The former women’s clothing giant La Chapelle (stock abbreviation: *ST Rasha) was once known as the “Chinese version of ZARA”. The number of chain stores reached 9,000 at its peak, and it once became a domestic women’s clothing giant. Like the equally popular American fast fashion brand Foever21, it was a favorite among young girls.
Foever21 has declared bankruptcy in 2019. In contrast, La Chapelle has not completely disappeared from the fast-selling women’s clothing market. But when looking through the books recently, La Chapelle discovered another troublesome thing: Not only was 9.5 million used, the stock price fell twice within the month.
The former Internet celebrity women’s clothing was troubled
It is understood that La Chapelle was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Urumqi, Xinjiang. It specializes in mass casual clothing for women. It currently owns brands such as La Chapelle, Puella, Candie’s, 7m and La Babité. The legal representative is Zhang Xin and the actual controller is Xing Jiaxing.
In September 2017, La Chapelle, which had been listed on the Hong Kong stock market, finally succeeded in the A-share IPO and officially landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Shortly after the new shares were listed, La Chapelle’s share price hit a high of 31.42 yuan on October 16, 2017, but then plummeted.
Although it seems to have hit rock bottom, Rasha’s stock price has been quite volatile since September this year. On September 15, La Chapelle fell to the intraday limit again, which was the second intraday limit fall in this month
On September 16, *ST La Chapelle issued an announcement stating that it was discovered that Shanghai Hexia, a person acting in concert with the original controlling shareholder Xing Jiaxing, has occupied 9.5 million yuan of company funds and will take relevant measures.
Where have all those fast fashion women’s clothing brands gone?
The term “fast fashion” originated from Europe in the 20th century and was called “Fast Fashion”, while the United States called it “Speed to Maket”, which is “fast fashion”. The simple term “fashion, fashion” usually describes the products that follow the trend made by clothing companies after quickly responding to the fashionable designs on the show.
When it comes to fast fashion brands, apart from the aforementioned La Chapelle, who do you think of? Is it Zara? Or H&M? Or Forever21?
Discounts, clearances, store closures, withdrawal from China…the once-strong fast fashion brands are undergoing a major reshuffle. After New Look and Topshop withdrew from China, Forever21 also staged a major rout in 2019. In recent years, H&M, UR, and MJstyle have closed stores one after another.
Coincidentally, familiar fast fashion local brands are also facing similar problems as global brands. Metersbonwe, Semir, etc. are also facing the dilemma of shrinking offline channels and declining net profits. .
The Metersbonwe store located in Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, Shanghai
When fast fashion emerged, it greatly aroused the interest of consumers with its fast delivery time, affordable prices and following the trend. Most of the target groups are those born in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays, consumer groups have changed. The fast fashion brands of the past seem to have become representatives of “low cost performance” in the needs of Generation Z. This change can be seen in La Chapelle.
Another serious problem is original design. Fast fashion’s business model of copying big brands and launching new products quickly has long been criticized by the entire industry. Zara, Forever 21, etc. have all been accused of infringement by big brands such as Puma, Gucci, and adidas. Compared with these traditional fast fashion imitating big-name design concepts, Uniqlo has been targeting basic styles with low prices and high quality from the beginning of its design. The blessing of “technological” fabrics gives it a great advantage among many fast fashion brands, and life will naturally change. Much better than other fast fashion brands.
The women’s clothing industry is polarized, and children’s clothing has become a new blue ocean
Although domestic men’s clothing emerged earlier than women’s clothing, as women’s clothing consumption levels increase and women’s clothing itself has more styling space, the profit margins can be imagined. Data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute shows that from 2013 to 2019, the size of my country’s women’s clothing market has shown an overall upward trend. By 2020, although it has declined slightly due to the impact of the epidemic, it is still about twice the size of the men’s clothing market. Women’s clothing has huge development potential.
However, with different business strategies, domestic women’s clothing brands have gradually begun to show a trend of polarization. Taking the nine domestic women’s clothing brands listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen plates as an example, it can be seen that Langzi shares currently have the highest total market value, at 13.256 billion yuan; *ST Global has the lowest total market value, at 907 million yuan. Langzi’s total market value is approximately 14 times that of Global.
LANCY FROM 25 is a Chinese fashion brand owned by the listed company Langzi Co., Ltd.
It is understood that Langzi was founded in Beijing in 2000, and has since launched brands such as “Zhuo Ke”, “Rhine Flair” and “Yue Langzi”. In 2011, Langzi Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and became the first high-end women’s clothing brand in the A-share market.
In 2015, after laying out the layout of the fashionable women’s clothing industry, Langzi began to seek transformation and proposed a “pan-fashion industry interconnected ecosystem” strategy. Currently� Forming a pan-fashion business ecosystem focusing on women’s clothing, medical beauty, and infants and children.
With the implementation of the “three-child” policy, the potential of the infant and child industry cannot be underestimated. For Langzi, early planning was just the right bet.
Semir also takes a fancy to the big cake of children’s clothing. Just when you thought Semir was gradually withdrawing from the fast fashion brand circle, they focused on it as early as 2014. Only in children’s clothing can we still maintain profitability now. Since 2017, the children’s clothing sector has become Semir’s largest source of income, easing its operating difficulties. And through measures such as deploying its own children’s clothing brand Balabala and acquiring overseas children’s clothing brand Kidiliz, Semir has now become the second largest children’s clothing company in the world.
BalaBala is a children’s clothing brand created by China Semir Group in Hong Kong in 2002
It is not difficult to find that children’s clothing will become a new growth point for many apparel companies. According to data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, in 2019, the market size of my country’s children’s clothing industry was approximately 239.1 billion yuan, an increase of 14.35% compared with 2018. Affected by the epidemic in 2020, although the growth rate has declined, the market size still reached 229.2 billion yuan. It is estimated that by 2025, the size of China’s children’s clothing market is expected to exceed 470 billion yuan.
But this means that traditional companies can “copy homework”
Are you switching to children’s clothing?
A consumer stock researcher at a securities company told reporters: Whether children’s clothing is a good track depends on the relationship between the number of people of appropriate age and consumer demand. Although the three-child policy will marginally improve the current situation of low fertility, it is uncertain whether the new policy will bring a more significant stimulus effect and reverse the trend of low fertility, thereby causing the overall birth rate to enter an upward channel. Under the current trend of low fertility rates, the increase in the population of suitable consumer age will continue to decrease, which will bring about a decline in the growth rate of total consumer demand and lead to the peak of the market size arriving early. Therefore, expectations should be adjusted appropriately and do not be overly optimistic about the growth of the domestic children’s clothing market. . </p
