Text / Yangcheng Evening News reporter Huang Shi Shi Peilin intern Zhang Xilong / Provided by the interviewee
In recent years, with the improvement of living standards, people have become more and more critical in the choice of leather goods, and they tend to buy high-quality and high-end luxury leather goods to improve their quality of life.
The huge consumer market has given birth to the back-end market of luxury goods - the rise of the leather care industry.
Now that the seasons change between spring and summer, industry insiders pointed out that the main component of natural leather is protein, which is prone to damp, mildew and insects at this stage. The professional cleaning, maintenance and repair service market for luxury leather goods has also entered the peak season.
Recently, a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News interviewed many founders and senior nurses in the leather care industry to explore the survival status of this luxury back-end market.
From bud to flourish
Young people gradually become the main force of consumption
Short supply is one of the reasons that prompted some leather care professionals to enter the industry.
"JEEVES" Guangzhou manager Hou Yichen entered the business in 2010. According to his recollection, at that time, his family had the need to clean leather bags, but there were very few related stores on the market, which also led him to discover the "new world" of leather care.
If it was said that leather care was still in its infancy in China more than ten years ago, it has clearly grown into a towering tree now.
The reporter searched for "leather care" in Dianping, and there were about 1139 results in Guangzhou area alone.
"The demand for leather goods maintenance has been increasing steadily. On the one hand, the domestic economy is improving, and more and more people have the conditions to buy luxury goods; on the other hand, the rise of second-hand luxury goods merchants has also made leather goods products more circulated." Hou Yichen Tell reporters, in terms of categories, luxury luggage and leather goods have various styles, and the turnover rate and cost performance are higher than other categories, which also brings huge market development space for the luxury leather goods maintenance and nursing industry.
He Yudong, a luxury care appraiser with "Hundred Years of Ingenuity", mentioned that the current customer group is mostly between the ages of 20 and 45, and women account for 95%: "In the past three to five years, consumers have shown signs of rejuvenation. Nearly half are now 20-35 years old.”
Su Lin, the founder of "Sulin Luxury Art", also confirmed this statement.
He entered the industry in 2003 and observed that the age group of customers is getting younger and younger: "The main force of consumers is gradually becoming young people in their twenties." The demand for leather goods maintenance has increased, customers have become younger, and the frequency of consumption has increased, etc. , let them see the prospect of luxury leather goods maintenance industry.
"profiteering industry"?
There is no flat rate for maintenance of leather goods
Since the care of luxury bags is purely manual, the fees are relatively high.
Ms. Ke, who often buys luxury bags, told reporters that she once cleaned an Italian famous brand leather bag in a famous leather care chain store in Guangzhou. The cost was 800 yuan, accounting for about 1/20 of the price of the bag: "This price is enough to buy a New leather bags from small brands."
At present, there is still no unified standard for leather maintenance fees in the industry.
Taking the leather goods care store of "Hundred Years of Ingenuity" as an example, the fee depends on the process: for example, if the hardware of a leather bag is worn, if it is relatively dirty, it needs to be electroplated and cleaned, and these two processes are billed separately.
He Yudong has different views on the outside world's view that there is a "profiteering industry" in leather maintenance.
He mentioned that the fees for some procedures are relatively high, because there are certain risks in the repair and maintenance process of luxury goods: "When cleaning a leather bag, a series of unpredictable problems may occur during the cleaning process, and these are the risks we have to take. If a customer brings a leather bag of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, we will increase the service fee by a certain percentage on the basis of the standard fee for ordinary leather bags.”
In addition to "insurance premiums", higher labor costs also reduce the industry's profit margins.
Su Lin told reporters that leather goods cleaning is different from assembly line production: "Each piece of leather goods is made of different materials and needs to be cleaned piece by piece, which costs a lot of labor."
Hou Yichen also said that the leather care industry is a labor-intensive industry: "This industry is completely manual, and a worker can only wash four to five bags a day at most. In addition, the location of the physical store is located in a relatively high-end business district. The cost is relatively high, which is also the reason for the high cost of leather care.”
Craftsman spirit is indispensable
Good craftsmanship attracts repeat customers
To do a good job in the maintenance of leather goods, Su Lin believes: "First of all, we must choose a good location, so as to ensure the source of customers." The reporter found that most of the leather goods maintenance stores in Guangzhou are located in the Beijing Road business district, Tianhe Road business district, Zhujiang New Town and other high-end stores. The shopping malls are all areas with high traffic flow and high consumption level.
Su Lin mentioned that under the epidemic, the enthusiasm of citizens for shopping has subsided, and the offline passenger flow has decreased. Under the trend of cloud shopping, online leather care platforms are also emerging, providing a better consumption window.
"Although online channels can increase a certain amount of orders, it is not a foolproof solution." Su Lin said that in general, an online platform can only be established after operating a physical store and accumulating a certain source of customers, "Many customers in our industry rely on Introduced by friends and word of mouth, word of mouth is very important, and only when the craftsmanship is in place will the customer return rate be high.”
Su Lin believes that the leather goods maintenance industry currently needs all-round talents: "Leather goods maintenance is nothing more than divided into leather bags, shoes, and luggage categories, but each category is subdivided into many types. At present, many nurses have the ability to repair and repair. Leather bags but can't repair shoes, can repair shoes but can't repair luggage." In addition to understanding technology, you must also have attitude.
In Su Lin's eyes, the spirit of craftsmanship is indispensable in the leather care industry.
Compared with the previous master-apprentice-style learning model, in recent years, there have been more professional training institutions and grading systems in the leather care industry, and the quality of leather care practitioners is constantly improving.
In addition, improving its own service system and quality and expanding business diversification are also means to improve its competitive advantage.
Hou Yichen told reporters: "When we first entered the business in 2010, we only did leather goods maintenance; in 2012, we developed single-wash high-end ready-to-wear; two years later, we began to provide door-to-door furniture services. In 2017, we expanded more value-added services. , such as the recycling of second-hand luxury goods." From leather goods to the care of ready-to-wear and furniture, to the recycling of second-hand luxury goods, Hou Yichen believes that forging iron requires its own strength and diversification of products and services to support the long-term development of the brand.
Spring and summer seasons, how to care for luxury bags?
Leather goods nurses come to help
Text / Yangcheng Evening News reporter Huang Shi Shi Peilin intern Zhang Xilong / Provided by the interviewee
How to maintain leather goods in daily life?
Professional leather care specialists provide consumers with guidance from the perspective of bag "storage" and "care".
Storage must be careful
"In Guangdong, the storage of bags is a key point." He Yudong, a luxury care appraiser with "hundred years of ingenuity", told reporters that the weather in the south is humid, and the cabinets for storing leather bags should be kept dry and ventilated, and desiccant or desiccant should be placed in the corners of the cabinets. Dehumidifier, "But the desiccant cannot be put directly in or near the bag, otherwise it will absorb the moisture of the bag. The bag itself has oil, and if it is sucked away, it will have adverse consequences and may burn."
In addition, it is best to fill the bag when it is not in use, "to keep the bag straight and maintain its shape", and some larger bags are recommended to lie flat.
He Yudong suggested to cover the leather bag with a dust bag and moisture-proof cloth: "Some light-colored leather bags may oxidize when exposed to air or light, and the color may become lighter or darker."
For patent leather bags, He Yudong thinks that they should be stored separately: "The material of patent leather will dilute the color. If you put a patent leather bag with other clothes with darker colors, the patent leather bag will absorb the color, resulting in staining or color channeling, so this kind of bag will dilute the color. need to be stored separately.”
"JEEVES" Guangzhou manager Hou Yichen added to reporters that in the humid south, rice paper is the "confidant" of many leather goods: "You can use rice paper to prop up the leather bag to keep it in its original shape. In addition, rice paper is hygroscopic. It can prevent mildew from growing on leather goods.” In addition, in terms of storage, Hou Yichen emphasized that it should be placed in a cool, ventilated place.
Care must be taken
Today, when information is extremely developed, there is no shortage of posts and discussions on leather goods maintenance on social media platforms.
Shao Chaolei, the founder of "Grace", believes that the formation of consciousness is very important for daily care, and care should be regarded as a common sense: "In the process of receiving customers on a daily basis, we will give them easy-to-use care creams, but we find that Only a very small number of customers will use it." Lack of nursing awareness and practice is a problem for many customers.
In Shao Chaolei's view, the saying that practice makes perfect also applies to the daily care of leather goods: "With the same action, the strength and frequency of wiping are different, and the nursing effect will also be different. A seemingly small action, if you don't do it, it will naturally fail. To the conservation effect. So we have to cultivate our own hands-on ability.”
Nursing needs the right medicine
The specific care methods vary with different leather goods.
Shao Chaolei introduced that even if it is the same material, due to the different craftsmanship, the nursing methods are different: "Scrub, pearlescent, suede, down leather ... dozens of craftsmanship involve different care. In this regard, I suggest that everyone Go to the nursing store to ask and communicate with professionals, and confirm the specific material of the bag before you can prescribe the right medicine."
"We will emphasize the need to pay attention to the collocation and replacement of items, and do not carry the same bag in spring, summer, autumn and winter." Shao Chaolei mentioned that in daily care, more attention is paid to basic care, if it involves leather discoloration, leather surface scratches, etc. Problems, it is recommended to send it to a professional nursing shop for treatment.
In home care, it is more about smooth leather and suede: "Home care can be simplified a bit, and it is enough to keep leather cleaning cream and nursing cream. When purchasing, in addition to considering the effect, it is best to choose care with milder performance. paste."