During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, with the in-depth integration of national fitness and national health, outdoor sports have gradually become a popular form of exercise for the public. As of the end of 2021, the number of people participating in outdoor sports nationwide has exceeded 400 million. As the number of participants continues to grow, the total scale of the outdoor sports industry exceeds 3 trillion yuan. Affected by this, sportswear and functional clothing will also usher in new growth points.
Policy dividends boost the sports textile market
In early November, eight departments including the State Sports General Administration and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “Outdoor Sports Industry Development Plan (2022-2025)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”), providing further policies for the development of the outdoor sports industry. Guarantee is of great significance to promoting the high-quality development of the outdoor sports industry.
Data shows that the global sportswear retail market will reach US$666.2 billion in 2021, and is expected to exceed US$950 billion in 2026; the Chinese market will be 371.8 billion yuan in 2021, and is expected to exceed 660 billion yuan in 2026. With the “rise of the national trend”, Nike and Adidas, which originally occupied half of the domestic sports shoes and apparel market, have fallen from the altar and shown varying degrees of negative growth. Looking back at domestic sports brands, the “turbulent” situation is emerging.
A four-way elastic weaving company revealed that since the beginning of this year, the company’s order volume has shrunk to varying degrees compared with previous years. Entering November, the factory’s operating rate remains at 70%-80%, and orders are mainly for high-elastic fabrics. This fabric is mainly supplied to a domestic sports brand, which has been placing orders one after another from the beginning of the year to the present. Some orders have even been arranged until the beginning of next year, and the overall quantity has accumulated to hundreds of thousands of meters. Since there are no middlemen making profit on this fabric, the profit performance is acceptable. From the company’s description, we can see how valuable it is to have a high-quality and stable customer in today’s market environment.
Affected by policy dividends and the substitution of national trends, the rise in sales of domestic sports brands has brought a certain “feedback” effect to upstream fabric companies, which has boosted the entire sports textile market to varying degrees.
Technology changes life, and sports fabrics open a new era
Outdoor clothing is popular among consumers because it integrates functionality, comfort and fashion, and is suitable for a wide range of wearing occasions. Sales have shown a growth trend in the past two years. According to statistics, the total sales of outdoor functional clothing in the spring and summer of 2021 reached 5.868 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 21.86% in spring and 17.07% in summer.
Outdoor sports require outdoor clothing that can not only adapt to harsh weather and complex geographical environments, but also ensure the personal safety of the athletes. This requires outdoor fabrics to have multiple functions such as waterproof, windproof, breathable, water pressure resistant, warm, sweat-wicking, and UV-resistant.
A fabric company specializing in outdoor sports and urban sports said that in the hot summer, the company launched an icy Vita fabric, which was deeply loved by customers. This fabric is made of nylon-coated spandex, which has its own cooling gene, is light and silky, has super elasticity, and can recover efficiently after stretching. In addition, this fabric also combines the bionic technology independently developed by the company. During exercise, moisture can be directly discharged from the body through the spiral channel. It is a “breathing” technological fabric. The price of this fabric, which combines so many advantages, has been rising all the time, with the highest price exceeding 30 yuan/meter. In the cold winter, the company mainly promotes a down jacket fabric made of fully recycled yarns. This fabric not only reduces the carbon footprint, but also breaks the limitations of fabric use scenarios. Highly waterproof and moisture-permeable technology and ultra-high color fastness make the fabric weatherproof. During exercise, down jackets equipped with this fabric can “breathe with you”, bringing consumers a “zero burden” comfortable experience.
The sudden epidemic has caused more and more people to join urban light outdoor activities. The sales of more than one million meters of the above-mentioned companies are enough to prove the unlimited potential of outdoor sports fabrics.
To sum up, when outdoor sports such as cycling, skiing, camping, and Frisbee are popular all over the Internet, the demand for outdoor clothing with both technological content and multi-functionality is released, and it has won the favor of many consumers. A new trend in the textile industry has arrived, and new fabrics with a green, healthy and technological feel will become a powerful tool for brands to explore emerging markets and increase the added value of products.
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