Fast Fashion Brands Continue To Spread, Price Increases Have Not Affected The Chinese Market

Fast fashion brands are setting off a wave of rising prices. Recently, eight companies, including Zara, H & M, C & A, and next, formed an alliance to support the increase in the wages of OEM workers. At the same time, these brands collectively said that the wage increase "will be reflected in the FOB price of purchased products".

　　 this year Price rise news has been sent out many times

At present, fast fashion brands are rapidly seizing the market with the strategy of "wearing big brands at low prices". However, "fast fashion", which mainly plays the price tag, is also facing the collective rise of labor costs. Zara, H & M, C & A, next, Primark and other eight clothing retail companies have formed an alliance to support the increase of wages and benefits of workers in OEM factories in Cambodia. In an open letter to the Cambodian authorities, the fast fashion brands collectively said that the wage increase "will be reflected in the FOB price of purchased products". This means that the prices of these brands will go up.

In addition to the open statement of workers' skills, the Union will also improve the work environment. In this regard, industry insiders revealed that the rise in the prices of these brand products may be inevitable.

Here it is background Recently, H & M Hennes & Mauritz ab (HMB. St) issued a statement on its official website, saying that the group has been committed to increasing the wages of Cambodian textile industry workers for many years, and hopes to clarify this position together with other retailers during the multi-party talks. H & M Hennes & Mauritz ab (HMB. St) publicly announced at the end of 2013 and April 2014 that it would raise the wages of textile workers in countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia. At the same time, the group also warned about the possible price increase of products due to the increase of workers' wages.

Analysts believe that after the new wage standard is determined and formally implemented, consumers will see the cost transfer of terminal products. Since this is not the first time that "fast fashion" has been advertised to increase prices, the price increase of fast fashion brands has become a trend, but the increase will not be too large.

In fact, the price as the main advantage of the fast fashion brand this year has repeatedly spread the news of price rise. In June this year, UNIQLO, a chain brand, said it would raise its price by about 5% in Japan, which is the first time that fast fashion brands are involved in the comprehensive price increase of new products. However, the price rise has not yet affected the Chinese market.

　　 Outstanding performance of several brands

Although the fashion price has been revealed again and again, the performance of the brand is still outstanding. The Spanish fast fashion giant INDITEX, which owns Zara, Massimo dutti and pull & bear, announced an 11% increase in the first quarter of this year. In the first three months of this year, the group's brands added 53 stores in 26 regions around the world.

According to H & M's announcement of May sale According to the data, total sales including tax grew by 19% in local currency, far exceeding the 12% expected by analysts, the largest increase since November last year. In addition, the results of the second quarter of this year show that the accumulated comprehensive performance of the second quarter from September 1, 2013 to February 28, 2014 shows that the net comprehensive sales volume is 764.3 billion yen, an increase of 24.3% over the same period of last year, but its net income decreases by 1.4% compared with the same period of last year. In fact, UNIQLO's overseas performance has increased significantly.

　 The price of stores in Tianjin has not yet started to rise

During the "National Day" holiday, the reporter also visited a number of fast fashion brand stores near Binjiang Road. Almost every store was full of consumers who came to choose clothes. When the reporter asked whether the company had recently raised the product price, an H & M staff member said, "it is not very clear that there are various activities for different styles of clothing, and the prices will also be There has been no large-scale price adjustment yet. " But Ms. Li, who just bought a coat in another "fast fashion" store, said, "now brands with little fame in the mall are also very expensive. On the contrary, these fast fashion brands have fame, and the price is not particularly expensive. Even if the price is slightly increased, I can accept it."

　　 Expert opinion

Price is still the best way to increase price or lose passenger flow

From Zara, H & M, UNIQLO, gap, C & A Fast fashion brands are seizing the mainland market like crazy, and with the advantages of low price, more patterns, new styles and large discounts, fast fashion brands have also firmly grasped the hearts of young consumers in a short period of time.

However, with the rapid development of fast fashion brands, the various quality problems exposed should also arouse the attention of consumers. In the first half of this year, among 396 imported garments with unqualified quality and safety, four of the top five brands with the largest number of unqualified batches were fast fashion brands, respectively forever 21, Zara, H & M and mango, with 107 unqualified cases, accounting for 27.02% of all unqualified products. According to statistics, Zara has been on the black list for more than 10 times since entering the Chinese market, and H & M has nearly 10 times. Based on the consideration of cost control, high-quality and long-term fabrics have been excluded from the design stage of these "fast fashion" garments, which have been repeatedly listed in the black list. In order to pursue low-cost, it has become normal to frequently replace lower cost raw materials and OEM factories. However, it seems that these frequent problems have not really attracted the attention of consumers.

Compared with the quality, brand awareness and fashion design concept, "fast fashion" can attract a large number of consumers in China or price. The collective price increase of 8 fast fashion brands in this round may lead to the loss of passenger flow to a certain extent. Industry insiders told reporters that at present, the clothing industry supply exceeds demand, and it is the clothing terminal price rather than the cost that directly affects the consumer's consumption ability. "Too high clothing price is bound to affect consumers' purchasing power, which is why consumers frequently switch to online shopping malls for goods Why. "

At the same time, from the perspective of consumers, we should have a correct concept of consumption. Big brands or imported brands do not represent the quality. We should not blindly pursue imported brands when choosing clothes.