Street Fashion And Fashion Clothing Brands Are Emerging

In recent years, traditional luxury brands have been "street oriented". From Gucci to Louis Vuitton, traditional luxury goods that once "dominated" have invited rap singers to speak for their brands, or have reached cooperation with street fashion brands and launched joint brand series. From dada shoes to IKEA bags, consumer favorite items seem to be getting ugly. At the same time, China's street fashion demand is increasing year by year.

Fashion track attracts capital attention

Fashion brands are emerging

Recently, star, a fashion fashion brand, has completed a $40 million round of C financing. This round of financing is led by QY capital. Sequoia China, local fashion and M31 capital add capital in this round of financing, and Gaohu capital acts as the exclusive financial consultant. QY capital previously led the investment in the d-round financing of beauty collection store brand harmay Huamei on January 19. Previously, the brand received 100 million RMB and 30 million US dollars of round a and B financing in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Starter was founded by David Beckerman in New Haven, Connecticut in 1971. The brand has dual genes of "Sports" and "street". The sports gene of starter was established in the early stage of the brand. Starter started to provide team uniforms for high school sports competitions. In 1983, it signed licensing agreements with NBA, NFL, NHL and CFL and launched "authorized sportswear". "Sportswear" had a great influence on hip hop in the early 1990s. Starter was the first choice for many rap and hip hop artists. In fact, by the end of the 1990s, starter was no longer popular, but the brand is now regarded as a classic og (slang for old school, authentic). This classic and its accompanying 90s nostalgia make starter the co branding target of new generation street brands including supreme. In 2011, starter added a high-end Street derivative brand, starter black label.

In 2004, Nike acquired starter for $43 million and sold it to ICONIX brand group for $60 million three years later. In 2017, ICONIX China Limited signed an agreement with the black ant group, and the black ant group has become the exclusive authorized operator of starter in Greater China. In 2019, starter opened tmall flagship store, and its first offline store was set up in Beijing. In 2020, ICONIX brand group announced the sale of starter's China business to new power sports for $16 million. It is reported that the annual performance growth rate of the brand in 2021 will reach more than 150%, and it is highly sought after by the new generation of consumers.

In fact, in recent years, aiming at the trend of generation Z consumers, new fashion brands are not lack of capital attention. Taking Sequoia China as an example, it has made many bets in the fashion industry. In June 2021, Sequoia China has become the first investor of the international trend e-commerce ssense, headquartered in Canada, is a multi brand fashion retailer selling designer brands and high-end street fashion; In January 2022, Sequoia China announced the acquisition of a majority stake in we11done, a global fashion brand originated in Seoul.

In addition to "street" fashion brands, Chinese capital has also paid more attention to designer brands with smaller customer base and higher quality than in previous years. In January 2021, Sequoia China strategic investment French designer brand AMI.

Street fashion is popular in Europe and America, underground culture is promoted to the mainstream

At the time of the rudiment of Chinese fashion, Western street brands have already entered the mainstream.

Chav is regarded as a kind of subculture, which is regarded as a kind of subculture. At the beginning of this century, the love for Burberry's logo character design by the young people known as chavs once caused the brand to face a public relations crisis. Since then, burberry has made great efforts to clear its relationship with the working class and avoid the brand becoming "vulgar". Since ancient times, the "exclusiveness" of luxury goods seems to be crowding out people with lower social status. The essence of many middle class buying luxury goods is to pay for the illusion of "beyond class".

Today, however, luxury's condescending attitude has undergone a dramatic reversal. Different from the exclusion of the working class in the past, the acceptance of luxury goods to the bottom culture has reached the level of flattery in recent years. The driving factor of this position replacement may lie in the replacement of "elite culture" by "hip-hop culture".

Hip hop culture has a profound impact on street brands. In just a few decades, it has developed from a fringe subculture to a dominant force in popular culture. In New York in the 1970s, hip-hop was born in response to disco's mainstream culture - in communities deprived of citizenship, Caribbean immigrants and African American youths began to participate in impromptu neighborhood gatherings in areas such as Bronx.  

In the 1990s, in addition to hip-hop culture in New York, street fashion also appeared in the surfing and graffiti culture of Los Angeles and nightlife culture of Japan. In fact, street fashion should be regarded as a cultural movement rather than a trend. The rebellious and deviant characteristics of hip-hop music are well transmitted to the core values of street fashion. Rap singers and skateboarders consume printed T-shirts, wide jeans and Manifesto style sports shoes just because of their resistance to the mainstream culture.

Street brand presents T platform, underground culture becomes mainstream

The rapid penetration of street fashion in China may be due to the fact that its rebellious spirit coincides with the value proposition of generation Z consumers.

Dentsu pointed out in his article that generation Z refused to suppress emotions, pursued "freedom" and appreciated "wild aesthetics". 58% of young people regard "real" as a priority need to meet - Dentsu describes generation Z as a "no show".

From the high-end to the mid-range, traditional fashion brands have launched street style capsule series one after another, or compete to invite street fashion opinion leaders to speak for their brands. This enthusiasm is not so much called "cooperation" with rappers, but is regarded as "rubbing heat" with street fashion. Chanel and Pharrell Williams jointly launched the ss19 urban capsule collection; A $AP rocky speaks for Calvin Klein's event "I speak my truth.".

From runway shows to main visual posters, more and more black faces have replaced the stereotyped, banal white images of the past.

The black image is so popular in the fashion field that it is not too much to regard the black model as the "standard configuration" of Gucci brand vision

"Wild" replaces "old-fashioned", traditional luxury brands subvert the past aesthetic

Black models may not be able to fundamentally change the brand tone dominated by elite culture, and the continuous penetration of black designers in fashion brands has broken this limitation. Sharp enough head brands to respond to changes in consumer trends quickly, by appointing black as creative director, to ensure the authenticity of street fashion. In July 2021, LVMH acquired a majority stake in off white, a street brand. Since then, LVMH has announced that it will further deepen cooperation with virgin abloh, the founder and art director of the street brand, and plans to jointly launch a new brand. In November of the same year, abloh died of illness at the age of 41.

Virgin abloh's death has caused a stir not only among fashion and entertainment stars, but also among street fashion consumers, as reflected in the soaring price of off white sneakers. Within hours of the news of abloh's death, the after-sales market price of the off white air jordan 1 "Chicago" doubled from the usual $5500 to $10600.

In fact, the high price of street brand products is nothing new. Deeply influenced by hip-hop culture, sneakers, as an indispensable part of street fashion, are being sought after by consumers "beyond their senses". This kind of almost blind enthusiasm even weakens the shoe attributes of sports shoes - the practicality has been submerged by its collection attribute, and the price of many sports shoes on the second-hand platform has far exceeded the price of traditional luxury products of the same category.

In 2022, gucci men's shoes, including sports shoes, will be priced at no more than $1890, with a minimum of $320. On the other hand, although off white's official website prices range from $330 to $850, the brand's "online Red" products tell a different story on second-hand platforms. As early as 2018, off white shoes sold for $2339 on stock X. The off white x Nike Air Force 1 low has sold for an average of $8206 on the platform so far.

Similarly, supreme's official price is quite user-friendly, with a T-shirt retailing at $38 and a sweatshirt retailing at $138. However, by creating "scarcity," the brand's price in the second-hand market can reach 30 times the original price. It is reported that on the day of product release, the flow of supreme's official online sales channel can even increase by 16800%.

In the west, the threat of street brands to traditional luxury brands is far beyond imagination. According to the quarterly rankings released by LYST, the fashion e-commerce platform, in 2018, off white has become the most popular brand in the world.

"In the past year, the cult street fashion brand has risen 33 places to the top of the list, surpassing Gucci and Balenciaga for the first time." LYST said.

It is not difficult to find that luxury can't wait to transform its DNA and inject a lot of hip-hop culture into it because of the "insecurity" that may be replaced at any time. It can even be said that street brands are redefining "luxury", and the status of traditional luxury brands is crumbling.

Traditional luxury brands create exclusivity by increasing prices, while street fashion brands form scarcity by reducing production. Traditional luxury brands establish authority and dominate, while street fashion brands resist authority and advocate community spirit.

"Disharmonious aesthetics" is popular: ugly things show taste

Luxury goods and street culture, "elegance" and "vulgarity" are like a set of disharmonious chords. However, it is this disharmony that is now dominating the mainstream aesthetics in the West. Disharmony has become the pronoun of beauty, while the lack of cultural impact is regarded as "out of date" and "vulgar". Ugly chic pushed the idea of "ugly is beauty" to the extreme.

In the summer of 2018, from social media instagram to runway show, thick and ugly shoes were suddenly sought after by stars and designers, and consumers called them "Daddy shoes". "Dad sneakers" and "Daddy shoes" peaked in the summer of 2018, according to Google trend data. According to an article published by USA today in August 2018, the number of searches for "Daddy's sneakers" on pinterest platform has increased by 730% since January.

Among traditional luxury brands, Balenciaga has become a pioneer of ugliness appreciation culture with its "Daddy shoes" released in autumn and winter 2017.

Although it's not clear who was the initial driver of the trend, Jane Buckingham, founder and CEO of trend forecasting and consulting firm trendera, points out that before ugly shoes entered the luxury market, some sports shoe brands had begun to become "bulky.".

In August 2017, Adidas x yeezy boost 700 wave runner, jointly released by Adidas and yeezy, is thicker than the fashionable sports shoes of the same period, and has appeared the tendency of "father". Thus, it can be seen that "Ugliness" is closely related to hip-hop culture.

In fact, Balenciaga's sharpness on the ugly track comes from the street fashion background of its creative director, demna gvasalia, who co founded the street fashion brand vetements with her brother guram gvasalia the year before joining the brand in 2015.

Hip hop culture is not only likely to give birth to "ugly things", but also shows a high degree of agreement with the core values of ugliness appreciation culture. Hip hop culture originates from the resistance to the mainstream culture, while the ugliness appreciation culture shows the resistance of marginal consumers to the mainstream aesthetic.

Hip hop culture redefines luxury, while Ugliness Appreciation redefines beauty.

Street fashion, deeply influenced by hip-hop culture, can be traced back to the root of this school as an "outsider", which determines the spirit of freedom that street fashion is hard to erase and the "weird feeling" that is incompatible with the mainstream culture.

In addition to the "blood relationship" shown in the development process, the combination of culture (spiritual core) and visual (physical representation) may explain why "ugly things" frequently appear in street costumes and even become a part of street fashion.

The rapid popularization of ugliness appreciation culture is the development process of "the minority is the masses". Every new product launch of "ugly thing" seems to meet the resistance of traditional consumers. From CNN to Dayton daily news, Balenciaga's blue leather tote bag based on IKEA shopping bag design was ridiculed on the Internet at the spring and summer men's wear series conference in 2017. The Washington Post even said that reporters were "stunned" to report on this - "ugly thing" seems to have subverted some social order. Triple s further infuriated consumers, and the visual and psychological impact of their ugliness was "disturbing.".

As a pioneer of traditional luxury brands, Balenciaga quickly caught the ugly trend and commercialized it

However, Balenciaga, with its excellent "report card", has proved that media opinion can not represent the real attitude of consumers towards "ugly things" since then. In 2018, its parent company kering said that Balenciaga had become the fastest growing company in its brand portfolio - its Q1 sales growth rate in 2018 exceeded that of Gucci (49%) in the same period.

The rapid expansion of consumers' demand for ugliness has turned the fashion industry into a battlefield. Whether a fashion brand can be established depends on whether it is ahead of its competitors and timely abandoning the outdated "harmonious aesthetics". With its inherent ugliness, Crocs is firmly at the top of the ugly track.

Crocs recently announced that its sales volume in 2021 is expected to increase by about 67% compared with 2020. Although the inflation crisis has greatly weakened the referential value of US corporate financial data, compared with fast fashion giants H & M, INDITEX, and the hot sports brand lululemon in recent five years, Crocs' market performance in the past five years makes it self-evident that "ugly thing" is the dominant fashion.

"The same smell and taste" has contributed to the continuous cooperation between Balenciaga and Crocs. Recently, Balenciaga released hardcrocs, a $950 co branded ugly shoe, in the spring / summer 2022 collection ™ Population structure changes amplify Duchamp effect

Street fashion subverts western social order

From demna gvasalia to Virgil abloh, many soul figures who dominate street fashion have talked about the great influence of the Dadaism art pioneer Marcel Duchamp on this trend in the last century. Duchamp is famous for his integration of ordinary secular objects into his works of art. Gvasalia even admitted that the formation of his aesthetic is the process of "understanding Duchamp".

Obviously, the creative root of street fashion comes from Dadaism. However, this does not explain why Dadaism has become a fashion craze in the past decade, not in the past or in the future. Duchamp may be able to promote the formation of street fashion, but "Duchamp philosophy" is not enough to support the popularity of this trend and the duration of this phenomenon.

The essence of Dadaism's leading fashion trend lies in the change of Western population structure.

According to the 2020 U.S. census data, as the most common ethnic group in the United States, the non Hispanic white population has declined from 63.7% in 2010 to 57.8%. This change shows that the American population is more ethnically diverse than in the past.

The 2010 and 2020 census report on changes in the proportion of the population of various ethnic groups in the United States

(source: United States Census Bureau)

White population "shrinking"

(source: statista)

In fact, the proportion of black or African Americans in the same period did not change significantly - from 12.6% in 2010 to 12.4% in 2020. However, although the single race population of black or African Americans increased by only 5.6% during this period, the mixed race population with black or African Americans increased by 88.7%.

The rapid growth of mixed race groups in the black population may mean that the tolerance of other races to black people is rising sharply. The proportion of white population is decreasing year by year, while the proportion of ethnic minority population is increasing year by year. Under the background of the continuous weakening of white dominance, black and African Americans, as the race with the highest proportion of population in the United States, have continuously enhanced their influence on American culture.

In addition, the increasing education level of black population further weakens the voice of white people in the pluralistic society. According to Pew Research Center data, from 2000 to 2019, the proportion of the population aged 25 and above with a bachelor's degree or above rose from 24% to 33%, and the proportion of adult black population with a bachelor's degree or above rose from 15% to 23%, with a growth rate higher than that of the total population.

In 2020, the political and social movement for devolution of power, black lives matter, is far beyond the influence of the movement in previous years. This may prove that the dominant position of white people is facing unprecedented challenges. The population growth rate and education level of ethnic minorities "crush" white people have reached the critical point - the distribution of rights is undergoing qualitative changes.

It may be concluded that the essence of street fashion becoming the mainstream is the subversion of the inherent hierarchy.

One of the controversies about ugliness culture is that brands regard the exclusive goods of the working class as new luxury goods. The starting price of pragmatism products has been criticized, and the "audacious source of design inspiration" is regarded as a mockery of the poor by the upper class. However, in fact, the opposite is true: street fashion has become an irresistible phenomenon level upsurge, which is precisely the expanding social influence of the people at the bottom.

When people redefine beauty, they are re examining the power distribution system. When people redefine luxury, they are rebuilding social order.

  Local evolution of street culture

Lack of "cultural authenticity" of Chinese street brands

Black people have become a trend symbol, and their influence on popular culture is so great that it even leads to the resistance of the ethnic group to cultural appropriations. In fact, at the beginning of hip-hop culture, African Americans "harvested" a group of white fans. Wigger (slang, often called wigga) was born to address marginal whites who imitated black behavior. In 2018, the word blackfishing became popular rapidly. The white influencer, which misappropriated black aesthetics, gained attention by dressing up as "black", which was strongly resisted among black groups.

Compared with the west, the development of street fashion in the Chinese market is more like the "radiation" brought by hip-hop culture. However, the lack of cultural authenticity does not necessarily mean that the "new species" have completely lost their growth space. In fact, from manufacturing to Internet technology, Chinese start-ups seem to be very good at it - Secondary Innovation on the basis of "imported products".

However, up to now, the "secondary innovation" capability of Chinese start-ups is generally limited to business model innovation. The challenge of Chinese street fashion brands is that for consumer products with strong spiritual attributes, their competitiveness depends largely on the brand ability, rather than the single commercialization ability.

In fact, although Chinese local brands have shown a leap in "brand awareness" in the field of consumption compared with previous years, the "brand ability" of the vast majority of enterprises still has great room for improvement. One of the manifestations of this in the fashion industry is that the brand positioning is not clear.

Fast fashion and designer brand are a group of opposite concepts. In the article "self defined Premium: why the minority perfume brands such as guanxia and Wenxian have gradually become the mainstream", Yuanqi capital explained the difference between "salon fragrance" and "commercial fragrance".

Commercial fragrance is oriented to be "people-friendly" and oriented to the "mass" market, with strong replicability. The release of scale effect reduces the cost, which creates conditions for low pricing; Salon fragrance is positioned as high-end, facing the "niche" market, it has weak replicability, and its limited market capacity is compensated in the high pricing.

Commercial fragrance is to salon fragrance and fast fashion to designer brand. The competitiveness of fast fashion brand lies in its extremely high supply chain efficiency, and its target customers are "mass" consumers, which determines its low-cost products, rich categories and rapid changes; The competitiveness of a designer brand lies in its high quality and unique design, and its target customers are "minority" consumers, which determines its high price, limited category and enduring characteristics.

Luxury brings designer brand timelessness, exclusiveness and customization to the extreme. Designer brand consumers pursue quality and exclusiveness, while fast fashion brand consumers pursue low price and timeliness. Although luxury goods are facing the challenge of "acceleration" in recent years, designer brand and fast fashion are still two points on the same axis, which have no intersection and are far from each other.

However, the positioning of "fast fashion designer brand" which lacks mature thinking does not seem to prevent new local enterprises from obtaining financing. In September 2021, bosie, a "fast fashion designer brand" advocating "gender free", announced that it had completed a B + round of financing with hundreds of millions of yuan.

The contradictory positioning of "fast fashion designer brand" may mean that Chinese local fashion brands are still in the exploratory stage

(source: bosie)

The lack of cultural authenticity does not mean that Chinese street fashion brands are doomed to collapse, but the lack of cultural core will inevitably lead to the brand's incompetence in cultural output. If the "spiritual needs" of consumers can not be met, street fashion brands seem to lose their significance of existence.

In the near future, pragmatism may restrain the improvement of Chinese street fashion enterprises in brand ability, but business model innovation may open up new growth space for Chinese street fashion. In December 2021, knowin, a fashion collection store, announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan of financing, which is the largest amount of financing in the offline "trend" format.

Whether "Guochao" can inject cultural connotation into Chinese street fashion brands will be discussed in future articles.