Apparel Robotics reposted this
Nothing has been the same in fashion since TikTok… But this week's news is one for the books! VF Corporation has lost over 80% of its value since 2019 Target’s sales fell for the first time in 7 years adidas posted its first loss in more than 30 years in 2023 last week Macy's is closing 150 doors thinking that will make people want really bad and expensive product Nordstrom’s profits declined 45% in 2023 Outdoor Voices bankruptcy is imminent Shares of lululemon tanked more than 16% LW after issuing light current-quarter and full-year guidance And Nike is experiencing its worst slump in a decade All their issues are in the U.S.... Bloomberg says Nike can take marketshare from Lululemon But I think that is just plain wrong Make no mistake about it Nike is still selling but it doesn't have the same brand heat Gen Z doesn’t care about logos No one wants your 15X marked-up basic leggings They're operating off of legacy and it’s showing This is the era of C2M commerce, they’ve been chipping away at our gatekeepers for years Last year ALL of the top 10 apps here in America were C2M (data.ai) Jim Cramer on CNBC is the ONLY one in paid media to FINALLY wonder whether the big athletic apparel makers are ceding ground to lower-priced competitors Ya think?? “Nike, Lulu — are these companies that are just charging too much when others are coming underneath them with good product? That’s what I question…. They don’t address the competition in any of these. They still act as if they’re kings. I don’t think they’re kings anymore.” You know who the kings are? Their suppliers Look at these Lululemon dupes TikTok Shop isn’t slowing down for all the naysayers who says it's too much about commerce now….. The dupes are seeing the biggest spike since launch And they're not alone It’s a badge of honor for Gen Z to find their favorite dupes - they find them through their favorite creators connected directly to America's top product makers We're failing because we've never had to deeply understand the consumer, we were the only choice in the market And we certainly don't understand the art of speed Brands should aspire to use every means possible to understand the needs of consumers, obtain feedback as quickly as possible, and make updates and improvements at the earliest opportunity Because the crowd wants what the crowd wants and they make the demand happen and now more and more go directly to the manufacturers who can make high quality durable versions And now that consumers see it works, that demand increasingly comes out of nowhere!!! I just can't anymore with medieval leadership The job in the era of creator direct to manufacture commerce is to understand culture – where and why it happens and respond on time to each individual the way they want it #thegreatfashionreset #creatoreconomy #C2M #communitycommerce #contentistheproduct #tiktokisthestore
I would take a contrarian view to this. We are probably looking at brands in a bad year where inflation has been sky high and they've traded in branded goods for cheaper goods. The true test is when it's a good year. Next retail just posted record profits for example. Secondly while C2M is amazing and is the next evolution in a digitalised world, but is it profitable? Probably the answer lies somewhere in between the two models. Higher priced C2M goods but not as high as the retailers charge is the sustainable model. The present model by the Chinese platforms is neither profitable nor sustainable from an ESG point of view.
“It’s a badge of honor for Gen Z to find their favorite dupes - they find them through their favorite creators connected directly to America's top product makers”. That’s a radical shift in a generational purchase behavior. Makes me wonder if “the dupes” are in fact the core and what American brands have been selling are just overpriced “dupes”. The customer is King. So as your rightly said there is no room for medieval top down supply driven approach to satisfy this new generation. Being agile and demand driven is what will make brands succes in this new commerce era .
How do you think this will impact launching a new DTC brand? On one side it looks superb that superior product at a low markup will gain a lot of traction but on the other side, most of these new DTC companies pure marketing play resides on direct ads. Just curious to hear your thoughts on it Joanna Williams
My daily dose of truth talk 👏
As usual Joanna Williams you hit on repeatedly that legacy brands follow templates, history and although the research is available -( we have chatted about this before) they do not do the work but revert to “this is how we plan”. The Quarterly and annual results speak to this. The customer does tell us the average selling price, appetite, product, even color but too many are tone deaf. The numbers do not lie. Well done.
100%! Just bought amazing sweaters at amazon $26 each. Its the new fast fashion…literally. Same day delivery.
Interestingly VF, Adidas, and Nike all were going after an "infinite" TAM with wild product ranges and undifferentiated marketing. I guess we are seeing results 😏
What did you think of the DVF collab with Target? I was surprised they covered so many categories. Much of it has sold out but don't know if it will be enough to help performance next quarter.
Joanna Williams on 🔥 this morning!
VC & Growth | Retired Viral Memelord
11mo💯 I am critical of TikTok from a geopolitical lens, but what I won’t do is sleep on it. TikTok is taking over every industry social media touches (e-commerce, advertising, creator economy, etc) and domestic companies aren’t competing. On top of China owning much of the supply chain for the products that are displacing our market incumbents, I think the risk of ceding this competitive ground to TikTok is vastly understated, it is an extremely powerful platform that we have no substantive answer to. It’s not even just Gen Z, Milennials increasingly saturate TikTok and Milennial-focused brands feel the hit too. Even Gen X! I think you’ve pick out a very real trend that will almost certainly continue for the foreseeable future.