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interface news reporter | huang shan

interface news editor | xu yue

recently, outdoor functional clothing brandsSURPINEsongye pai has released a functional underwear designed for skiing and outdoor sports. the product is made of a cashmere and wool blend and is said to be able to meet the multi-functional needs of quick drying, sweat removal, and warmth during outdoor sports.

according to the official introduction of matsuno pai, this new cashmere wool functional underwear is suitable for five major sports scenes including skiing, skating, hiking, mountaineering, cycling, etc.“sports sensation”, that is, keeping warm, moisture-absorbent and breathable, anti-bacterial and odor-resistant, and comfortable and fitting.

currently, this functional underwear has been pre-sold on songyepai wechat applet and tmall store, priced at1099this is also the most expensive functional underwear item since the founding of matsuno pai.

tianyanchaAPPdata shows that the entity behind song ye pai is“shanghai songyepai technology co., ltd.”, founded in2018year11moon18before founding songye pai, zhao bing worked for nike, semir group and nielsen.

according to public information so far, other core founding team members of songye pai have experience working in the world's top companies and institutions in the high-performance fiber and textile industries. therefore, textile technology innovation and r&d capabilities have become songye pai's core selling point.

at 5y capital2024year1at a sharing session held in february, zhao bing mentioned that the reason why he chose to start a business from the skin layer of skiing was to“verify the underlying r&d capabilities of our team.”

when people do outdoor skiing, they usually follow“three-layer dressing method”, that is, dress in three layers: the base layer, the middle layer and the outer layer. these three layers of clothing should meet the different functional needs of the human body when skiing outdoors. usually, the outer layer should be windproof and waterproof, the middle layer should keep warm, and the inner layer should be comfortable, quick-drying and warm.

at present, the outdoor sports market is dominated by sports brands that focus on outdoor jackets and functional jackets, including arc'teryx, descente,Helly Hansen, the north face and other brands.

in the terminal market, consumers often purchase functional underwear through underwear brands, mature commercial sports brands such as li ning, nike, decathlon, and even mass clothing brands such as uniqlo that also sell quick-drying and breathable fabric clothing. in the market, there are few clothing brands that provide consumers with functional underwear for sports.

matsuno pai saw a gap in this niche market and took advantage of it to enter the professional outdoor sports market that emphasizes performance.

zhao bing mentioned in the above sharing session,“by entering from this level (the deeper level) and combining it with our own r&d capabilities, we can quickly let consumers feel the difference in our products. this is how we can enter the market in the short term.”

according to matsuno pai, the reason for starting with the outdoor skiing scene is that when doing this outdoor sport, the body sensations of different parts of the human body vary greatly, and the functional requirements are also different.the chest will sweat a lot, the elbows need to be flexible to facilitate movement, and the armpits need to be antibacterial and breathable while sweating.

therefore, the multifunctionalsports brait is a test of matsuno pai's r&d capabilities, but if done well it is also a showcase.

in fact, relying on the experience of oem for international high-end brands over the past decades, chinese textile and apparel suppliers have already possessed the world's leading textile fabric and apparel r&d capabilities. many chinese local suppliers with advanced manufacturing and production capabilities hope to create more profits in the current consumer market. it is a common practice to create independent brands and achieve brand upgrades. in addition to creating branded clothing, outdoor brands are also a hot area at present, because consumers are willing to pay for high-quality outdoor sports shoes and clothing products with high premiums.

however, similar to the beauty industry, the sportswear market is also full of giants and fierce competition. in this market that has long been dominated by overseas sportswear giants, it is not easy for chinese local sports brands to survive.

a common practice is that local brands have found niche areas in the red ocean. these are blank spots that the giants often don't spend energy to enter, but they have become the key for chinese local sports brands to gain a foothold.

for example, a local outdoor brand that recently completed a b round of financing of tens of millions of yuanuppervoid launched groundbreaking items such as "china's first anti-static fleece jacket" and "the world's first inflatable adjustable thermal clothing" at the beginning of its establishment. it also pioneered the niche category of "post-match shoes" to be worn after various sports.

for example, jiaoxia has launched different levels of sun protection clothing for various outdoor sports scenes, from lightweight to hardcore, to meet people's various sun protection needs from urban outdoor to mountain and snowy mountains. because it saw the market gap ignored by sports giants and accurately grasped the physical sun protection needs of chinese consumers, jiaoxia is now regarded as the "no. 1 outdoor sun protection brand."

it is not difficult to see that matsuno pai,two latitudes, bananathe reason why these emerging local sports or outdoor brands can stand out is that they have a relatively strong supply chain foundation or r&d capabilities, and then they work deeply in a market segment. after gaining a foothold, they expand their product categories horizontally to compete with the top or mid-level outdoor and sports brands.

looking back2020to2023year5during the month, songye pai launched head-to-toe close-fitting products for the outdoor skiing market, including face protectors, hoods, quick-drying clothes, sports socks, gloves, protective gear and other items.

tianyanchaAPPthe data shows that during this period, matsuno pai applied for7patents, including1utility model patents,4design patents and2among them is a patent for a helmet-style fully-formed multifunctional sports face protector.

as it contains self-developed patented technology, the price of songye pai's outdoor sports functional underwear is not low. the top three items in the sales ranking on songye pai's official wechat applet are women's ski mid-high collar quick-drying warm autumn and winter compression clothing, men's quick-drying warm autumn and winter compression clothing, and women's sports functional quick-drying underwear suitable for multiple scenarios, with prices of529yuan,529yuanhe449the lowest-priced sports outdoor socks cost199yuan.

with the r&d of outdoor skiing underwear technology as its selling point, songye pai is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market.2022year10in january, the company received tens of millions of rmb in angel round financing, which was exclusively invested by 5y capital. according to the information disclosed by 5y capital at that time, this round of investment“the funds will be used for (matsuno pai) product research and development, brand upgrading, business development and team expansion.”

after obtaining financing, the speed of product development and new product launch of songye pai has increased significantly.2023since the year, matsuno pai has applied for8patents, including2utility model patents and other6the patents are appearance patents. among them, there is a patent for seamless knitted sportswear with composite functions and a patent for sports knitted fabric with transverse moisture conduction. these two patents mainly meet the functions of quick drying and high elasticity and comfort.

on this basis, matsuno pai2023this year's snow season, we launched a quick-drying base layer made of merino wool, which incorporates a patented one-way moisture-wicking technology. this product is priced at799yuan, is the second most expensive item currently priced by matsuno pai.2024the new cashmere and wool blended functional underwear launched in the autumn and winter of 2018 is2023further experiments based on the wool model of 2011.

the launch of these two products is another example of songye pai's targeting the mid- to high-end consumer market. at the aforementioned sharing session, zhao bing mentioned that the high price of quick-drying underwear made of merino wool blend is an attempt to judge consumption upgrades.“from(2023year)8so far this month, product sales and feedback have exceeded our expectations.”

at present, songye pai will continue to strengthen the brand's product technology innovation capabilities and strong functionality in the field of outdoor sports.2024new autumn and winter products, songye pai also proposed at the recent press conference“reconstructing the sense of motion”the new brand positioning is to plan to create reliable and innovative composite somatosensory outdoor equipment in the long term to meet the needs of multiple outdoor sports scenarios.

since it placed product performance at the core from the very beginning, songye pai mainly relied on offline stores opened by sports dealers to develop the market in the early days of its establishment.“with limited resources, our first priority in the first year was to verify the product. when brand power was zero, the fastest way to verify the product was to let the people who understood the product best or could give feedback the fastest experience it.”

zhao bing said,“these ski equipment store dealers understand snow friends and ski enthusiasts very well. they are responsible for selling products to consumers and they purchase our products with real money to sell.”

as of press time, the automatic reply from songye pai’s wechat official account showed that its brand products have covered the whole country.95%the above large indoor and outdoor ski resorts have more than150a professional snow equipment and outdoor comprehensive store.2021after that, songye pai successively opened the brand's official wechat mini-program mall and tmall flagship store.