Author | Wang Xiaojuan

In today's weather is good. Today's weather is good.

In the summer of continuous sports events, the air is filled with the smell of hormones, and the performance of many sports brands has also achieved great success.

Recently, ANTA, the domestic market leader in sports brands, released its financial report for the first half of 2024. In the general situation of mediocre industry growth, ANTA Group's revenue reached 33.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%.

And its various brands under ANTA also performed well. Among them, FILA, the brand that focuses on sports fashion, has also been popularized by various items such as tennis skirts in this summer. Its revenue has also changed the industry's concerns about its 'slowdown' in recent years, with a year-on-year growth of 6.8% to 13.06 billion yuan.

The growth in revenue is also due to the fact that FILA's fashionable sports style is becoming the dress style of many women nowadays, a point that can also be seen from the popularity of Lululemon.

This year, many consumers have noticed that FILA stores have become more fashionable.

In order to always lead the fashion trend, FILA also attaches great importance to channel upgrades. In the past decade, FILA has updated its stores six times, and many of the newly opened stores this year are its 'V6' stores.

In channel upgrades, FILA is good at creating aesthetic spaces that integrate sports, fashion, culture, and individuality. It is not only about displaying and selling products, but also about creating a lifestyle.

In the first half of the year, FILA opened brand new Italian-style sports aesthetic stores in several representative commercial complexes across the country, including Sanlitun in Beijing, Deji Plaza in Nanjing, and Taikoo Li in Chengdu.

Among them, the Sanlitun store in Beijing is in the style of the Palace of Versailles, the Taikoo Li store in Chengdu is the world's first FILA Atelier store, and the Deji Plaza store in Nanjing is created with the cultural image of the Louvre. Each store has a unique style and has become a new landmark for local visitors.

Furthermore, FILA is becoming a new favorite in the high-end commercial market.

After the above three stores became new examples, more and more high-end commercial complexes also hope to cooperate with FILA.

In July, FILA opened the world's first FILA F-BOX in the newly opened SKP in Wuhan, adjacent to global luxury brands such as LV, GUCCI, Prada, and Gentle Monster.

In the jungle of luxury goods, FILA appears to be quite unique and provides consumers with diverse choices beyond luxury goods.

Of course, the physical stores are just a presentation form, and they can be sought after by high-end commercial entities because FILA's products are recognized by consumers.

In terms of marketing, FILA has also collaborated with famous IP such as the Palace of Versailles and Pompidou for co-branded marketing. For example, in FILA Atelier store in Chengdu, in addition to the Kansu-si series, Archive series, and designer collaboration series, there are also global limited edition products such as CASA FILA and FILA PLUS, easily attracting young people within minutes.

In terms of products, based on the main theme of fashionable sports, FILA is trying to make a breakthrough in more professional sports tracks, creating trends and leading the fashion.

This summer, women at the forefront of fashion are all wearing tennis skirts. As a result, the search volume for keywords like Tenniscore and Tenniskirt has skyrocketed. As the brand with the closest association with tennis, FILA is also reaping the benefits of this tennis trend.

Walking into the store, the models in the spotlight are always wearing tennis skirts.

On Xiaohongshu, there are over 0.04 million notes related to FILA, and wearing tennis skirts also becomes a secret code. Many women in the comments section exchange fashion insights and recommend matching techniques to each other.

In addition to tennis, FILA has also started to invest in other professional sports in advance. Last year, FILA even opened up a golf track that matches well with high-end shopping malls.

The success of the new products is quickly reflected in the financial report. FILA stated that its clothing and sports categories have achieved differentiated and focused growth in elite sports such as golf and tennis; at the same time, it is also rapidly expanding into outdoor and sustainable high-potential tracks.

Of course, while creating new growth, FILA's shoe category has also seen good growth in recent years with trends like 'dad shoes' and 'cat claw shoes'. According to the financial report, FILA's shoe category has grown by more than 20% based on fashionable popular styles and professional sports driving.

After all, compared to clothing that has more requirements for occasions and body types, footwear is less differentiated, naturally attracting a larger audience interested in the brand.

Currently, the trend of sports fashion has only recently emerged in China and there is still a large growth potential.

According to survey data from 2022, the penetration rate of outdoor sports in China is only 28.3%, which is still far from the over 50% penetration rate overseas. This means that there is still a large potential market in China that is predominantly focused on outdoor sports.

In the past two years, many brands have expanded from a specific sports category to a broader outdoor sports field, becoming popular among many middle-class consumers. For example, Lululemon originated from yoga, On running combined with running, and Salomon deeply integrated with outdoor activities like trail running. These three brands are even called the 'middle-class three treasures'.

Furthermore, even though not everyone engages in outdoor sports, many people are adopting the lifestyle created by these brands. For brands like FILA, it is easier to cultivate the mindset of users together with their peers and also means having a larger audience that has already been educated by the market.

With these brands' cultivation of the market becoming more mature, the future trend of sports leading fashion will have even greater potential, and FILA and other brands will have a larger space for growth.