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when wang manman, a girl born in 1995, puts on her jacket, fastens the buttons and lifts the zipper to her chin, the word "full aura" has a concrete expression in her mind.

for wang manman, all he needs to get such "emotional value" is an arc'teryx "replacement", and the price is only 339 yuan, which is less than one-tenth of the price of arc'teryx.

"as daily commuting wear, i don't care what kind of waterproof technology this jacket uses. as long as it is breathable and warm, it is enough. of course, the most important thing is that it looks good." in wang manman's view, such functional requirements and the price of 100 yuan is consistent, and she doesn't want to pay for the brand and extra functional value.

"replacement" has become a new battlefield for domestically produced jackets.

on the internet, arc’teryx’s jacket, lululemon yoga pants and salomon sneakers are called the “middle-class three-piece set”. jackets, which can easily cost several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, add a unique status symbol to their outdoor wear, and have become the social currency of the middle class.

young people also need such a symbol that reflects their lifestyle, especially after the "mountain style" fashion trend in the past two years. however, the frequently four-digit price has become a gap for young people to keep up with the trend.

under the general trend of consumption downgrade, "replacing" has become a way for young people to reconcile with themselves. just like after the lululemon fire, many domestic products and white brands received "replacement" dividends, arc'teryx's "replacement" has also become the traffic code of domestic jacket brands.

on social platforms, brands such as camel, pelliot, kelashi and pathfinder have all been "replaced" as arc'teryx. among them, luotuo was the first to receive the "replacement" bonus. during last year’s double 11, camel not only topped the sales list on tmall outdoor and douyin outdoor, but was also mentioned in the weibo hot search “there are more camels on the streets than in the desert”.

high cost performance, "famous" big name, coupled with social media promotion, the wealth fell on the camel. as early as 2022, arc'teryx ether blue jacket was hard to find, and some bloggers regarded the camel men's glacier gray jacket as a "substitute" for arc'teryx ether blue. as a result, this jacket was almost out of stock online for sizes below xxl. last year, ding zhen’s phantom black jacket, which was promoted by camel, “collided” with arc’teryx, once again triggering a buying craze. in terms of price, the average price of about 400 yuan is only one-tenth of the cheapest arc'teryx jacket.

in august this year, the first-generation trendy brand metersbonwe also proposed to "replace" arc'teryx and transform into an outdoor track. alphabet list (id: wujicaijing) has observed that first-generation fashion brands including metersbonwe, jeanswest, semir, yichun, tangshi and baleno have increased their attention to the category of jackets, with the help of new media such as douyin, video accounts and xiaohongshu. the channels have reached young people, and some have even appeared in the live broadcast rooms of major anchors. prices have also dropped further. take the semir jacket that was once featured in luo yonghao's live broadcast room as an example. the price starts at only 59 yuan.

in the past, the price of professional jackets was too high. these county brands just filled the low-price space of jackets. however, young people who are keen to buy "replacements" want not only low prices, but also quality, appearance and comfort. need to pass the test.

more importantly, no one knows how long this "outdoor urban style" that has emerged with social outdoor sports will last, especially for the first-generation fashion brands who want to become famous with their jackets.

at the end of autumn and winter, comes the jacket.but compared to the middle class who only love "birds, mice and elephants" (i.e. archaeopteryx, climbing rats, mammoths), most young people's first jackets are "alternatives" such as camel, decathlon and pathfinder.

trendiness, practicality and cost-effectiveness are the biggest motivations for young people to charge forward. "dirty-resistant and durable, suitable for business trips", the jacket has been dubbed the "worker's uniform". the rise of "mountain style" and "urban outdoor style" styles has also made jackets one of the most fashionable streetwear items.

"a jacket is not only the best cosmetic item for men, but also the best item for girls to look cool. in addition to basic neutral dressing styles such as a jacket + overalls/shark pants/yoga pants, you can also mix and match long skirts or denim shorts skirts, instantly enhance your sense of street wear. "when wang manman buys jackets, the most important thing is the design, followed by comfort, and finally functionality. "four to five hundred domestic brands can fully meet my needs."

as a white-collar worker who works in high-end office buildings in beijing's cbd, wang manman's consumption outlook today is far different from when he graduated six years ago. at that time, she had just started working and her salary was less than 7,000 yuan. she shared a house with her classmates in tongzhou, and had to squeeze in three or four subway trips on the batong line during the morning rush hour every day.

even so, she spent nearly 3,000 yuan to buy herself an mk bag as soon as she got her salary. for a long time, she avoided her colleagues during lunch and stayed some distance away from the company. the convenience bee went to nibble on the rice balls. "at that time, i just started working and i was very timid. i wanted to cheer myself up by wearing some big-name brands, and also hoped to integrate into the company atmosphere as soon as possible."

clothes are the most important external possessions that people rely on. in a sense, a person's dressing philosophy is also explaining "who i am" to the outside world. but with a salary of several thousand and a brand worth tens of thousands, the naughty young man became confused before he could prove who he was to the outside world.

source: ai generated

under the general trend of consumption downgrade, "replacing" has become a way for young people to reconcile with themselves. young people who couldn't afford archbird, plunged into the gentle land of domestic jacket brands.

a set of data from douyin shows that the price ranges that contribute the most to the sales of jackets on the platform are 300-500 yuan and 100-300 yuan. among them, the price range of 300 yuan to 500 yuan is the mainstream price range, accounting for 33.72% of the market size.

in last year's double 11 tmall outdoor brand sales rankings, the domestic brand camel jumped to first place, while last year's "champion" beifang retreated to second place. domestic brands such as pelliot, pathfinder, keleshi and anta have entered the list, and the sales list that has long been dominated by foreign brands has begun to loosen.

even because of their high cost performance, domestic jackets have taken over a lot of the market that originally belonged to down jackets and woolen coats. baidu index shows that last winter, the average daily search index for jackets surpassed that of down jackets. on social platforms, jackets have become a winter solution for young people who dislike down jackets for being expensive and military coats for being cheap. domestic jackets have not only become the “archaeopteryx replacement”, but have even become the “canada goose replacement.”

before the jacket, the last hot item of clothing was yoga pants. just like after the lululemon fire, many domestic products and white brands received "replacement" dividends, after arc'teryx broke out of the circle, domestic jacket brands also ushered in growth and attention, including not only county brands represented by camel and pelliot , even metersbonwe, jeanswest, semir, yichun, tang shi and baleno, these first-generation fashion brands that can hardly be found in offline stores, have also made great efforts to charge into the jacket category.

luotuo is one of the earliest and oldest brands in china's leather shoe industry. its predecessor can be traced back to the shachuan leather shoe factory established in 1930. it was one of the four most famous leather shoe factories in china at that time. the outdoor sports brand pelliot was founded in 2012 and is located in lixin county, bozhou city, anhui province.

in the impression of dadong, a boy born in the 1990s, luotuo sells shoes, is an outdoor brand that only his parents would buy, and represents the "earth flavor". pelliot has never heard of it. it wasn't until he was doing research on social platforms to buy jackets that he discovered that these two brands were accompanied by pictures and videos of trendy men and trendy women wearing them, and there was no hint of "earthy flavor" anywhere.

arc'teryx's popularity among young people is inseparable from the help of the internet. as the "archaeopteryx shower challenge" became popular on the short video platform tiktok, domestic social platforms were also compromised, triggering many young people to imitate it. many netizens are "thirsty for birds", and some of the official archbird flagship stores on some e-commerce platforms were even out of stock.

today, this is being carried forward by domestic brands that are better at social media marketing. last year, a transformation related to a jacket went viral on the internet. the jacket + mask + half-rim glasses + micro-fragment cover became a minimalist formula for an ordinary boy to become a handsome guy, and bloggers and netizens rushed to imitate it. in the video, many domestic brands of jackets appeared.

“when i watch short videos these days, one out of every 10 pieces of content is an advertisement for jackets.” dadong noticed that in the advertising videos he was pushed, the figures of first-generation trendy brands such as yichun and semir actually appeared. “ in one of the video clips, semir’s jacket was even featured in luo yonghao’s live broadcast room, and the background picture showed that the price starts at only 59 yuan.”

source: internet screenshot

for the post-90s generation like dadong, the first-generation trendy brands such as metersbonwe, jeanswest, semir, yichun, tangshi and baleno once dominated the commercial pedestrian streets of third- and fourth-tier cities, taking over their student wardrobes and becoming it captures the youthful memories of the generation born in the 80s and 90s.

however, as consumer demands and consumption scenarios change, the first-generation fashion brands that failed to turn around in time gradually began to decline, with performance declining, large-scale store closures, and gradually fading out of the public eye.

nowadays, the above-mentioned first-generation fashion brands that can hardly be found in offline stores have increased their sales of jackets and reached out to young people through new media channels such as douyin live broadcast rooms, wechat video accounts and xiaohongshu.

xiao xiao, a girl born in the 2000s, once bought a jacket from one of the brands at a price of less than 100 yuan. “i originally wanted to buy a jacket, but in the end i was attracted by the video of wearing jackets. for the price of an ordinary jacket, owning one is more resistant.” if you don’t like the jackets made by feng kang or they are worn out, it won’t be a pity to throw them away.” xiao xiao said that the price is similar to that of white brands, so he ultimately chose domestic brands because of the quality assurance.

the reason why jackets are so popular is due to their "social currency" attribute. this is also the usual "pua" consumer method for premium brands such as luxury goods and new consumption. it is also due to this kind of mental penetration that jackets only then can one go from being a middle-class person to a young person.

young people also need such a symbol, a symbol of "loving the outdoors" and a symbol of "being close to the middle class". therefore, many young people once lived frugally and saved money to buy archaeopteryx, and were keen on taking photos and posting pictures on social platforms.

however, with the arrival of the "fourth era of consumption", the pink bubble of consumption upgrade has been quickly blown away, and cost-effectiveness has become the greatest common denominator in the consumer society.

in the past, people used big-name brands to show off their spending power, but now, people are not ashamed of being frugal, they openly share their purchased cost-effective products, and are chased for links.

it is precisely because of this that "replacement" has become so popular that it has even become a consumption concept. on xiaohongshu, those posts that are keen to share about buying "big brand replacements" and "same-source factories" mostly have high views; the market value of pinduoduo, which specializes in white brands and low prices, once surpassed the e-commerce giant alibaba; while small and medium-sized enterprises once the 1688 purchased by merchants is popular among young people, and its downloads topped the apple app store free app rankings last year...

in an era where everything is replaceable, the contribution of young people as the main force in consumer trends cannot be underestimated. the "2024 mid-year consumption trend observation report" shows that when there is little difference in product quality and functionality, 57.2% of consumers are more inclined to choose substitute products. this ratio is particularly prominent among young groups such as those born in the 1990s and 2000s.

this also provides domestic brands and white brands with opportunities to counterattack, and more and more players are pouring in. domestic outdoor and sports brands such as camel, pathfinder, kailishi, anta and li ning were the first to enter the market, followed closely by new consumer brands such as mugaodi, nok, jiaoxia, jiaonei and moxun. even bosideng and down jacket brands such as yaya also regard jackets as the second growth curve of the brand.

nowadays, more and more first-generation fashion brands and white brands are also joining the game. not long ago, a brand repositioning press conference was held at metersbonwe, and they even bluntly stated that they would "replace" arc'teryx.

as the number of players increases, the homogeneity of products becomes more serious. almost every brand claims to have "black technology", and its selling points are mainly focused on being washable, light, and breathable. at the same time, the repurchase rate of jackets is low due to their durability, and domestic brands trapped in low prices obviously do not have an advantage.

domestic brands also have ambitions to hit the high end. last year, bosideng launched a three-in-one goose down jacket with an event price of 2,699 yuan. at the just-concluded ispo shanghai exhibition, camel launched a new brand - himalaya, which is positioned as a professional outdoor and covers cross-country running, high-altitude climbing and other majors. in outdoor scenes, the highest price of a jacket is 3,219 yuan, which is several times higher than the previous 500 yuan jacket.

however, in the high-end market, facing competitive pressure from internationally renowned brands such as arc'teryx and north face, how to stand out in the fierce market competition will also be an important issue for the future development of domestic brands.