Not long ago, we saw from the trends of KITH, Aimé Leon Dore and NOAH in the past two years that many trendy brands have separated their positioning from the inherent stereotype of street units and gradually turned to a boutique development path. With adidas unveiling its new high-end series A-Type last week, the same trajectory seems to be beginning to be laid out in the sports brand field, but the end points that the two are trying to achieve are different. The former is high fashion, while the latter is real luxury. product market.
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Adidas
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Adidas
According to existing information, adidas' A-Type series is dedicated to reshaping classic items with high-end fabrics: Firebird sportswear, Sprinter shorts, Airliner bags, Superstar shoes, all remade in leather and hand-made by European studios ; It also includes jewelry items such as earrings and necklaces, covering almost all items of an orthodox luxury brand. Even the models in the blockbuster movies are luxurious specifications, and LV's image ambassador Pusha T and brand friend Tyshawn Jones both appeared. The collection is currently only available to friends and family, but according to BOF, the collection ranges from $500 to $3,000, with the Superstar shoe priced at about $800 and the full sportswear priced at about $2,700.
adidas is not the first brand to raise the banner and enter the luxury market with high profile. Last year, Jodan Brand also launched a high-end product series called “Jordan Wings” in Greater China. Each item was created in Italy, and It highlights its luxury positioning with fine cutting and precious materials, and its pricing is also so high that it is no less than that of many luxury brands. Under the double shadows of the sluggish growth of the luxury industry and the continuous cooling of the sneaker market, the luxury “experiment” of sports brands is destined to be full of thorns. So why should we step into this journey again and be more likely to be a muddy water of defeat?
Strategic breakthrough: From technical inversion to profit breakthrough
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Adidas
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Adidas
The blurring of the boundaries between luxury brands and sports brands became popular in 1998. Jil Sander and adidas cooperation project. To date, luxury brands have long embraced the wave of sportswear and sneakers through cooperation and series of products. Dior x Nike, Gucci x adidas, Balenciaga x Under Armour, to name a few; on the other hand, most sports giants have also shown their ambition to “cross the class”, whether it is high-priced branch brands such as adidas Y-3 or Puma Black Label that cooperate with fashion designers, or launches emphasis on Co-branded and limited edition items that incorporate craftsmanship and luxurious elements. Adidas' A-Type and Jordan Brand's Jordan Wings go one step further, directly classifying themselves into the world of luxury goods.
The motivations of sports brands to enter the luxury field are complex and diverse. What is obvious is that the innovation marginal benefits of functional sports equipment (such as running shoes and training clothes) are diminishing, and the brand is in the dilemma of “technical inversion”, and the price war compresses profit margins, which is luxury. Cultivation may become an export for differentiated competition, and to some extent it can also be called strategic innovation. Past industry reports and analysis show that the average gross profit margin of luxury brands is generally between 60% and 70%, which is far higher than the 40%-50% of sports brands. In addition, sports brands can quickly replicate luxury crafts with their experience in large-scale production. (such as hand sewing) and controlling costs can significantly improve brand profitability.
As the top category of sports brands, the bursting of its secondary market bubble (the transaction volume of sneaker trading platforms such as StockX has dropped sharply), which also forces brands to urgently reconstruct scarcity narratives through luxury. Therefore, the luxury move, for the sneaker category, is to tell the new story of classic shoes from more diverse dimensions. Design and technological innovation seem to be not within the scope of its initial stages. It is also the reason why A-Type and Jordan Wings bring only advanced iterations of ICON shoes such as Superstar and AJ1. This can be seen from the speech of Torben Schumacher, global general manager of adidas Originals: “Classic shoes such as Samba, Gazelle and Campus are coming back to popularity. We feel that it is the telling of our most representative product story now. Good time. ”
In addition, the lack of functionality of traditional luxury brands also provides a market gap for sports brands. Although there are many examples such as Prada launching Linea Rossa luxury sports branch line, there is no doubt that the development of functional technology by luxury brands The investment is much lower than sports brands, and they usually prioritize fashion attributes and luxury looks over comfort, practicality and functionality. Those high-net-worth consumer groups who hope that products can meet both sports functionality and social attributes are potential growth points for sports brands in the high-end field.
Contradiction Reef: Identity Segment and Supply Chain Game
Traditionally, sports brands are based on functionality, accessibility and mass market attractiveness, which has also led to their core consumer groups paying more attention to the “cost-performance ratio” of products. In the process of brands trying to become extravagant, they will inevitably reshape their identities and Narrative logic – emphasizing uniqueness, high-end fabrics and exquisite craftsmanship, this transformation is challenging because it can cause confusion about the brand awareness of consumers, for example, the NikeLab ESC, which once priced Nike, has improved the brand. Tone, but some consumers think it is “too cold” and is inconsistent with Nike's athletic spirit.
Luxury consumers may be skeptical of the authenticity of brands in the high-end field. Most of the factors that affect their consumption decisions are concentrated on brand history and cultural accumulation. This is the money that luxury brands invest astronomical money over a long period of time The moat built is by no means achieved overnight, but is formed over time through brand stories, classic symbols, craftsmanship, cultural cooperation, celebrity influence, immersive experience and digital innovation. Sports brands have relatively weak accumulation in related fields, and it may be difficult to convince consumers to establish a solid market position in the short term. In addition to the addition of brand value itself, unique aesthetic design is also an important factor for luxury consumers to pay a high premium. If you only stay at the level of using top-grade fabrics, and do not completely change the design ideas for this group, It is difficult to convince the market to let the public pay.
In terms of supply chain, there is also a conflict between the “scale production” of sports brands and the “fine operation” of luxury brands, the acquisition of high-end materials, the upgrading of production processes, the game of inventory management, and the original quality inspection system Incompatible, it can be said that every link on the link will face unprecedented challenges. At the same time, top-level materials are not meant to be the most suitable materials. How to meet the expectations of luxury consumers without sacrificing functionality is also a change. Propositions that need to be solved in the process.
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Jordan Brand
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Jordan Brand
Sports brands are bound to be in the luxury field, and as mentioned at the title and beginning of this article, brands are still in the “experimental” stage. Jordan Wings' first series was exclusively released in Beijing last March. Some of the shoes performed differently on domestic second-hand sneaker trading platforms, but most of them can be purchased at prices lower than the original price. The second series is almost A year later, the PSG co-branded series launched in January this year, one of which was priced at $7,500, was successfully discussed on the Internet. The A-Type series of adidas is not yet known when it will be released, but Schumacher said that the brand learned from many partners that the market has demand for higher-quality adidas products, “We definitely believe in customers.”
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to understand this luxury “experiment” of sports brands as a carefully planned market breakthrough strategy. Through luxury series or branches, brands try to stand out in the seriously homogeneous sports market and deepen their brand leadership. image. Its core purpose is not to compete head-on with traditional luxury brands, but to establish differentiated advantages in the sports field by improving product tone and scarcity. Luxury is more like a means of “brand upgrade”, aiming to break the price ceiling of functional products, while using high-end narratives to attract consumers who pursue quality and pay attention to identity. In this way, whether the “experiment” succeeded seems to be insignificant.
