20.

According to the first quarter results released by Champion parent company Hanesbrands (HBI.US), the company's revenue increased by 7.9% to 1 billion 590 million US dollars, which has been seventh consecutive quarters of growth in line with the constant exchange rate. Net profit is almost 79 million 480 thousand dollars in the same period of the previous year.

The growth of the company depends heavily on the core brand Champion.

During the period, the global sales of Champion in addition to wholesale channels rose 75% to 490 million US dollars, and the international market reached 290 million US dollars, an increase of over 65%. We expect the brand's annual sales volume to reach US $1 billion 800 million, and the growth rate will reach 30%.

The group said that the strong growth of the brand was mainly due to the expansion of channels in many markets around the world.

The underwear Department has recently been a soft spot in Hanesbrands's department. Its first quarter sales fell 3.1% to 476 million US dollars in the first quarter, while sales in other business sectors fell 6% to 60 million 560 thousand dollars over the same period.

However, with the promotion of Champion, the sales volume of sports departments increased by 17.1% to 405 million US dollars.

Despite the adverse exchange rate factor, the International Department, which operates international business of underwear and sportswear, has also achieved two digit growth, a record increase of 13.4% to 646 million US dollars, an increase of 18% according to the fixed exchange rate.

It can be seen that Champion is the main growth power of Hanesbrands at present, and the group naturally hopes for it.

Champion entered the $1 billion club in 2017. Sales continued to rise 36% to $1 billion 360 million last year, and revenue grew more than 50% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. The group hopes that Champion will achieve sales of 2 billion dollars in 2022.

HanesBrands chief executive Gerald Evans Jr. said at the post earnings conference that Champion is one of the three growth drivers of the company and is a recognized brand in its investment projects.

Such a high growth rate is rare for a long history sports brand.

Champion, founded in 1919, has just arrived 100th anniversary this year.

In 1919, Abraham and William Feinbloom brothers founded Knickerbocker knitting company in Rochester, USA, mainly selling knitwear.

In 1923, the birth of Champion Knitwear, its landmark leisure hooded sportswear attracted the attention of University of Michigan, and the two sides began mass production cooperation.

Champion continues to develop printing technology for printing University names and numbers, and gradually promotes its sportswear in the whole American campus.

What really led Champion into the golden age of ten years was its pioneering invention in 1934 of the Reverse Weave, which influenced the later sportswear. It alleviated the discomfort caused by sewing friction and enhanced the durability of clothing. Champion also applied for a patent for this technology. The first hooded sweater in the world used this technology.

Champion has become a well-known sports brand in the United States. People can see this "popular brand" in a large supermarket.

However, in the golden age of basketball, the field of professional sports is still the ultimate ideal of many sports brands.

Since 1980s, the brand has begun to develop into professional sports brand, and has entered the American professional sports field. It has started sponsoring competition suits for some teams of NBA and NFL, and has become an official sportswear sponsor for the US delegation of Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games and Atlanta Olympic Games.

At the same time, it is the global expansion plan of Champion, which was licensed by Europe and Asia in 1977, and is preparing to enter the market outside the United States.

In the 1990s, hip hop culture prevailed in the United States. Loose clothing was welcomed by young people. Champion affected the sport attributes.

Plus, in the professional sports market, the rules of winner take all make the market share of the market dominated by the head brand. Champion brand can only look for the difference advantage and subdivision field that can make it stand out.

During this period, Champion also went out of the US market for the first time and entered Japan, which is at the peak of the trend culture.

At that time, Teng Yuan Hao and other Japanese tide Godfather built Japan into a new trend of global fashion and developed a unique style of sports and leisure.

Champion, the main American style of retro style, has obviously undergone a "Culture Shock" in Japan, and its style has been improved.

Since then, Champion also has the distinction between "American edition" and "Japanese edition".

The Champion sold in the US is priced lower, and the version is looser and closer to the general public.

The Champion sold in Japan has been injected with more current factors to weaken sports skills.

By 2000, the brand had gradually developed into many markets in Eurasia.

But the real spring of Champion is still far from coming.

It was not until 2010 that both the trend movement and the social media emerged, which gave birth to the brand's "second spring".

At present, the important representative of the trend culture, Virgil Abloh, founder of Off-White, chose to build the Champion brand as the bottom plate in her Pyrex Version.

Since then, Champion has been working closely with other trend brands including Supreme, Bape and Stussy, and has rapidly increased popularity and exposure rate.

Vetements, which once shocked the fashion circle, has also become the partner of Champion. This series clearly made Champion a share of the "flow" from the peak of Vetements.

However, Champion can benefit from the cooperation series and is closely related to brand DNA.

Champion brand's own elements are clear and concise, unique C characters and basic design make it have plasticity with other trend dress styles. At the same time, it also fits the millennial generation's logo's fanaticism (logomania).

The C alphabet, which was born in the cooperation series, has become the new landmark design of the brand.

Champion's own centenary history also coincided with the millennial consumers' pursuit of the revival movement.

Not just Champion, it was born in 1911 in Italy's FILA, 1916, born in Italy's KAPPA and other sports brands are relying on this trend to regain the attention of young people.

There are even Instagram accounts that focus on collecting the single products of the above sports brand printing as materials, which also shows that the younger generation's love for the revival movement is group oriented, and this process also produces more re creation and interaction.

In China, Lining brand, which also has a brand history, is favored by young consumers. It is also based on similar reasons.

Consumers love the same interest in retro and future. The brand that can precisely balance these two points can become the focus of current culture.

Unlike previous generations of consumers who pursued popular sports brands such as Nike, the millennial generation of material life was much more eager to personalize.

For a long history of sports brand in depth understanding, social media on the exploration and communication, to enable them to feel knowledgeable, different, and get a sense of belonging from the fashion culture, and thus get the social capital, which is actually the root cause of the second year of the 100 year sports brand.

Data show that Champion's official Instagram account fans increased from 200 thousand in January 2017 to 5 million now, which directly stimulated sales of products.

The volume of Champion official website surged by 95% in May, and the growth rate of mobile terminals reached 124%, bringing 77% new customers to grow, and sales grew by 59% over the same period last year, especially welcomed by 18-35 year old young consumer groups.

From Hanesbrands's earnings report, Champion is indeed the beneficiary of globalization and digitization.

In a new era of de intermediation, Champion has reclaimed its authorized business in Europe and Japan, focusing on the establishment of direct channel and more directly facing consumers in various regional markets.

The group said that direct sales, including brand retailers and all online businesses, grew by 16% in the first quarter, while sales in three sectors increased.

The group also said its efforts to enhance Champion's global strategic coordination are boosting product demand growth. The future group will focus on increasing investment in Champion, enhancing its interaction with consumers through digital platforms, and increasing the global distribution point of brands.

Through more extensive outlets and e-commerce channels, Champion can quickly penetrate the global market and communicate directly with consumers through direct gestures, which is clearly in line with internet business thinking.

With enough marketing efforts, the rapid growth of Champion worldwide is not surprising.

In the first quarter, Hanesbrands's operating expenses increased by more than 9%, mainly due to the group's increased input to distribution channels and marketing activities to meet the growing demand of Champion brand.

This idea is also reflected in last year's controversial abandonment of the Target agreement with the US retail giant.

In August last year, Hanesbrands announced that the C9 series authorized business agreement of its brand Champion will not be renewed with Target after the January 2020 contract expires.

Target has been granted the right to distribute Champion C9 Series in 2004, so far 15 years.

The group said that the US local retailers represented by Target were no longer the driving force of Champion growth. In the first four quarters, Champion's international market sales grew at a constant rate of 30% over the same period.

At that time, the market was not optimistic about the decision.

After the news was released, Hanesbrands's share price plummeted by 19.3%.

Wall Street analysts are also generally negative about this. They strongly questioned why they should abandon important sales channels during the good momentum of brand development in the telephone conference with Hanesbrands management.

According to Hanesbrands earnings report, the channel sales in 2017 amounted to 380 million US dollars, accounting for about 13% of the total sales volume.

Hanesbrands updated the situation in a statement issued last week, saying that the group has taken a series of measures to replace C9's basic business, ready to pfer these sales to the direct business and expand the Champion brand income outside the public channel.

The group is optimistic about the global growth momentum of Champion beyond C9 business and concentrates more energy and resources on maximizing the potential of this business.

Although there may be an opportunity to establish C9 brand with another retailer in the future, the group has no plans yet.

The sportswear that can be bought from American supermarkets starts. After a century, Champion is no longer satisfied with becoming a mediocre and cheap sports brand, but a fashionable fashion brand that the young consumers all over the world are coveted.

It prefers to be placed in Urban Outifitters, a popular fashion collection store that young people like, and even offers a series of cooperation with such "cool" stores, and is no longer willing to be placed on the shelves of mass retailers.

Moreover, the US entity retail environment is still not improving.

Hanesbrands expects the group's annual revenue will grow by only 2% in 2019, with organic sales expected to grow by about 3%.

The conservative forecast is mainly based on the cautious attitude towards the retail business in the US. The Group believes that more stores will be closed and retailers will go bankrupt in the future.

In this way, shifting the focus to the global market, especially the Asian market, is due to the development needs of the brand itself and the trend of the times.

Judging from the overall trend of sports trends, despite the constant noise of street wear, Champion and other brands that are between sports and trends still demonstrate the commercial potential of this trend with performance.

In the 2018 global luxury fashion industry report, Bain, a consultant, once again stressed that street apparel is still a key lever for luxury brands to attract new consumers and achieve growth, especially in the current industry environment dominated by social media.

According to the report data, in 2018, global personal luxury sales increased by 5% under the promotion of high-end street fashion products, the commercial value of the street trend was as high as 263 billion euros, and the demand for consumers continued to rise.

According to Piper Jaffray's survey of 6000 16 year old American consumers last year, the Z generation's demand for clothing and footwear with street style is soaring. Supreme, Vans, Champion and Tommy Hilfiger are among the group's attention list.

Bain partner Federica Levato has said that the pformation of people's lifestyle and dress patterns has a great impact on the development of the luxury fashion industry. 15 years ago, work uniforms were regarded as formal dress. Now sports shoes and sportswear gradually replace the status of high-heeled shoes and Western clothes in the workplace. Although Vans and Converse are not linked to luxury, the influential fashion bloggers and celebrities are used to mix up with luxury goods, and also affect the purchasing decisions of young consumers.

Relying on a logo and a simple basic paragraph, a hundred years old brand has achieved rapid "red", once again proves the "brand" magic to the industry, which is mainly due to the brand's enhanced output to its own DNA.

Based on this, with the right business decisions and the right timing, the brand can still burst into new energy.

Of course, Champion has to be alert to changes in the tastes of younger generation consumers.

It needs to keep asking yourself how brand is more special than logo.

Author: Drizzie