Horse-faced skirts have become the top trend in the Hanfu circle, with a merchant in Cao County increasing sales tenfold in one year

　　First Finance Author: Lu Hanzhi

　　The sewing machine is "smoke"! Recently, Caoxian, the "center of the universe", has once again made an appearance because of Hanfu, especially the horse-faced skirt, which has become the top Hanfu trend on social platforms.

　　"Orders are pouring in in 2023, and the goods are sold out immediately." Liu Shenfeng, the person in charge of Caoxian Time Travel Datang Huafu, told China Business News. He said that 2023 will be the fastest growing year since the company was founded, and Hanfu's sales have increased tenfold compared to 2022.

　　Data from the Cao County E-commerce Service Center shows that during this year’s Spring Festival, sales of clothing for the Year of the Dragon, mainly horse-faced skirts, exceeded 300 million yuan. iiMedia Research estimates that the market size is expected to reach 24.18 billion yuan in 2027.

　　From the perspective of practitioners, the popularity of Hanfu in recent years has not only promoted the development of the industry, but also spawned new business formats, such as Hanfu experience hotels and so on. As it develops, Hanfu also faces challenges including rising raw materials, homogeneous competition, and high return rates.

　　Hanfu sales doubled

　　Data from multiple e-commerce platforms show that sales of Hanfu have continued to rise this year, with horse-faced skirts being particularly popular.

　　JD.com data shows that since January this year, the transaction volume of Hanfu categories such as horse-faced skirts on JD.com has increased by more than 300% year-on-year. Among them, the transaction volume of children's horse-faced skirts has increased by more than 70 times year-on-year.

　　Vipshop data shows that in the past half month, the sales of Hanfu have doubled, the overall sales of new Chinese-style clothing have increased by 366% year-on-year, and the sales of new Chinese-style women's clothing have increased nearly four times year-on-year. Among the new Chinese-style outfits, the popularity of horse-faced skirts remains unabated. Since mid-March, sales have increased more than four times year-on-year.

　　Why does the popularity of Hanfu continue to rise?

　　Lin Wei, founder of the Weaving Department, told China Business News that as the country continues to attach importance to cultural confidence in recent years, many intangible cultural heritage crafts or excellent traditional cultural categories about China have gradually been discovered, supplemented by the rapid spread of short videos. Make it famous. Whether consumers are deeply involved in the Hanfu circle or outside the circle, they are gradually accepting the use of Chinese elements in various scenarios.

　　For example, the pattern of the popular horse-face skirt can be traditional or modern; the structure can also be changed to make a three-quarter style or even a short skirt style. Consumer acceptance is high, and the feedback to merchants is more creativity and creation stimulation.

　　Practitioners in Caoxian County are also deeply aware of the Hanfu craze. Liu Shenfeng told China Business News that he entered the Hanfu industry in 2019 and will really feel the sales explosion in 2023. "Previously, our products were mainly used in performances, films and television. After the epidemic, the number of tourists in scenic spots has exploded, and the number of people experiencing Hanfu in scenic spots has also increased dramatically, which has brought benefits to the industry, and demand has suddenly exceeded supply." Liu Shenfeng revealed that in 2023, Hanfu will be in short supply. Sales volume has increased tenfold compared to 2022.

　　Liu Shenfeng analyzed that there are multiple reasons why horse-faced skirts are so popular. "The horse-faced skirt is a style of Hanfu. As a single item, it has become popular because, firstly, its style is really good-looking and its effect on consumers' upper body is also good. Secondly, it is driven by some external factors."

　　With the Hanfu craze, there are more and more relevant practitioners. Liu Shenfeng estimates that the number of local Hanfu practitioners will at least double in 2023 compared with 2022. The number of practitioners has increased rapidly. Liu Shenfeng said that this is because Caoxian County has a good foundation for the development of the Hanfu industry and has relatively complete supporting facilities for related industries.

　　However, the Hanfu industry still has barriers. Liu Shenfeng said that the raw materials required are relatively abundant, and the fabrics, embroidery, printing, intangible cultural heritage embellishments, handwork, etc. used cannot be easily imitated.

　　After the horse face skirt became popular, many manufacturers launched related products. Liu Shenfeng said that the production of horse-faced skirts has certain thresholds. First, the workmanship of horse-faced skirts is different from other products and has a certain degree of difficulty. Secondly, the equipment and processes used in horse-faced skirts are relatively complex. In addition, the raw materials for horse-faced skirts are mainly brocade, and brocade production capacity is low. Therefore, the raw materials for horse-faced skirts are not very sufficient, and demand currently exceeds supply. From the perspective of the platform, the platform currently gives more resources to the Hanfu category. In order to attract more Hanfu merchants, JD.com’s policy of reducing the service rate of Hanfu by 35% has officially come into effect on February 12, 2024. The reduction of freight insurance premiums for the Hanfu category will be officially implemented on March 1, 2024, and both new and old merchants can enjoy.

　　New business formats emerge: Hanfu Hotel is fully booked before the holiday

　　New entrants are constantly entering the Hanfu industry, promoting the development and popularization of the Hanfu industry, thereby driving the rise and development of surrounding industries. Hanfu photoshoots, Hanfu rentals, and Hanfu experience centers will become a part of the industry.

　　Data from Meituan and Dianping show that in the past year, the overall search volume for "Hanfu"-related keywords has increased by nearly 250% year-on-year, the number of reviews has increased by nearly 170%, and the number of guide notes has increased by more than 150%. The number of merchants such as Hanfu photo shoots and Hanfu make-up companies has increased by nearly 160% year-on-year, the number of group buying orders has soared by 450%, and the search volume of hot words such as "Hanfu make-up", "Hanfu photo" and "Hanfu rental" has increased by more than 500%.

　　Liu Shenfeng said that in addition to B-end merchants such as experience centers and photography studios purchasing Hanfu, some service industries such as hotels have also become buyers of Hanfu.

　　China Business News learned that the Hanfu experience has now been "rolled" into the accommodation and catering industries, and many businesses provide Hanfu rental, makeup and other comprehensive services.

　　Mr. Hu, the person in charge of the Luoyang Luojian Hanfu Movie Theater Hotel, told China Business News that due to the popularity of the Hanfu Experience Center in Luoyang, tourists usually have to queue for a long time. In this context, the hotel hopes to serve tourists, so it has prepared more than 300 sets of Hanfu for free for hotel guests to choose from. Mr. Hu said, "Tourists not only come to stay, but more importantly, to experience the unique culture of Luoyang. With this comprehensive service, we also want to bring you an immersive experience of traveling through the prosperous Tang Dynasty." On the platform, this Hanfu restaurant The hotel has become a popular choice for many tourists, and it is fully booked for Qingming Festival.

　　Mr. Hu said that in terms of procurement, he went to Caoxian twice last year and this year to purchase Hanfu, and currently spent more than 110,000 yuan on Hanfu. "We inspected the local Hanfu stores and learned that most of them purchase their goods in Cao County. The Hanfu in Cao County is more traditional, and the Hangzhou industrial belt prefers daily new Chinese styles, so we purchase it in Cao County. We pay more attention to quality when purchasing, especially for children's Hanfu. , and we need better quality ones." Mr. Hu revealed that the price of a single piece of Hanfu he purchased is usually between 200 yuan and 600 yuan.

　　iiMedia Consulting data shows that more than 40% of consumers will wear Hanfu in Hanfu activities, art shootings, traditional festivals and other scenes, 39.2% of consumers will wear Hanfu when traveling and sightseeing, and 30.6% of consumers will wear Hanfu in daily activities. . iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that Hanfu has a strong custom and merchants can make daily improvements to Hanfu and promote the development of Hanfu and traditional culture.

　　And these challenges

　　As an important carrier of traditional culture, the Hanfu industry is facing unprecedented opportunities. As people attach more importance to traditional culture and increase their aesthetic needs, the potential of the Hanfu market is being further tapped and released. However, the booming development of this industry also comes with its own set of challenges.

　　One challenge lies in the increase in raw material prices caused by the increase in practitioners due to the Hanfu boom. Liu Shenfeng said that although sales have soared, the current profits of Hanfu products are not as good as in the past. The reason is the rising cost of raw materials. "The number of practitioners has increased, and the supply and demand relationship has caused an upward trend in raw materials."

　　In addition, homogeneous competition has intensified. iiMedia Consulting CEO Zhang Yi told China Business News that homogeneous competition is also serious at present, and there is insufficient innovation in the industry. There is a rush to imitate popular products, resulting in homogeneous competition and even plagiarism of brand names.

　　From a channel perspective, online shopping has become an important sales channel for Hanfu. iiMedia Research data shows that more than 50% of consumers purchase Hanfu through e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, and 39.5% of consumers purchase Hanfu from offline Hanfu physical stores.

　　However, the return rate of online shopping channels is relatively high. Some merchants told reporters that the current return rate of C-end online shopping is around 20%. In this regard, Zhang Yi believes that the current high return rate of online Hanfu shopping is mainly due to two reasons. First, the packaging design of the product itself is somewhat excessive or relatively perfect, but the quality of the product itself has not kept up, resulting in consumers receiving the goods. A gap occurs. Secondly, from the perspective of the industry as a whole, brand awareness still needs to be strengthened. Most products are white brands or even based on other brands.

　　Lin Wei said that although the horse-faced skirt has achieved certain results in the entire Hanfu category, it may be the first time for many consumers to wear it or come into contact with it. Some consumers may want to wear it for commuting, but the style is not low-key and restrained enough. , which leads to a relatively high return rate.

　　Branding is also a difficult problem. iiMedia data shows that as of the end of 2022, the top five provinces with the number of Taobao Hanfu merchants are Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan and Jiangsu, accounting for 21.5%, 18.8%, 13.5%, 12.6% and 11.6% respectively.

　　Judging from the "Top 10 Chinese Hanfu Brands in 2022" released by iiMedia, the top ten brands on the list are concentrated in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu and other places. Shandong, which has the largest number of Hanfu merchants, has no merchants on the list. In this regard, Zhang Yi said that many businesses currently focus on processing models and do not have strong branding or scale capabilities, which means that it is difficult to build a big brand. In addition, the overall operation of some industrial clusters lacks branding ideas and focuses on processing and contract processing. This is a problem caused by the business model.

　　In addition, the Hanfu industry still needs improvement in design. iiMedia Consulting data shows that 43.8% of Chinese consumers believe that daily wear of improved Hanfu is still a bit cumbersome. The application of Han elements has a clear sense of fragmentation and is not enough for daily use. The clothing fabrics are not textured, light and wear-resistant enough, and the aesthetics and details are insufficient. Accounting for 43.3%, 42.4% and 37.4%. In this regard, iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the future improvement direction of improved Hanfu will be lightweight and everyday.