In an era of increasing diversity and inclusion, women will have more freedom to dress, and the blossoming footwear market is the inevitable result of an inclusive social atmosphere, where you can choose comfort and I can choose beauty.
Author |Qingling.
Edit |Eucommia.
* |Tidesight (ID: Tidesight).
Recently, the veteran women's shoe giant Thousand International Holdings***01029HK, hereinafter referred to as "Qian") and the offeror, Orchid Valley Holdings Limited, issued a joint announcement announcing that all of the issued shares of Qianqian will be acquired by a cash offer.
The announcement also mentioned that the offeror intends to allow the Group to further enhance its product positioning, increase its focus on the development of new retail business, seek new business models and expand the sustainable development of its offline business in China, while seeking cooperation and integration with high-quality peers in the industry.
No matter what the future operation trend is, there is a high probability that it will become the second local women's shoe company to withdraw from the secondary market after Belle.
Although in the first half of the year, many women's shoe brands such as Daphne, Qian, and Red Dragonfly were able to achieve both revenue and profit growth, but they were beyond the reach of the peak.
In the past, high heels were regarded as a "** gift" for women, but nowadays, more and more girls are beginning to rebel against the shackles of "femininity", and high heels, which are a symbol of "femininity", are no longer sacred.
Rao is so, it is indeed inappropriate to generally think that high heels are no longer needed, and the entry of "high heels" on Xiaohongshu has nearly 2 million notes and 1.34 million products, how to wear and how to evaluate high heels are also popular entries.
Maybe high heels are still a symbol of beauty, but they no longer become the "foot wrap" for women, and women don't have to rely on a pair of high heels to prove that they are attractive, they have the right to take off high heels in pursuit of comfort, and they also have the right to wear high heels for beauty.
The freedom to dress may be the first step for women to get rid of "beauty service".
The introduction of high heels into China is the result of the westerly wind.
* Period, high heels followed foreign guns and foreign cannons into China. At that time, cheongsam became a fashionable clothing for women, and high heels gradually became the main shoes for women to wear cheongsam and skirts. Zhang Ailing once recalled in her book "Tong Yan Wuji": "At the age of eight, I want to comb Aisi's hair, and at the age of ten, I want to wear high heels." ”
* After the high heels entered a long dormant period, until the closed door gradually opened after the 80s, the loose high heels reappeared in the market with the westerly wind moving eastward again.
During this period, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland film and television dramas complemented each other, and women's dresses with big waves, big earrings and high heels swept the country with film and television dramas, becoming the first fashion lesson for thousands of girls.
The baptism of pop culture and the wave of consumerism have given birth to the emergence of women's footwear.
In 1995, Chen Yixi left the civil service and co-founded Nanjing Miramar Shoes, where he named the company's first women's shoes "Qian" after a Chinese major, and since then, the company has developed sister brands such as Yiban, Sun Dance and Mio.
It was also the era of "shoe kings".
In 1990, Chen Xianmin, who came from a Taiwanese shoemaking family, founded Daphne and focused on the mainland market. At that time, there were not many advertisements for women's shoes on TV, and in order to seize the market, Daphne took out 10 million yuan to advertise in the first year, and "100 points for beauty, no discount for beauty" resounded in thousands of households.
In the same year that Chen Xianmin founded Daphne's predecessor, Yongen Group, Hong Kong's Deng Yao opened his first factory in Shenzhen, and in the following years, he gradually penetrated the brand into the mainland market, and this brand was the "shoe king" Belle from 2009 to 2017, which ranked first in the women's shoe market.
From Hong Kong to the mainland, Deng Yao needs to find a general manager named Zhang**. He quit his teacher's "iron rice bowl" from Shenyang and went south to Shenzhen to pan for gold, and met Deng Yao while doing shoe wholesale. The two hit it off to form a joint venture to build Belle's sales channel on the mainland, which is Saturday.
But the good times did not last long, the rapid expansion of the market, so that Belle ate the bitter fruit of being "copycat", and then Belle gradually tightened the exclusive distribution rights until terminated, Zhang ** also parted ways with it, with Saturday as the brand, began to focus on women's shoes.
The "shoe kings" who grew up in the 90s soon ushered in the millennium, and idol dramas began to sweep the country, with Taiwanese puppets, Korean dramas and mainland idol dramas leading a generation of girls' yearning for high heels
In Meteor Garden, Fujido Jing contributed a classic quote: Every woman needs a good pair of shoes, and it will take you to a beautiful place;In "My Love from the Star", pushing open Qian Songyi's shoe cabinet is a dazzling array of high heels.
Film and television works have catalyzed consumers' yearning for high heels, and their yearning has also achieved the era of "shoe kings".
In May 2010, under the leadership of Chan Yixi, Hongguo International, which had been listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange for 7 years, was privatized and renamed Chi Zhuan Channel Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
From 2011 to 2015, the revenue per thousand increased from 204.3 billion yuan increased to 304.5 billion yuan;In 2015, the number of stores reached a peak of 2,298, including 1,754 directly operated stores and 544 third-party retail stores.
Daphne's splendor came much earlier. In 2012, Daphne had a total of 6,881 stores under its brands, reaching a historical peak, and its revenue reached 105HK$2.9 billion.
From 2007 to 2011, Belle's stores increased from 3,828 to 14,950, equivalent to 2,780 stores per year, and 7 new stores per day.
In 2012, Belle's brands accounted for 5 of the top 10 women's shoes market share in China, and the company's overall market share was as high as 129%, the then CEO Sheng Baijiao once said: Wherever women pass by, there must be Belle.
Zhu Hong, a professor at Nanjing University, found in a survey many years ago that more than one girl sees high heels as a transition from a girl to a woman, and the suppression of their "adult desires" by parents and schools just affirms the value of high heels as a "gift".
But looking at the current social trend, the so-called "girl", "princess" and even "queen" and other words have begun to have a different interpretation of the previous era, and it is difficult for high heels to be equated with "** ceremony".
In this year's hit drama "Good Things Come in Pairs", the male protagonist Wei Ming coaxed his daughter to wear a princess dress in order to take her to participate in company activities, but was pushed away by his daughter: "I don't want to be a little princess!.""Film and television dramas use children's voices to express resistance to the "princess" narrative, highlighting the growing influence of feminism.
When the post-95s and post-00s began to really enter the society, they were shocked to find that the current situation of women's survival in contemporary society is not optimistic, and the "pink bubble" woven by high heels will burst at the touch of a touch, and they no longer care about "** etiquette", or even "**".
The germination of women's subjective consciousness makes them abandon the evaluation imposed by the outside world, and pay more attention to their own physical and mental pleasure, and the change of tide makes the high heels that are regarded as "** rites" have another layer of interpretation - "beautiful torture equipment", and punishing themselves for beauty is called "American service".
According to the German newspaper "Sunday", American doctors have observed women's foot pain for 15 years and found that 75% of foot problems are blamed on high heels.
There has been a wave of opposition to high heels in the fashion world. In 2016, on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival, Julia Roberts took off her shoes for the first time on the red carpet ** rules that must be entered in high heels. In the same year, Susan Sarandon also wore black pointed-toe flats with a black suit when she appeared on the Cannes red carpet.
The rebellion against high heels even formed a social movement. A few years ago, Japan broke out in the "No High Heels Movement", and the tweet of the founder of the movement, Yumi Ishikawa, received 670,000 likes and 30,000 times**, which was once submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. From top stars to ordinary amateurs, women began to take the initiative to kick away their high heels because of their resistance to society's gaze and discipline.
In addition to the change in the direction of the tide, the first generation of "shoe kings" themselves also missed the opportunity for the development of the times.
In 2009, ** Jingdong and Vipshop were gaining momentum, but Daphne tried to start anew, investing 30 million yuan and jointly building the e-commerce platform Yaodian 100. This not only burned Daphne's investment, but also dragged down Daphne's e-commerce business.
Belle has also tried to do vertical e-commerce, in 2008 self-built electronic ** Taoxiu network, and in 2011 Taoxiu network merged into the B2C platform Yougou network, but two attempts did not make a splash.
When it was delisted in 2017, Belle CEO Sheng Baijiao even admitted that the 65-year-old himself could not open a computer or use WeChat, let alone understand the e-commerce of the new era.
Since 2015, the "shoe kings" have fallen into a bottleneck of development.
Daphne, which has been the No. 1 women's shoe brand in mainland China for five consecutive years, suffered its first loss in a decade in 2015, with net profit falling by more than 300% year-on-year, and it was not until 2021 that it came out of the quagmire of losses.
Qian's net profit also declined significantly, and even 3A huge loss of 8.7 billion yuan. From 2016 to 2020, Qian closed 85, 120, 284, 251 and 217 stores respectively, and by the end of 2022, Qian still had 1,089 stores left.
Even the "shoe king" Belle also declined after 2014, from 2014 to 2016, the net profit **55%, until 2017 was delisted.
Under the pressure of performance, the "shoe kings" have also worked hard to save themselves. Qian has invested in the acquisition of high-end toy retailer Hamleys Group and EtonHouse International Education 4578% of the equity and 51% of the shares of Infraser Department Store, trying to alleviate the pressure on performance through diversification.
In 2016, in order to break through the ceiling, Qian launched two more high-end ** shoe brands, Baggley Mischka and Naturplus, but these attempts have never brought a turnaround.
In contrast, Daphne's asset-light transformation path has improved. In the 2020 annual report, Daphne said that it operates the brand as a brand owner, and the focus has shifted to brand authorization management and ** chain management.
According to the 2022 financial report, Daphne's revenue is mainly from licensing fees and goods sales, and the two businesses account for % of the total revenue respectively, and selling tags "has accounted for half of Daphne's revenue, but on the other hand, the identity of the "shoe king" has also weakened with the decrease in the proportion of revenue.
When high heels were successively brought out of women's shoe cabinets, the story of the "shoe king" seems to have become the narrative of the previous era.
High heels were not originally reserved for women, but were symbols of nobility, and it was not until the 18th century, with the spread of rationalization and practicality advocated by the Enlightenment, that men began to take off their high heels.
Dress is no longer used as a symbol of class, but is more and more obvious in gender differences, and high heels have evolved from a symbol of power to a carrier of fashion that is closer to women.
The image of women constructed in people's minds, in addition to their physiological curves, is the high heels that are connected to their bodies and worn on their feet, and the high heels are also deeply connected with women.
Once, women would be deeply fascinated by the slender Achilles tendon and slender ** of the women stepping on high heels, as long as they wear high heels, as if they are all high-end shows, and only by wearing high heels, they have the confidence to shuttle proudly in the crowd and look at all beings.
They named their high heels "Hate the sky", it is a women's travel companion, but also a life robe, high heels give them confidence, so much so that Marilyn Monroe also said bluntly:
Although I don't know who first invented the high heel, all women should be grateful to him. ”
But today's women no longer need to rely on high heels to show off their femininity, and they are no longer imprisoned in the prison of femininity.
In the film "Barbie", when Barbie takes off her high heels and the heels that never fall to the ground begin to touch the ground, Barbie also walks out of the dollhouse carefully built for her and comes to the real, chaotic real world.
As a contrast to high heels, the ugly Birkenstock shoes in the film were disliked by Barbie at first, but as the real world became more and more profound, Barbie finally chose Birkenstock shoes that were not so beautiful but could make them comfortable, which was the rise of female consciousness and a change in fashion style.
At the beginning of 2023, the World Sporting Goods Industry Report mentioned that Chinese women spend about 15% to 20% more on sports and fitness activities than their own men.
Women who were once bound to the "pink" narrative began to take the initiative to puncture the dream bubble and equalize with men in the sports fashion that celebrated strength and health, so sneakers began to occupy the position of high heels, becoming the new favorite of the shoe cabinet, and also allowing giants to lean down and listen to women's demand for sneakers.
During the 2023 Women's World Cup, Nike, Adidas, and Puma have launched sneakers tailored for women, which not only takes care of women's long-term discomfort in wearing shoes due to the difference between men's and women's foot shapes, but also takes the opportunity of the World Cup to win a good reputation and voice for the brand.
lululemon, which started with yoga wear, also launched women's sneaker series such as Chargefeel and Blissfeel in 2022 based on the foot shape data of millions of women, specifically to meet the needs of running, comprehensive training and other sports. Even luxury goods such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel have begun to cater to the popular tastes with trendy sneakers.
The domestic "shoe kings" are also actively changing, Qian mentioned in the 2022 semi-annual report that it plans to set up a sports and leisure research and development department in the second half of the year, and Belle has invested in the designer sportswear brand Maia Active.
In the past two years, the cutting-edge 7or9 of high-heeled shoes has been applied to high-heeled shoes across borders to increase the comfort of the product.
In addition to sneakers, "ugly shoes" with comfortable styles such as Birkenstocks, cave shoes, and UGG have also been repeatedly out of the circle in recent years. According to the *2023 Cave Shoes Trend Report, in July this year, about 16.59 million people searched for cave shoes in **, and the transaction volume increased by 48% compared to the same period last year.
Birkenstocks, which featured in Barbie, have also exploded in sales this year, with searches for Birkenstocks up 225% from 2022 according to U.S. shoe retailer Foot Locker.
As early as 1774, when everyone was still researching how to make women's shoes look good, Birkenstock craftsmen began to study how to make the soles of the feet healthier and more comfortable, so they developed insoles that fit the concave and convex structures of the bones, muscles and ligaments of the soles of the feet, which can provide enough support for walking and standing for long periods of time.
From high-heeled shoes that embody feminine charm, to sneakers that show strength and health, to cave shoes and Birkenstock shoes that are now popular by "ugliness", from catering to scrutiny to lawlessness, step by step, women are gradually breaking free from the shackles of discipline.
Women's "footcloth" is not a pair of shoes, but the subtle discipline of society for thousands of years, shoes are only the carrier of discipline, only when the discipline is dissolved, shoes can return to their original value, or comfort, or beauty, or everything.
The welcome of new shoes is not the sunset of old shoes, they are different from each other, but they do not alternate with the old and the new.
In an era of increasing diversity and inclusion, women will have more freedom to dress, and the blossoming footwear market is the inevitable result of an inclusive social atmosphere, where you can choose comfort and I can choose beauty.
At the end of the day, we can't say that this is the era of a certain type of footwear or clothing, this is the era of women themselves.