Sports brands' ambitions for the fashion industry are growing.
In October of this year, American sports brand giants held a Culture of Apparel event at Nike's Greater China headquarters park. At the event, Nike showcased the Nike x Feng Chen Wang collaboration series launched in collaboration with designer Wang Fengchen.
This is Nike's first collaboration series with Chinese female designers.
Wang Fengchen believes that Chinese designers have had a certain influence in the international fashion industry. "The world is diverse, open, and inclusive, and our Chinese designers can also innovate and lead something. We are the creators of that trend, not the followers
As a sports brand, Nike has chosen to collaborate with fashion designers, and Wang Fengchen is not surprised by this. "Nike's clothing functions have always been diverse. As the first female designer in China to launch a series of products with Nike, I think this is the beginning of a new era
In fact, in recent years, cross-border fashion movements by sports brands have not been uncommon.
At this year's Paris Fashion Week autumn and winter runway, multiple sports brands including Nike, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance, and Arthur are all "brushing their faces".
At the same time, fashion brands are also interested in the sports industry.
This summer, French luxury brand Dior launched the new men's sports shoe B33.
Louis Vuitton has launched a limited edition LV Trainer sneaker. And this sneaker is only on display at the brand's limited time store located in Garage Traversi, Milan.
When traditional sports brands encounter fashion brands, they tend to collaborate more than compete.
In 2019, Dior and Nike's Jordan brand announced the launch of the co branded shoe Dior x Air Jordan 1 OG.
In July 2020, the Dior x Air Jordan 1 officially went on sale.
According to data released by Dior, a total of over 5 million people worldwide participated in the lottery, with a final probability of winning less than 0.16%.
In the second-hand market, the Dior x AJ1, which is officially released for about $2000, has even skyrocketed to $38000 (approximately 266000 yuan) in value on major shoe resale platforms.
This heavyweight joint success case has pushed the cooperation between sports brands and the fashion industry to a new climax.
Major sports brands have also discovered the traffic password of co branding and are throwing olive branches at major fashion brands and fashion designers.
According to the annual report of the American shoe resale platform StockX, thanks to frequent co branding between sports and fashion brands in the past two years, despite the fierce impact of the epidemic on the global retail industry, the popularity of the shoe resale market has not decreased but increased.
Nike's Vice President of Products for Greater China, Du Wenjun, stated that Nike is not only the world's largest sports goods company, but also the world's largest clothing company. The exploration of fashion is inevitable. "Nike hopes to collaborate with different designers, artists, communities, or athletes, collide inspiration, and exchange opinions
However, Du Wenjun believes that Nike will not make a trade-off between technological innovation and fashion design, but rather hopes to achieve a better balance between the two.
Nowadays, consumers have demands in both aspects, because only in a comfortable state can they have better self-expression. Therefore, our technological or functional innovation and style innovation are carried out simultaneously, "Du Wenjun told Interface News.
The brand's first quarter financial report for the 2024 fiscal year shows that Nike achieved revenue of $12.9 billion (approximately RMB 94.189 billion) in that quarter, a year-on-year increase of 2%.
Among them, Nike's revenue in Greater China reached 1.735 billion US dollars (approximately 12.668 billion RMB), an increase of 12% year-on-year on the basis of unchanged exchange rates, achieving positive growth for the fourth consecutive quarter and double digit growth for two consecutive quarters.