2024 Fujian Textile Footwear New Product Promotion Conference Held In Jinjiang

A few days ago, at the 2024 Fujian Textile Footwear New Product Promotion Conference held in Jinjiang, functional clothing became the "sweet cake" of concern.

Whether it is a public brand, a professional outdoor brand, a sports brand, or a supplier in the upstream of the industrial chain, "function" is regarded as the standard configuration of products.

　　 Functional clothing takes the lead

Dai Huilian, senior manager of 361 ° R&D Center, introduced the "particle heat effect" thermal clothing at the 2024 Fujian Textile Footwear New Product Promotion Conference.

This is an innovative product carefully polished for 361 ° years. This garment adopts high rate supercritical foaming particles and innovative 3D three-dimensional fabric structure, breaking through the traditional boundaries and creating excellent warmth retention and comfortable wearing experience.

"By analyzing the heat distribution of the human body, we accurately positioned the key areas of warmth preservation, especially in the shoulder and other heat dissipating parts. Through the innovative design of 3D three-dimensional fabric, we realized the uniform distribution of particles, effectively isolated the outside cold, while maintaining the lightness and comfort of clothing." Dai Huilian introduced the application of environmentally friendly supercritical ETPU foam particles, It not only improves the thermal performance of clothing, but also highlights the concept of sustainable development. Its differentiated layout design can optimize moisturizing performance, improve wearing comfort and cope with extreme cold weather, meeting the market demand for high-performance clothing.

"Consumers are paying more and more attention to their own comfort." Dai Huilian said that how to better empower clothing and make functional clothing meet consumer needs is his research direction.

According to the market research report of Outdoor Products Branch of China Textile Commerce Association, although the per capita consumption amount of outdoor products in China is less than 1/4 of the European and American markets, there is huge room for growth in the future, and minority sports continue to boom. China's outdoor sports industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.2%, and the market size is expected to reach 37.1 billion dollars in 2030.

At present, people's health awareness has been further improved, and sports has become a fashionable lifestyle. Whether in family entertainment or professional fields, various sports are becoming the leader of fashion, and sports apparel has become an important part of many consumers' wardrobes.

Sportswear is no longer exclusive to sports and fitness. Sportswear that is comfortable and can be worn out is very popular. This trend makes the sportswear market full of vitality. "Going to work" has become one of the most popular words this year. More and more "migrant workers" go out of the office to ride, hike, climb mountains, and participate in marathons to get close to nature and release pressure.

According to CCTV financial data, the number of people who often participate in physical exercise in China has exceeded 500 million. Sports are becoming a part of our life. According to data, the market size of China's sports shoes and clothing will reach 492.6 billion yuan in 2023, and it is expected that the market size of China's sports shoes and clothing will reach 598.9 billion yuan by 2025.

　　 Large fish can be raised in small ponds

Every surge in the clothing industry is a concrete manifestation of the deep changes in the consumer market.

From the perspective of consumers, "function" is the reason to persuade themselves to shop - two T-shirts are both 200 yuan, one is cool and fast drying, the other is not, then the former looks more cost-effective. In addition, when consumers are confused about "whether to buy another T-shirt or not since they already have a lot of T-shirts and pants at home", "function" plays the role of "pushing".

Such subtle consumer psychology is related to changes in the general environment. "Low price and high quality" is the biggest certainty of today's consumer market. For this reason, the e-commerce platform should optimize the mechanism internally and compete "price power" externally, while brands should strive to find a balance among price cuts, brand tonality, business growth and other issues. By adding more added value to products or providing more services, consumers will be given the experience of "value for money". The current popularity of "function" in the clothing market is actually the expression of this idea.

In fact, there have been successful cases in history. In 2006, UNIQLO launched a thinner and warmer HEATTECH series of products, and in 2008, it promoted them to the world. Based on "high functionality+high cost performance", Uniqlo has been favored by consumers, and its profits grew against the trend. The company also raised its sales forecast the next year. Even today, Uniqlo still adheres to a similar strategy.

In the new consumption era, the consumption scene and demand are becoming more and more diversified and subdivided, but the small pond can also produce big fish. As long as the market segment is maximized, it can also successfully occupy the category mind and make the brand bigger and stronger.

The market segments are used to meet the needs of different functional scenes, such as outdoor sports, yoga, mountaineering, etc. Among them, the most noteworthy case is lululemon, which has become a world-famous clothing brand, but initially started from the female yoga market segment. Its founder Wilson believed that there was no sportswear specifically designed for women in the market at that time, and the demand for women's sportswear was not met.

Over the years, the development trend of functional clothing has gradually shifted from what we know as "work clothes" and "sportswear" to more daily use. On the premise of better combination of function and fashion, more specific scenes can be subdivided. From the perspective of products, technologies and processes, it is mainly high-performance, multi-functional and environmentally friendly. From the market trend, it is mainly healthy and comfortable, spreading from the minority to the public, and from the professional field to the civil field. With the development of technology, it is becoming more and more refined, with more and more diversified functions, and more and more subdivided user application scenarios. It can be said that the development of science and technology has promoted the functional improvement of clothing and the expansion of application fields.

　　 Raw material innovation occupies the commanding height

Of course, "function" does not mean adding as much as you want. Brands must find the function points that fit the consumption trend, so as to create new attraction for the existing product line.

Wang Ning, director of the Science and Technology Development Department of the China Textile Industry Federation, said that the Global Innovation Index (GII) in 2024 recorded the innovation ecosystem performance of 133 economies and tracked the latest global innovation trends. As one of the few innovative middle-income economies, China has made remarkable progress in its innovation performance, and is the only middle-income economy among the top 30.

Wang Ning believes that the new wave of scientific and technological revolution has deepened the reform of the textile industry. New materials, new energy, artificial intelligence, biological manufacturing, green low-carbon and other cutting-edge technological innovation and multidisciplinary and multi field integration innovation provide an important path for the textile industry to enhance its value, stimulate the emergence of new products, new business forms and even new industries, lead the future of modern textile industry, and nurture the future textile industry.

Starting from the raw material side is a common choice for most brands at present.

Take the market of assault suit, which is showing a significant growth trend, for example, its popularity and sales are rising continuously. During the "Double 11" promotion activity this year, the "three in one" sportswear still ranked at the top of the clothing sales list. According to the data, from August 2023 to September 2024, the sales of assault suit on mainstream e-commerce platforms have exceeded the "10 billion mark", and its market is growing rapidly. It is widely believed in the industry that there is almost only one way to do high-end stormcoat - "roll" fabric.

GORE-TEX is almost synonymous with high-end in the field of assault suit. 20 to 30 yuan per meter for ordinary fabrics; Some businesses will also choose fabrics from Toray, which cost 80~200 yuan per meter; GORE-TEX fabric costs from 100 yuan to 1000 yuan per meter. For ready-made clothes, a 175cm high jacket needs at least two meters of materials, and the fabric cost accounts for about 35% of the total cost of the jacket.

In September 2023, Anta launched the first self-developed high-performance waterproof and moisture permeable material in China, named "Anta Film", which was applied to the Anta Storm Armor assault suit. This garment is positioned as a comfortable storm proof submachine suit. Last month, 361 ° released a self-developed fabric called "Screen Technology", which was applied to assault suits and waterproof running shoes. According to 361 °, the self-developed technology "focuses on the functional points of hexagonal all-around soldiers" in terms of waterproof, moisture permeable, warm, windproof, antifouling and wear resistance. The price of the corresponding fabric products is 400~600 yuan.

The comfort and functionality of clothing cannot be separated from the blessing of fabrics. Similarly, innovative technology will still be the core competitiveness of fabric enterprises. Zhang Hanhong, the relevant person in charge of Xiangxing Technology Innovation Center, said that raw materials are the basis of product development and the focus of consumers. Only by occupying the commanding height from the raw materials can product innovation be impossible to imitate.

"Consumers are increasingly inclined to upgrade the functional requirements such as the convenience and ease of care of commuting clothes to improve commuting efficiency. Xiangxing 2025/2026 autumn and winter down jacket fabric will focus on light and soft, and further upgrade lightweight materials and processing technology to make down jacket lightweight and warm and durable, widely used in outdoor sports, fashion and leisure and other styles of down design. " Zhang Hanhong pointed out that Xiang Xing introduced Lightwing, an ultra light, gall free, velvet proof fabric, which is woven from ultra fine denier nylon fiber, weighing less than 30g per square meter. The fabric is light, thin and soft. It is delicate and skin friendly, and the upper body is as light as nothing, like the second layer of skin. How light is it? The weight of one super fine denier fiber is equal to 1/7 of the hair.

"Why do consumers choose your products? Unique and irreplaceable products are the biggest strength of enterprises." Zhu Chengyan, professor of the School of Textile Science and Engineering (International Silk College) of Zhejiang University of Technology, pointed out that the uniqueness of products is mainly reflected in three aspects: first, product functionality, including comfort; Second, special style, including fabric surface texture, surface gloss, drapability, etc; Third, advanced concepts or concepts, such as green environmental protection, bio based, renewable cycle, low-carbon, biodegradable, etc. The functional features of the product can be made into permanent functional and comfortable products through functional fiber materials, and can also be realized through functional finishing.

The development of an enterprise cannot be separated from the development of products. For a healthy enterprise or industry, products and technology are the basis for survival. Only through vigorous research and development, leading consumption with technology, and manufacturing demand with products, can we inject real vitality into enterprises.

Dai Huilian also agrees with this. She said that in this era, the ability of a single enterprise is not enough, especially in research and development. In particular, the research and development of functional products needs more cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises, as well as cross-border cooperation in various fields. Kone R&D in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain can help enterprises achieve the maximum value at the lowest cost. (Reporter Shi Shanmei and Dong Yanjun)

(Source: Jinjiang Economic News)