Why Are The Four Old Tide Cards Such As Supreme And Champion Different?

Street fashion has a long history, but it was once regarded as an alternative and a small group.

With the rise of the millennial generation and the Z generation, street fashion or so-called "tide cards" are increasingly regarded as the best medium for displaying their individuality and expressing their fashionable opinions.

Looking at it, from New York to Losangeles, from Seoul to Tokyo, from Beijing to Shanghai, the rise of Chao brand culture on a global scale is a fact that is obvious to all.

For many new and old trend directors, the present is undoubtedly their era. But opportunities are not all brands that are labeled as "tide labels". Even with similar cultural backgrounds and historical origins, the fate of the tide cards is quite different: some have become God like beings, and have achieved the ability to turn gold into gold; some have regrouped after changing several rounds of clubs, and after a long dormancy, the U reversal has been successfully achieved; some of them once lost their glory in the first place, but they soon lost their radiance, or even sold at low prices or even declared bankruptcy.

For example, the rise in the eight and 90s of last century, originated in the skateboard culture of the three British and American brands Supreme, Bench, HUF, the current situation of the contrast, it can not help but be filled with emotion.

Supreme valued at more than $1 billion 100 million, and there was always a long queue in front of it; Bench, who was bought by American investment company after filing for bankruptcy, was pferred to Asian market after HUF was held by Japanese apparel group.

And another hundred years old Champion, "unexpectedly" burst red, successfully achieved new branches of old trees.

Why are the brands with similar starting points different from the tide brand world?

Bench

Bench was founded in 1989 in England. It was originally a small men's wear brand based on the skateboard culture and BMX (cross-country cycling) culture rising in the late 80s and early 90. It is one of the pioneers of street fashion brands.

However, in recent years, the relationship between Bench and the new generation of consumers has gradually weakened, the brand gene has become blurred, and no soul or KOL has made convincing endorsement for it.

Compared with Supreme, such as the head tide card, Bench is even more silent at the level of marketing communication.

The arrival of the tide card era, not only did not help Bench, but it was flooded with new and old tide cards, struggling in the increasingly fierce market competition, finally filed for bankruptcy protection in May this year, two months later, it was bought by Gordon Brothers, a US investment company, at a low price.

After being bought by Gordon Brothers, the new owner's primary task is to rebuild the electricity supplier channel and interact with young consumers better.

Despite being on the verge of bankruptcy, Bench's weight in the fashion industry is still important: its iconic sweater is the standard of many urban people in Europe and North America. Unlike some of the tide cards that only sell men's clothing, Bench is a comprehensive lifestyle brand that provides men's and women's clothing and children's clothing, and has higher cost performance and can extend street life to a wider audience.

Founded in 1994 by the British James Jebbia, New York, the initial target consumers are New York skateboarding enthusiasts, becoming a street trend brand representing New York street culture, especially skateboard culture.

The shops are forever queued up, and the price of the second-hand market has become one of the Supreme's distinctive labels, which of course is inextricably linked to its unique business model. (*Supreme) the secret of rewriting the retail rules has been selected in the case book of orange Bay University.

Driven by word of mouth from fans, the influence of Supreme has gradually spread from small circles to fermenting: it has been introduced into the British and Japanese markets by British trend group GIMME5 and Japanese trend Godfather Teng Yuan Hao, and has gained fame in Asia.

In 2017, the US private equity giant Carlyle invested heavily in Supreme, and the paction value of Supreme was up to US $1 billion 100 million, which became a milestone in the history of the tide brand development.

It is undeniable that Supreme's success is inseparable from the founder of James Jebbia, a Sphinx representing the spirit of Supreme, and a pmitter of this spirit.

Keeping brand genes is the only commercial plan of James Jebbia. He once said, "we need to be cool enough to survive."

Interestingly, Jebbia himself is not a skateboard player, which may allow him to detached himself from a mere skateboard fan and concentrate on the business of running Supreme brand.

HUF

The birth of HUF can be traced back to 1992. The founder, Keith Hufnagel, is a skateboarder. Following this passion, he moved away from New York to San Francisco and soon became a professional skateboarder.

During this time, he traveled with Supreme skateboard team to Europe and Asia, and personally experienced different cultural backgrounds all over the world.

In 2002, Keith Hufnagel returned to San Francisco.

Inspired by the "do-it-yourself" method in skateboarding, Keith Hufnagel has opened a small boutique shop called HUF HUF in the community, hoping to bring together all the famous skateboards, street wear and sports shoes brands.

With the continuous improvement of popularity, they began to produce their own brand of clothing, and soon evolved into a complete series, so HUF was born. Compared with the Supreme established in 1994, the commercialization of HUF is actually nearly ten years.

HUF is positioned as a high-end Street apparel brand, covering shoes, socks and skateboard products and accessories.

Like Supreme, HUF is also a brand with strong founder color.

Keith Hufnagel believes that skateboarding is not just a hobby or a sport, but a way of life, and it will eventually melt this belief into product philosophy.

Since its establishment, the founder has been deeply involved in exploring brand direction and product production, leading the team to travel around the world and constantly seeking creative inspiration.

Keith Hufnagel thinks that for skateboard equipment, comfort and functionality will always be the first. On this basis, his creative direction always defines the unique HUF aesthetics around travel and retro American design.

At present, HUF operates two stores in the US Losangeles and New York, and overseas markets have only five stores in Japan, which are located in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Harajuku and Sendai.

After 10 years of development, HUF can still be regarded as a "small and beautiful" state of development. However, the HUF aesthetics defined by Keith Hufnagel has certain special value.

Perhaps it was stimulated by Supreme's heavy investment in the Carlyle Group. The Japanese clothing group TSI Holdings decided to buy HUF 90% stake at a price of 63 million US dollars. With its help, HUF is expected to further expand its Asian market, especially in Japan and China.

Champion

Founded in 1919, Champion is a 99 year old American sports brand, one of the "oldest" brands.

Champion was originally the most popular school uniform brand in American University stores. It used to be the main clothing sponsor of NFL and NBA.

Later, brand ownership changed hands several times and now belongs to the American underwear and sportswear group Hanesbrands.

The rise of the brand today has to be traced back to a key time node: in 1975, when Champion, the largest sportswear manufacturer in the United States, signed an authorization cooperation agreement with a Japanese conglomerate, GOLDWIN, formally entered the Japanese market.

It is worth noting that GOLDWIN Champion Japan does not simply distribute Champion ready products to Japan for distribution, but has complete autonomy and can produce products that are more suitable for local consumers' preferences and are in line with the trend.

GOLDWIN based on this brand, covering the characteristics of the 28 sports categories, Champion has become a symbol of American sports culture, positioning more high-end, so that it evolved into a "cultural phenomenon" in Japan.

For the Champion in the US, this kind of "cultural attribute" has long been nowhere to be found. Champion, which has been crushed by Nike, Adidas and other sports giants, has almost become a large commodity. Sales mainly depend on the cooperation with retailers such as the US super giant Target (Taghit).

On the other hand, in Europe and Japan,

Over the past few years, popularity has been rising rapidly. With the highly recognizable logo, the price of the people and the simple design have been crowned "the first choice of the US tide". It has also increased the exposure rate through the cooperation with famous brands such as VETEMENTS and Supreme, and has gained many "fans" in overseas markets including China.

Inspired by this, Hanesbrand, the parent company of the United States, once again raised the strategic importance of upgrading the Champion brand, and resolutely decided to terminate the cooperation agreement with Target at the expense of annual sales of $380 million, and opened the first direct store in New York. This is actually the second store in the United States in the past century. It is no surprise that such a "high rise" store has a large number of high-end product lines developed by Japanese partners.

The fashion trend is hard to predict, but the business opportunities that follow will only belong to those who are prepared.

Whether the aura is constantly strengthening Supreme, or salted fish turn over.

The two common point is: 1) long history and cultural accumulation 2) interact with young consumers, both at the global level and at the regional level, to maintain vitality and freshness.

Although it has been established for nearly 100 years, Champion has maintained its young brand positioning and image in the course of its development, which is closely related to the brand as a basic form of college students and sponsoring professional sports teams all the year round.

On the other hand, Champion

A strong sense of existence is also a key factor for its comeback.

Japan is a relatively closed market, but it will carry forward the aesthetic and design concepts conforming to the Asian fashion consumer preferences, and make very detailed layout and operation in brand positioning, product design, category development and retail experience.

It is easy to see from the different experiences of the above four "tide cards" that although fashion trends are fierce, fast and unpredictable, opportunities will always be left to those who are prepared and stick to your brand genes until the time comes to you.

If we simply label a "tide card", it will not be enough for these old brands to enjoy themselves in the most popular market.

The advantages and disadvantages of fashion are that it comes, goes, goes and comes.

The darling of the times may not be you today, and tomorrow may be you.

In the long process of brand development, can a brand wait until its glorious moment, not a simple label and symbol, you must:

We must have our own unique positioning and firm belief that we can withstand the necessary loneliness.

While adhering to the self, always maintain close contact with young consumers and maintain an open mind.

Fashion industry and

Quite different, technology is a linear iteration and will never go backwards; fashion evolution is a process of recycling from both the history and the future.

This is why in the teaching system of orange Bay University, we strongly emphasize the deep learning of the history of the world's excellent fashion and luxury brands. At the same time, we have invited a lot of vigorous and vigorous students.

Entrepreneurs and students share face-to-face with each other. I hope you can learn how to guide the future in the past, catch the trend of yesterday's reappearance, and always prepare for the "high light time" that is uncertain when it will come.