Recently, many parts of the country have continued to experience sunny and high temperatures, and the popularity of sunscreen products has also increased accordingly. Among them, sales of clothing and textiles such as sun protection clothing, sun protection hats, ice silk sleeves, and sun protection masks have been booming.
Demand for sun protection fuels market
“Sun protection is very important to me because I need to cycle to and from get off work. If I go out without protection every day, my skin will definitely not be able to bear it.” Consumer Xiao Du calls himself a “sun protection maniac.” She told reporters that in the past she only knew how to apply sunscreen in summer. Now with the popularization of scientific concepts and concern for health, her awareness of sun protection has become stronger and stronger. She has everything from hats to clothes to gloves when going out.
“We sold more than 700 (products) in one day during the live broadcast a few days ago, with sales of more than 120,000 yuan.” A staff member of Jiaoxia store in Hangzhou Yintai Department Store Wulin told reporters that since June, we have sold more than 900 items in one day at most. Sales in June this year are expected to nearly double last year, with sun protection clothing accounting for more than 60% of the products sold.
The reporter visited multiple offline clothing brand stores and found that sun protection clothing is placed in the most conspicuous position. The mainstream selling price is in the range of 100-700 yuan. Competition is mostly focused on style, fabric, function, and scene.
“Generally, the sales peak of sun protection clothing starts from the end of April to September, and this year’s business is better than last year every month.” A Jiaoxia staff member said, “This year we have expanded more than 100 SKUs and upgraded the fabrics. Customers generally care most about fabrics and materials, whether they are light, breathable, cool, etc. They also look at the sun protection index.”
The reporter learned from Yintai Department Store that since May, the sales of sun protection clothing among sun protection products have increased by 71% year-on-year due to the 618 promotion in hot weather; sales of sun hats, parasols and other sun-shading equipment have increased by 174% year-on-year; in May So far, nearly 50,000 sun hats alone have been sold.
According to data from the Shanggui-e-commerce big data analysis platform, in May 2023, the retail sales of sun protection clothing exceeded 600 million yuan, a month-on-month increase of 111.95%, a year-on-year increase of 351.15%; the retail sales exceeded 4 million, a month-on-month increase of 122.04%, a year-on-year increase of 122.04% An increase of 138.35%. Among the top 20 brands, the retail sales of Jiaoxia, Camel, MOLYVIVI, SUPIELD, Jeep and other brands increased by 100% month-on-month.
In addition, according to data from Qianniu, the number of searches for sun protection clothing on the entire Internet in May this year increased by 15% year-on-year, the number of additional purchases increased by 29.8% year-on-year, and the number of visitors increased by 42% year-on-year. These are directly related to sales.
Many brands are vying to enter the market
Sun protection clothing used to be the main competition ground for outdoor brands, such as Camel, Beifang, Decathlon, Pelliot, Jiaoxia, etc. Now many irresistible leisure, sports, and fast fashion brands have joined in, such as Bosideng, Li Ning, and Anta Sports, Adidas, Peacebird, Semir Clothing, Jiao Nei, Uniqlo, etc. have all launched sun protection clothing series.
A report from the Huajing Industrial Research Institute mentioned that the market size of domestic sun protection clothing has increased from 45.9 billion yuan in 2016 to 67.5 billion yuan in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.9%. The market size is expected to reach 74.2 billion yuan in 2023.
The tens of billions market is constantly flooded with competitors. QiChacha data shows that there are more than 2,400 sunscreen-related companies in my country. From 2020 to 2022, my country will add 341, 169, and 56 new sunscreen-related companies respectively.
On the other hand, the gross profit margin of sun protection clothing is very impressive. According to Jiaoxia’s prospectus, the gross profit margin of clothing in H1 from 2020 to 2022 exceeds 52%, and the gross profit margin of hats exceeds 67%. In H1 of 2022, Jiaoxia’s overall gross profit margin rose to 60.3%, surpassing lululemon and Li Ning.
The “2023 Summer Economy: Sunscreen Market Insights” report released by QuestMobile shows that Bosideng invests heavily in sunscreen products, even surpassing other old sunscreen players and beauty brands. On the grass-growing platform Xiaohongshu, Bosideng’s investment amount in April this year was as high as 1.71 million yuan, surpassing brands such as Lancôme and Jiaoxia, ranking first in the marketing investment amount of sunscreen product experts. During the same period, in terms of sunscreen product marketing on the Douyin platform, Bosideng invested 2.193 million yuan, second only to Jiaoxia and Missing, taking the top spot.
Such a generous investment shows that Bosideng is very determined in summer products. A Bosideng store employee told reporters, “Actually, Bosideng has been using sunscreen two years ago, but it was just not as highly publicized as down jackets before.”
After this wave of strong marketing, sales in Bosideng’s Tmall official flagship store have obviously increased compared to last year. Among sun protection products, sun protection clothing is currently the best-selling one, with monthly sales reaching 5,000+.
The sunscreen market has also brought new growth points to upstream companies. Recently, textile companies under SUMEC Co., Ltd. have successively signed cooperation agreements on sun protection clothing and won orders for 1 million pieces of sun protection clothing. In recent years, the light textile company has aimed at the emerging sun protection clothing market, actively integrated its own “trade, industry and technology” resources, independently developed physical permanent sun protection fabrics, promoted full-process refined management of production through its own industrial factories, and is committed to providing customers with comprehensive services. “One-stop” service from fabrics to ready-made garments.
Functional product upgrades
After recent years of development, consumers��The demand for sun protection has gradually shifted from professional outdoor sun protection to daily sun protection, and the demand for use has also begun to show a trend of refinement and fashion. In order to cater to this change, sun protection clothing is no exception. It not only combines various “black technologies”, but also begins to emphasize fashion. Its scene is changing from “outdoor” to daily life.
A store clerk at Jiao Nei told reporters that the sun protection clothing mainly features three series: lightweight sun protection, balanced sun protection, and hard-core sun protection. They can be used in different scenarios such as outdoor, commuting, and daily life, and the sun protection areas are also different. From the perspective of product categories, in addition to traditional sun protection tops, there are also sun protection pants, sun protection hats, sun protection masks, sun protection sleeves, sun protection gloves and other products; product functions also range from single to diverse to adapt to various daily and outdoor scenes. needs. Depending on the features, the price will vary. “Currently, the sun protection tops in the store are mainly short, and there are also long sun protection tops that reach the feet. Customers can choose according to their own needs.”
In addition to working hard on the functions of sun protection clothing, many businesses are also trying to impress consumers with their appearance. For example, Uniqlo this year launched sun protection shirts, sun protection dresses, sun protection casual pants and other items targeted at urban white-collar workers. The clerk told reporters that workwear style sun protection shirts and anti-UV knitted cardigans have won the favor of many consumers because they are suitable for various scenarios such as going to school, attending meetings, and shopping.
Bosideng has also launched fashion series, camping series, sports series and other sun protection clothing that can meet the needs of various summer sun protection scenes.
A salesperson at the Anta flagship store told reporters that the ice silk sun protection clothing in the store has the best sales. “There is a mid-length style that is no longer available, and there is also a purple style that has been sold out. People prefer the ones that cover a large area and are light and cool. of (style).”
Brands such as OhSunny, ubras, and Jiaoxia have also launched many fashion items such as sun protection shawls, sun protection skirts, and sun protection stockings, which have attracted the attention of many young people. In other words, we must not only compete for UPF value and functionality, but also compete for appearance.
The reporter noticed that the UPF value of mainstream sunscreen products on the market is basically 40+-50+. Bosideng’s sales staff said, “Currently we are the only ones with UPF100+ (products) and 80+ series.” According to “Textiles UV Protection” Performance Evaluation”, the UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) value should be greater than 40, and the UVA (ultraviolet) transmittance should be less than 5%.
The Shanghai Consumer Protection Department reminds that from the material point of view, the sun protection effect of polyester fiber, nylon and other synthetic fiber materials is better than that of cotton and silk materials; from the density point of view, the sun protection effect of sun protection clothing with tight and heavy fabric structure is better than that of cotton and silk materials. Good; in terms of color, bright or dark-colored sun protective clothing has better sun protection effect than light-colored ones.
During this year’s 618 pre-sale period, Tmall’s outdoor apparel sales increased by 218.8% year-on-year, and the sales growth rate reached 293.9%; among the top 10 pre-sale products in the outdoor apparel industry, the first and second place were sun protection clothing. In Douyin’s 618 Top 15 Good Things live broadcast list in the clothing category, sales of sun protection clothing at the top of the list exceeded 300,000 pieces.
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