In recent years, the popularity of the underwear market has continued to rise, both in China and overseas. Traditional underwear brands and new entrepreneurial brands compete on the same stage, and some corporate groups that specialize in sports, leisure and clothing have also begun to get involved in the underwear field.
On the evening of June 24, the China Securities Regulatory Commission website disclosed the prospectus of Aimer, a long-established Chinese underwear company. (Application Draft), which provides a relatively detailed description of the current situation of China’s underwear industry and provides a set of important data with considerable reference value. Among them, there are four major industry points worthy of attention, namely:
The men’s underwear market is growing faster than women’s underwear
China’s underwear market The market has not yet formed an absolute leading brand
New underwear brands started on the Internet are booming
The gross profit margin gap between local underwear companies Larger
1. The male underwear market is growing faster than women’s underwear
Underwear is generally called the “second layer of skin” of people. Broadly speaking, it includes women’s underwear, underwear, warm clothes, home clothes, pajamas, socks and many other intimate clothing. According to the prospectus data, the underwear market has maintained a good growth trend in the past ten years. The underwear market size increased from 167.52 billion yuan in 2012 to 408.04 billion yuan in 2018. However, the growth rate showed a downward trend from 2016 to 2018, respectively. 16.85%, 15.98%, 7.50%.
The underwear industry can be further divided into women’s underwear market, men’s underwear market, children’s underwear market and sports underwear market. Among them, the market size of women’s underwear and men’s underwear were both around 160 billion yuan in 2018, each accounting for 40% of the underwear market size.
In terms of growth rate, the men’s underwear market has grown significantly faster than the women’s underwear market in the past ten years. The compound growth rate from 2014 to 2018 was approximately 23.44%. Reaching 28.54%. In comparison, the women’s underwear market was 8.58%, 9.50%, 7.30%, 7.73%, and 7.18% respectively from 2014 to 2018.
According to GrandViewResearch’s analysis of global men’s underwear market data from 2015 to 2017, global men’s underwear The main players in the market are still European and American companies, including: PVH Group (which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands), Jockey International (Jockey brand), Germany’s HUGO BOSS, the United States’ Levi’s, American Eagle Company ( American Eagle) etc.
2. The Chinese underwear market has not yet formed an absolute leading brand
From the perspective of the development of the underwear market, Chinese underwear brand companies overall started later than brand companies in Europe, the United States and Japan (such as Fast Retailing, the parent company of Japan’s Uniqlo, Wacoal of Japan, and the United States, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret). L Brands Group, American PVH Group, etc.), so its business history and business scale are less than the former, and its brand concentration is lower than in foreign markets, and competition is more intense.
The prospectus shows that the market concentration rate of the top five brands in China’s underwear market in 2018 was only 6.6%. During the same period, the market concentration rates of the top five brands in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom were They are 56%, 47% and 22% respectively. The Chinese underwear market still has the potential to concentrate its market share towards leading brands.
In terms of categories, in the women’s underwear market, there are more than 3,000 women’s underwear brands in China. According to the China Chamber of Commerce According to the monitoring data of offline retail channels in China by the China National Commercial Information Center, the brands with higher comprehensive market share in 2019 are Aimer (7.34%), Maniform (6.96%), Embry (6.84%), and Wacoal (4.44 %), ancient and modern (4.20%). In addition, Triumph’s market share in 2018 was 4.78%.
In the high-end women’s underwear market, the top three brands with comprehensive market share in 2019 are Aimer’s brand LA CLOVER (1.13%) and Japan’s Hua Ge Er’s brand SALUTE (0.56%) and Embry’s brand LIZA CHENG (0.41%)
In the men’s underwear market, the top three brands with comprehensive market share in 2019 are Mr. Aimu (13.48%), German Shuya (6.75%), and Sangun (4.98%) owned by Longtou Co., Ltd.
3. New underwear brands started on the Internet are booming
In addition to facing competitive pressure from foreign brands, with the changes in China’s retail format, my country’s women’s underwear market has seen the emergence of many cutting-edge brands that started from the Internet in recent years, making the competitive landscape of the women’s underwear market more segmented.
The prospectus shows that among the top ten brands in the e-commerce channel sales of bra products in 2019, in addition to classic underwear brands such as Aimer, Maniform, Victoria’s Secret, and Triumph, Also includes Grel and NEIWAIBrands such as Foreign and Jue Yi have been established for a short period of time, have more segmented product positioning, relatively low prices, and have formed a certain sales scale mainly through Internet channels.
In addition, with the rise of leisure sports in recent years, sports bras have become an increasingly important subcategory in the underwear industry. According to statistics from the State Sports General Administration, it is expected that my country’s sports population will reach more than 500 million in 2025, of which 40% are female.
Driven by the above trends, consumer demand for functional sports bras is expected to continue to increase. The difference between sports bras and traditional underwear in a narrow sense is mainly reflected in: sports bras have more external wear attributes, pay more attention to moisture absorption and quick-drying functions, and sports bras pay more attention to the shock-absorbing effect on the chest during exercise.
And it is different from the relatively fragmented pattern of women’s underwear, men’s underwear market and children’s underwear market. The sportswear market is highly concentrated, and the market share is occupied by a few domestic and foreign brands. Therefore, as a subcategory of sportswear, sports bras have a higher threshold for market competition.
The prospectus shows that the total market share of the five leading global sportswear companies in 2018 was 35%, while China The total market share of the five leading sportswear companies is 57.3%, which is higher than the global market concentration. This is mainly due to the increase in the share of Nike and Adidas in the Chinese sportswear market in recent years. In the sports bra segment, the more mainstream players include: sports bra product lines of sportswear brands (such as Nike, Adidas, Decathlon, Anta, etc.), brands focusing on women’s yoga sports bras (such as lululemon, Lorna Jane etc.).
4. The gross profit margin gap between local underwear companies is large
Except Foreign brand companies that started earlier, listed companies of Chinese intimate apparel brand companies include Huijie, Embry, and Urban Beauty. From 2017 to 2019, Huijie’s gross profit margins were 67.95%, 67.71%, and 65.81% respectively. During the same period, Embry’s gross profit margins were 78.03%, 79.94%, and 77.76%, Urban Beauty’s were 43.25%, 41.67%, and 22.60%, while Aimu’s gross profit margins were 78.03%, 79.94%, and 77.76%. The shares are 73.74%, 72.29% and 70.73% respectively. The gross profit margins of domestic underwear companies show large differences.
The gap in gross profit margin may be related to brand positioning and channel characteristics. Huijie and Embry are both based on direct sales channels, while Urban Beauty is based on distribution channels. Owners often need to share a certain amount of profits with dealers.
In addition, Huijie Co., Ltd.’s core brand “Manifan” and Embry’s core brand “Embry” target the mid-to-high-end market, and Urban Beauty’s core brand “Urban Beauty” targets the mid- to lower-end market.
About Aimu
The company is mainly engaged in the production of intimate apparel and supplies R&D, production and sales are aimed at mid-to-high-end consumer groups. Aímer, Aímer men, imi’s, Aímer kids, MODELAB and La Clover are the main brands of the company that have formed a certain scale. Aímer Sports (Aímer sports), Huxi (Huxi), etc. are brands cultivated by the company with certain growth potential.
According to the prospectus data, the company’s operating income from 2017 to 2019 was 2.947 billion, 3.119 billion, and 318 million respectively, and the net profits attributable to owners of the parent company were 552 million and 449 million respectively. billion, 335 million. </p
