Aokang, Belle and others are vying to launch sports-style leather shoes. Will young people pay for them?
Leather shoes have always been a symbol of formal wear. However, due to the limitations of wearing scenarios and lack of comfort, the leather shoe market has shown a downward trend in sales in recent years, while the market share of sports shoes has continued to rise. Faced with changes in industry consumption trends, major shoe companies have broken through the functional boundaries of traditional leather shoes and begun to get involved in the field of sports and leisure, making sports-style leather shoes a popular style at the moment.
When leather shoes meet sports style
Consumer Xiao Yu is an office worker born in the 1990s. Recently, he is worried about finding a versatile pair of shoes. “We are required to wear formal attire at work, but leather shoes are not suitable for me to squeeze into the subway and catch the bus every day. A pair of multifunctional and comfortable leather shoes can meet my requirements.”
Nowadays, there are many people who have the same troubles as Xiao Yu. The penetration of sports into modern lifestyles has diversified the wearing scenarios of sports and leisure shoes, which has had a certain substitution effect on the leather shoe category. However, the rigid demand for leather shoe consumption in business scenarios has always existed.
With the continuous improvement of income levels, consumers’ pursuit of quality life is also increasing day by day. Among them, the middle-income group has the greatest demand for leather shoes, and they also have diverse demands for the comfort, quality and design of leather shoes. . In the face of new market demands, many companies have begun to try to combine the advantages of leather shoes and sports shoes, retaining the craftsmanship of leather shoes and integrating elements of sports shoes, while providing both fashion and comfort.
Recently, leather shoe brand Aokang launched its first sports leather shoes. It is reported that this shoe uses an EVA rubber one-time foam outsole, implanted with upper and lower interactive shock absorption system technology, and a nano shock absorption air cushion embedded in the heel of the midsole. The shoe body is imported from Made of fetal cowhide, the soles use patented anti-slip technology, and integrate many black technologies such as manual color-changing technology and urala grass antibacterial technology.
Aokang stated that it launched sports leather shoes in the hope that consumers would have a pair of extremely comfortable leather shoes in business situations. Combining sports outsoles with traditional leather uppers can solve a major consumer pain point: leather shoes are too formal or not comfortable enough, while sports shoes are too casual or not decent enough.
It’s not just Aokang. Nowadays, with the background of younger consumer groups and diversified life scenes, the demand for products in fashion, leisure, sports and other styles continues to increase. In order to adapt to consumers’ dressing needs, leather shoe brands including ecco, Clarks, Belle, Senda and other leather shoe brands have entered the sports and leisure field and launched sports-style leather shoes.
At the Belle counter in a shopping mall in Beijing, the reporter saw that half of the shelves that used to be dominated by formal leather shoes were now occupied by sports and leisure shoes. The store manager told reporters that many young people nowadays do not like high heels and prefer flat soles. The introduction of sports and leisure leather shoes is also a change made in response to consumer demand. “In fact, there are still quite a lot of people buying sports leather shoes. Nowadays, in order to increase comfort, ventilation holes are added on both sides of the uppers or mesh designs are made, so even leather shoes are relatively breathable to wear.”
Established shoe companies also want to play the role of “younger”
However, it should be noted that behind the major shoe companies’ involvement in the field of sports and leisure, they are not only taking the initiative to cater to the trend, but also being helpless in the face of difficulties.
Relevant statistics from the China Leather Association show that in 2022, the operating income of my country’s leather, fur, feather and their products and shoemaking enterprises above designated size will be 1.13399 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4%. The output of major categories of products in the main industries has generally declined. Among them, the output of leather shoes in 2022 will be approximately 3.6 billion pairs, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%. At present, the scale of my country’s leather shoe industry is showing a slow decline. Faced with the severe development situation, some old shoe companies have to change their past rigid practices and actively carry out transformation and upgrading in order to This attracts more young consumers.
The change in this trend can be clearly seen through the financial reports of various companies last year. Red Dragonfly proposed in its 2022 annual report that last year, on the basis of maintaining the advantages of the original leather shoes, the company responded to changes in consumer demand and launched fashionable footwear products that are more suitable for the new era. More in white shoes and sneakers , dad shoes, and light sports and light outdoor products, investing R&D, design and marketing resources to create hot products and gradually change consumers’ inherent impression of “Red Dragonfly is a leather shoe brand”. In the future, we will launch a new product series that integrates “shoe culture” with multiple cultures, striving to achieve breakthroughs in new categories such as light sports, light outdoor, and trendy shoes.
Qianbaidu stated in its 2022 semi-annual report that sportswear has become the only market with positive growth in the past two years. The company plans to establish a sports and leisure R&D department in the second half of 2023 to further serve this customer group.
Tianchuang Fashion also stated in the 2022 annual report that in order to adapt to consumers’ increasingly fashionable and sports-style dressing needs, the R&D center has broken through the traditional fashion and shoe categories and has made great breakthroughs in the research and development of fashion and sports categories. During the reporting period, a sports fashion group was established to enhance sports fashion self-confidence.�In-house production capabilities to better meet market demand for diversified categories.
“In recent years, whether in subway stations or at the airport, the proportion of consumers wearing casual shoes is higher than before. I think this is because people want to wear more comfortable shoes, and on the other hand it is also because of the need for sports. growth.” Ma Gang, an independent commentator on the retail industry, said that in the face of the current development difficulties of the leather shoe industry, companies must not only adapt to trends, but also innovate on the basis of original categories. “Consumption trends are constantly changing. It’s not that consumers don’t wear leather shoes, but they need creative and innovative leather footwear products. The more innovations like ‘sports + leather’, the wider the market will expand and attract more people.” More consumers.”
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