"What is it like to wear Hanfu to travel?" "On May Day, it is the first time to wear Hanfu out" and "Being Hanfu has become a 'national trend'". On platforms such as Station B and Xiaohongshu, more and more people Many users began to share their experiences wearing Hanfu. During the May Day period, elegantly dressed Hanfu enthusiasts can be seen everywhere in the Forbidden City, Phoenix Ancient City, West Lake and other places, and "Hanfu + scenic spots" has become a new way of playing for young people.
Wearing Hanfu out in the street is very popular among young people. According to a report by iiMedia Research, the number and market size of Chinese Hanfu fans are growing rapidly. It is predicted that the number of Hanfu fans in 2021 is expected to reach 6.894 million, and the market sales will reach 10.16 billion yuan. On the official website of a certain Hanfu brand, a set of Hanfu sells for tens of thousands of yuan, and the construction period of the clothing is scheduled until March next year.
The Hanfu market has huge potential, and capital is rushing to enter the market. In April this year, well-known institutions such as Tencent, Sequoia, and Bubble Mart successively invested in Hanfu companies. Hanfu is becoming more and more popular, and plagiarism and copycats, malicious hype and other chaos are also emerging one after another. Can the Hanfu craze continue? How can the industry develop healthily?
"A piece of clothing is hard to find"
"It used to take some courage to wear Hanfu to go out," said some Hanfu enthusiasts. Now they wear Hanfu whenever they have time to attend gatherings of peers (the name among Hanfu enthusiasts). They can also wear Hanfu to visit scenic spots and take beautiful photos. Don't worry about strange looks.
With the revival of the national trend in recent years, Hanfu has gradually moved from a niche aesthetic more than ten years ago to a popular one. The "2020 Hanfu Consumption Trend Insight Report" released by Tmall previously showed that as of the end of 2020, 18 million consumers had purchased Hanfu on Tmall, and the number of potential consumers of Hanfu reached 415 million.
How hot is Hanfu?
Caoxian County, Shandong Province, has more than 3,000 enterprises related to the industrial chain such as Hanfu and performance clothes, and the sales of original Hanfu account for one-third of the same market in the country. Since the beginning of the year, in order to cope with the surge in market demand, many local Hanfu factories have been working overtime to produce, and the supply is still in short supply.
Embroidery production workshop. Photography/Du Yilan
"Orders came in suddenly, and there was no time to prepare at all." Meng Xiaoxia, a Hanfu manufacturer in Daji Town, Cao CountyHe told China News Weekly that due to the impact of the epidemic last year, many goods were overwhelmed and they did not dare to sell goods. Now that the domestic epidemic has been controlled and tourist attractions have been opened, people are enthusiastic about visiting and orders are pouring in. Come here, you can order all the goods in a scenic spot, and even have to sell all hundreds of thousands of sets of clothes in three days.
"It can't be produced at all." Meng Xiaoxia looked confused. Normally, the production cycle of 5,000-10,000 sets of Hanfu is 20 to 40 days. Now it takes a few days to produce it, which is impossible.
Meng Xiaoxia and her lover Hu Chunqing joined the e-commerce trend in Daji Town in 2015 and became one of more than 3,000 performance clothing merchants. In 2019, their Tmall store sales reached nearly 10 million. Affected by the epidemic in 2020, large-scale performances were canceled one after another, and the performance costume industry in Daji Town suddenly fell into a trough. At this time, the couple discovered new business opportunities and switched to the production and sales of Hanfu. Now, they have sold more than 100,000 Hanfu online and offline.
With the popularity of Hanfu, this year is both an opportunity and a challenge for them. Meng Xiaoxia said that stores can make money by just clicking on a link and as long as the goods are available, but the inability to keep up with production capacity is a big problem.
Fabric sellers have also encountered the same problem due to insufficient production capacity and shortages. A fabric sales boss in Daji Town said that now Hanfu manufacturers do not even talk about the price when they come to visit, but directly ask if the fabric is in stock and when it will arrive.
In addition to the representative Daji Town in Caoxian County, China News Weekly noticed that Hanfu manufacturers in other places are also selling very well, and there is a phenomenon of "hard to find a single piece of clothing."
Zhuohuatang (Minghuatang), as a recognized brand of customized Hanfu in the industry, offers a Feiyu cloud shoulder-length sleeves floral woven gold yarn suit with a maximum price of 11,000 yuan, and single items such as short jackets also sell for more than 1,000 yuan. Even so, there is no shortage of orders. Its official website shows that the clothing construction period is scheduled to mid-March 2022.
Why is Hanfu so popular?
Zhang Yi, CEO and Chief Analyst of iiMedia Consulting, believes that Hanfu is a typical representative of the development of traditional Chinese quintessence combined with trendy elements. As the post-95s and post-00s gradually enter the economic stage, young people's sense of identity with the country and nation continues to strengthen. The willingness to accept new things, the strong desire for self-expression, and the pursuit of individuality have all contributed to the development of the national trend economy and played an important role in the formation and spread of Hanfu wearing and consumption trends.
Capital influx
Hanfu is popular! iiMedia Research predicts that the number of Hanfu fans will reach 6.894 million in 2021, and the market sales will reach 10.16 billion yuan. Hanfu has become a tens of billions market.
Li Tao, secretary of the Party Committee of Daji Town, Cao County, said that not only children and little girls like to wear Hanfu, but more and more middle-aged people also like to wear Hanfu, especially the improved Hanfu, which is more daily and suitable for a wider range of occasions.
Hanfu display. Photography/Du Yilan
Under this situation, all kinds of capital rushed to the scene to compete for the "cake" of Hanfu.
Tianyancha data shows that there are currently more than 3,000 Hanfu-related companies in China, of which 73% are individual merchants and 23% are limited liability companies. Among them, well-known investment institutions also appeared.
On April 2 this year, Twelve Light Years, a pan-two-dimensional cultural derivatives new retail platform with products covering Hanfu Han elements, JK uniforms, and Lolita, received millions of dollars in Pre-A round financing from investors including Sequoia China Seeds Fund, Tencent Investment, MiHoYo and other well-known investment institutions and enterprises.
In less than a week, another Hanfu brand, Shisanyu, received hundreds of millions of yuan in Series A financing from Zhengxingu Capital, Bilibili (Bilibili), Bubble Mart, etc.
In addition, there are also companies coming from across borders. Founded in 2003, Pannvfang, which specializes in Chinese-style photography, also established Congyi Hanfu in 2019, strongly entering the tens of billions of Hanfu market. Tianyancha shows that at the beginning of this year, Pandian Women’s Square received 100 million yuan in financing from Challenger Capital, an angel investor in Yuanqi Forest, and the company is preparing to go public.
Behind the entry of many capitals, in addition to the development potential of the Hanfu market itself, more importantly, it is profitable.
There was a popular saying on the Internet before that a 200-yuan Hanfu costs 50 yuan and has a profit of 300%, while the wholesale cost of a Hanfu that sells for tens of thousands of yuan is only more than a thousand yuan. "It is not a dream to make a million a year." Is Hanfu so profitable?
Li Tao pointed out that in Daji Town, the profit of batch Hanfu is about 20%, and the profit of customized Hanfu can reach 60%-70%. Usually, batches are usually needed for team performances or downstream Hanfu retailers. They have no requirements for the fabrics of Hanfu. The cost is low and the selling price is low, ranging from tens to one or two hundred, so the profit is lower, but the advantage is Small profits but quick turnover. For some custom-made Hanfu, customers have higher requirements for fabrics, such as mulberry silk, Xiangyun yarn, etc., and the production is more refined, so the price is high and the profit is high.
China News Weekly visited and learned that in Daji, Hanfu made of mulberry silk as raw material sells for two to three thousand yuan, while some handmadeCustomized clothing, such as the python robe customized by the crew, can be sold for 35,000 yuan, or even 70,000, 80,000, or more than 100,000 yuan. "Although the profit is high, the quantity is small. Most of us still focus on quantity," Meng Xiaoxia said. It is not easy to do business in Hanfu now because the competition is too fierce.
Due to the "crazy" influx of capital from all walks of life, the chaos in the Hanfu industry has become more prominent.
Chaos abounds
“Hanfu is very good, but it would be better if we could supervise the quality of the products.” “Please improve the shape and quality.” “The clothing market has been suffering from piracy for a long time and it has been difficult to protect rights.” On May 13, #HanfuMarketOutbreak# became a hot search topic , while netizens praised the product, they also complained about its poor quality, non-compliance with the format and piracy.
In the concept of Hanfu, "shape" means that Hanfu must retain and inherit the basic elements of traditional clothing in our country's history, such as flat cutting, front and back center seams, right lapels, etc. If the basic elements are lacking or wrong, it cannot be called Hanfu. "Style" refers to whether Hanfu has curves, proportions, volume, etc. that fit well with traditional cultural relic clothing. Hanfu with poor fit will be difficult to achieve a compliant and decent effect after being put on.
Even for well-known Hanfu brands recognized in the industry, consumers have mixed reviews.
At present, the more well-known Hanfu brands include Minghuatang, Shisanyu, Hanshang Hualian, Lan Ruoting, Return to Hantang, etc. In addition to Minghuatang’s high-end customization route, Hanshang Hualian, Lan Ruoting, etc. are more cost-effective , the price is more friendly.
Take Hanshang Hualian, which was founded in 2008 as an example. As the leading Hanfu brand on Tmall, the store focuses on affordable products. Among the nearly 200 products on the shelves in its Tmall flagship store, 83% of the products are priced under 300 yuan. %, the average price is about 200 yuan. The relatively affordable positioning makes Hanshang Hualian popular among young people, student parties, and "newbies". As of now, its total number of fans on Tmall and Taobao stores exceeds 6 million.
Although the price is friendly, the quality has become the "hardest hit area" of complaints. On platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Bilibili, many fans said that Han Shang Hualian "designs with heart, makes clothes with feet, and strives for quality and character."
In contrast, Minghuatang, which takes the high-end customization route, has a high reputation in the industry and is the most "out of the circle". Although a set of Hanfu can easily cost 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, or even more than 10,000 yuan, it has not diminished the love of Hanfu lovers at all. . Many Hanfu enthusiasts say that Minghuatang is very particular about the shape, fabric weaving and pattern design of Hanfu.
It is worth mentioning that due to the high price and long construction period, this "hungry marketing" method has increased the trend of market speculation. Some analysts believe that owning a piece of Minghuatang has become the pursuit of many Hanfu enthusiasts. Many users have the mentality that if they don’t buy it, they won’t be able to buy it or they can only buy second-hand clothes at high prices. As a result, Minghuatang’s clothes are more popular in the second-hand market. It can fetch two or three times the price, and is nicknamed the "walking RMB" by Hanfu enthusiasts.
In addition to failing to keep up with quality, "hungry marketing""In addition, plagiarism and copycat phenomena are prominent in the Hanfu market.
Previously, the Hanfu store Siyinge was accused of plagiarism by consumers because the new Hanfu was highly similar to a painting posted by an artist on Weibo. Afterwards, the store explained to the artist that it was not plagiarism, but only borrowed from the artist's imagination and ideas.
Whether it is plagiarism or borrowing from others, there is still some controversy over the definition of this within the Hanfu circle. Some people think that plagiarism only counts if it is completely copied from the original version. Some people also said that some original design elements such as style and embroidery, and even the overall design ideas are similar. Such "edge ball" behavior will also be defined as plagiarism.
The industry is in chaos, how long can Hanfu remain popular?
How long will it stay popular?
"Although the consumer base of Hanfu is currently expanding rapidly, compared with other ordinary clothing industries, the industrial chain of Hanfu is still in a relatively early stage." Zhang Yi believes that at present, the public's understanding of Hanfu is mostly limited to online information. , and most of the sales of Hanfu reach the terminal through online channels. The Hanfu brand is limited to self-production and sales. It lacks professional market operations to promote the brand on a large scale, and it is difficult to expand new users.
In addition, due to the small market audience, Hanfu production has not yet formed economies of scale. Hanfu merchants usually adopt a "pre-sale + final payment" sales model, with sales volume determining production volume, and they rarely produce in large quantities or hold inventory. Various factors may limit the development of Hanfu.
More importantly, although Hanfu has gradually moved from niche to mass, it has not become a daily choice for consumers. iiMedia Research data shows that 55.9% of Hanfu consumers surveyed said they would not wear Hanfu in daily scenes.
