Author | Wang Xiaojuan

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Over the past month, Zhang Zetian, who hasn't been seen for a long time, has been in business frequently. First, he appeared at a London fashion dinner in a long slim silver sequin dress; then he went to Milan, Italy to become a TOD'S brand ambassador; a few days later, he appeared at the first Tsinghua Alumni London Art Show.

As the boss's wife, Zhang Zetian, who is beautiful and has her own traffic, is a fashion spokesperson for JD Nature. Behind her many platforms is the continuous acceleration and upward ambition of JD's fashion apparel business.

According to Wall Street News, the London Fashion Dinner was hosted by JD to celebrate the cooperation between JD and the British Fashion Council to become the official online retail partner of London Fashion Week in Asia.

And this year's Double Eleven is the driving force of JD fashion. Before the event began, JD invested 1 billion yuan in apparel. On the evening of October 14, Double Eleven officially opens, and a limited-time 50% discount will be offered directly on clothing.

Of course, the fashion apparel circuit itself is quite competitive. In this field, Taobao and Tmall are still king, and Douyin, Xiaohongshu, etc. have also entered the market. On this track, which has long been the Red Sea, JD and Zhang Zetian will need more strategies and more effort to truly break through the sky.

Get out of the circle

Zhang Zetian has always been a bright business card for JD, and has also paid a lot of endorsement fees for JD Province. This is even more true in this fashion apparel business, which is more compatible with Zhang Zetian himself.

Even every public appearance by Zhang Zetian represents JD's new trend in fashion apparel.

On September 15, brands such as JD and HAZZYS Haggis, Ellassay Marisfroll, and Pure Tea Tea entered London Fashion Week, and even incorporated intangible heritage cultural elements such as Miao Yinmiao embroidery, showing off a wave of major national trends.

Furthermore, JD Apparel has reached a cooperation with the British Fashion Council to become the official online retail partner of London Fashion Week in Asia.

JD also invited celebrities from the fashion industry to attend a grand fashion dinner. At his home dinner, Zhang Zetian relaxed and took a group photo with a crowd of fashion professionals.

In one of the most representative photos, Zhang Zetian's right hand side is Zhang Huishan, the designer who founded the brand of the same name “Huishan Zhang,” and on the left hand side is Zhang Yu, the former editor-in-chief of the Chinese edition of the fashion magazine “VOGUE,” known as the “Witch Head.”

The business cooperation behind Zhang Zetian's group photo is self-evident.

Since the fall, a series of JD clothing activities have begun intensively. On September 6, JD Apparel, along with Xiaohongshu and VOGUE, jointly released the “2024 Fall/Winter Clothing Trend White Paper”, saying that consumers pay more attention to “cost performance” when purchasing clothing, while Wilderness Maillard, urban light outdoor, new retro, and Oriental luxury style have become the four new trends in 2024 autumn and winter clothing.

Coupled with JD's highly discounted apparel festival in September and the 1 billion investment in the apparel business, it can further highlight JD's increase in fashion apparel, in order to leave the impression of “buy clothes and go to JD” in the hearts of users. During the Double Eleven period, JD also offered a 50% discount for a limited time in the clothing area, further attracting consumers.

JD's fashion apparel business began in 2017. At the time, JD split the original clothing and home furnishing division and officially established the fashion division. After its establishment, Zhang Zetian followed the trend and became a fashion brand development consultant for JD.

Back then, JD also became an official member of the AAFA (American Apparel and Footwear Association). Zhang Zetian also hosted a private fashion dinner at the time. The supporters covered more than half of the US entertainment industry.

Since then, CELINE, FENDI, Bottega Veneta, etc. have joined JD, and JD has also become an important sales channel for these brands in China.

Over the next few years, JD's fashion business continued to grow. For example, in 2022, JD became the first company to reach comprehensive cooperation with nine top fashion brands under the LVMH Group.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zetian has also gained a foothold in the fashion industry. He often attends various fashion dinners and film festivals. His image also transitioned from an early sweet style to more mature, closer to the fashion industry and luxury industry.

Up to now, JD and LOUIS VUITTON, GUCCI, TIFFANY & CO. Brands such as BOTTEGA VENETA, and SAINT LAURENT have all cooperated, and mainstream luxury brands have all settled in JD.

Recently, Zhang Zetian was also officially announced as TOD's brand ambassador. You need to know that this brand's products have always been loved by celebrities. In addition to popular celebrities, Zhang Zetian was selected directly to find someone in the fashion industry.

Over the years, although Zhang Zetian has not been in the entertainment industry, he is very active in the fashion industry, and with his beautiful image, he has shown the degree of perfection of fashion; JD Fashion also slowly grew during Zhang Zetian's events, and its business became more extensive and diversified.

Perhaps in the future, the “buy clothes and go to JD” concept will also become deeply entrenched in the hearts of the people with JD's investment and Zhang Zetian's repeated appearances.

rivalry

While Zhang Zetian took JD's fashion apparel business to a new level, no one else was idle.

Clothing is a racetrack with deep roots.

According to data, in 2023, China's online retail sales of clothing exceeded 2,300 billion yuan; as far as the world is concerned, the world produces more than 100 billion pieces of clothing every year, with an average of 190,250 new clothes leaving the factory every minute; the world produces about 24 billion pairs of shoes every year, and an average of 4,566 pairs of new shoes are completed every minute.

Because of its huge size, fashionable clothing has also become a must-compete place for military families. Currently, Taobao and Tmall are still the main positions that merchants insist on; Douyin Xiaohongshu is a platform that penetrates users' lives, and also places fashion apparel as the focus of the business direction. In particular, Xiaohongshu is becoming a trend-leading position, and brands have to stop participating.

However, according to research by consulting agency Conier, the trend shown in the fashion apparel industry in recent years is that the market is slowing down and slow growth has become the new normal; in terms of price, the internal volume of the affordable market has intensified, and the market with higher prices is relatively stable overall. This poses a greater challenge for all platforms.

JD's addition of fashion apparel is also due to the fact that this track has become one of the few tracks that are still growing. According to the data, the number of leading domestic and foreign footwear brands of JD Apparel increased by more than 60% year on year, and the number of third-party merchants increased by more than 200% year on year.

While JD and VOGUE are releasing fashion trends together, Douyin is also collaborating with VOGUE to continue leading the new fashion trend. Following last year's Maillard style, VOGUE and Douyin defined this year's trend as Yadan style and created the “Diyin Fashion Week” offline themed show — the wind came from Douyin and intended to share a share of the pie on the fashion apparel circuit.

In the past two years, Douyin has introduced brands such as Raf Lauren as an emerging e-commerce platform. After entering Douyin, it quickly became the top 1 luxury goods in Douyin's e-commerce brand list. This kind of success has attracted more and more brands.

Douyin is also becoming the birthplace of trendy trends with its core short videos. Maillard, dopamine, etc. are all incubated by Douyin, which also gives Douyin more room for imagination in the field of fashion apparel.

And for Tmall, fashion apparel has always been on its heavy warehouse circuit.

On Tmall, in the past year, a total of 34 apparel brands have joined the 1 billion club, 38 have sold over 50 million up-and-coming brands, and 61 have sold over 50 million single products; in addition, more than 1,000 w+ new products have been launched, and the number of new apparel brands has maintained a growth trend of over 80%.

Even many fashion apparel brands will use Tmall as their first choice or main location. This spring, Tmall Luxury and Tmall Brand Annual Membership Day joined hands with brands such as BALENCIAGA, BALMAIN, BOTTEGA VENETA, BURBERRY, and Chloé to create a “Tmall Super Fashion Week”.

Also, when it comes to going out to sea today, clothing is also an important starting point. In August of this year, Taobao and Tmall launched the “Global New Power Week” and promoted the free shipping program for clothing worldwide.

However, the overseas apparel market is SHEIN's main battleground. In the past two years, SHEIN, which focuses on fast fashion women's clothing, has grown at a rate that can be called the overseas version of Pinduoduo, and it is also becoming a player that e-commerce platforms are afraid of.

However, when all companies compete on the fashion apparel circuit, it has long been a very mature track, where opportunities and risks coexist.

In the past two years, there have been discussions about the high return rate for women's clothing, and some merchants have even indicated that the return rate for women's clothing can reach 80%. On social media, posts about “wrong goods” aren't the most outrageous; only even more outrageous, and consumers are also deeply affected by them.

Some time ago, Zhang Dayi, the first influencer who has been running a women's clothing store for 10 years, also closed her Taobao store; moreover, in the past two years, there are still many clothing stores with many fans who have left Taobao. It can be seen that the apparel business is now becoming difficult for merchants to do.

As far as the consumer environment is concerned, it is also necessary to consider the objective environment where today's consumers are becoming more rational. Whichever platform can balance these, it is likely that there will be growth in the fashion apparel sector.

Today, in an ever-changing environment, all companies need to work hard to seize brands with potential for growth in the fashion apparel industry, which is already slowing down, and continue to attract more rational consumers before they can tell the story of new growth.