How Did The "New Suitcases" Who Were Dragged Into The Fashionable Battlefield Kill The Encirclement?

"Now people buy boxes, no longer" I need it ", but" I like it "! Italy fashion trunks brand Crash Baggage (hereinafter referred to as "Crash") founder Francesco Pavia is to "gorgeous Zhi" sigh.

Crash suitcases, such as potholes, which are hit by violence, but are brightly colored, are often found in small high-end boutiques and Instagram's travel photos.

Above: Francesco Pavia at Kapok flash store in Hongkong

A hundred years ago, the trunk was Louis Vuitton, Moynat and Goyard, which were customized for the upper class travel. They represented the classic products of these luxury brands.

In twenty-first Century, the trunk became a fashionable accessory for the new generation of consumers to express their attitude towards life. It became the key category for the cutting-edge brand to enter the fashion market.

According to public data, the global market value of suitcases in 2018 is US $2 billion 68 million, and the annual compound growth rate between 2019 and 2028 is expected to reach 8.5%. New brands with trunk as the main category also attract capital's attention to suitcase start-ups.

In May 2018, China's smart luggage brand ForwardX received $10 million in financing.

In May 2018, the artificial Intelligent Company COWAROBORT, which launched the intelligent suitcase, received 150 million yuan B round of financing.

In October 2018, China's original designer travel lifestyle brand ITO received tens of millions of yuan financing.

In November 2018, Australia's fashionable luggage brand July received millions of dollars in angel financing.

In January 2019, the German smart luggage brand Horizn received 10 million euros in financing.

In May 2019, the US internet bag brand Away announced the completion of the $100 million D round of financing.

Cut from the subdivision scene, and push out the tight encirclement with product force.

A concrete and vertical scenario is the "path" that many new brands enter into the mass consumer market today. In the same scenario, product strength and brand power are the swords to kill the encirclement.

"At the beginning of the business, the biggest difficulty is to understand the preferences of users, but at least I know what makes them headache. With Crash, you just need to focus on the journey without paying much attention to the box itself. " Francesco Pavia loves to travel. He entered the luggage business at the age of 17. Once his father still wanted to follow the old road of luggage dealer, but he firmly refused. "I have always wanted to be a fashion brand and do not want to follow the traditional path of this industry."

When the brand was founded, it tried to take part in the Pitti Uomo trade exhibition in Florence, Italy, and got a lot of attention from fashion buyers. This is not an accident, because Crash's "broken" suitcase is too recognizable: imitation of the pits and pits after barbaric transportation, the color is extremely bright, and the nature is not afraid of falling. Handle Without Care (without careful care of your suitcase) is a brand concept, which naturally makes many young consumers remember and fall in love at the first time.

On the basis of this design, Francesco Pavia added a fire: transparent luggage series Share Collection, which is even earlier than other brands of transparent luggage today. Chinese netizens have commented: "through security check, the inspectors do not need me to open the box, which contains my favorite doll, so many children envy it!" "It has changed itself and added a remote control LED light strip. Too angry! "

The Crash suitcase is a very extreme case in design, which has a great relationship with the founder's temperament and Italy's genes. While there are many new brands, we can see that the luggage is relatively standardized and more industrialized, and will use simplicity or function + crossover as the design concept.

For example, the 10 year old Chinese original luggage brand ITO is more focused on the classic industrial simplified design. The brand invited Liu Zhili, the designer of the "up and down" brand of Hermes, to create the two circular locks of the luggage logo. On the basis of the classic design, it promoted the fashion through cross-border arts and humanities, such as the joint Museum series with the British Museum, the London Design and Art Museum Victoria & Albert (V&A), and the IP cooperation with the writer Han Han.

The US internet luggage brand Away is famous for its simple appearance. It also relies on the theme of "Disney 3" and the theme of "Star Wars".

　 How many suitcases can a person buy?

From the perspective of purchase frequency, expanding the category becomes the only way for luggage brands. After all, how many suitcases can a person impulse to buy?

If you look at this matter positively, expand the product line, strengthen the fashion gene of the luggage, and become a lifestyle brand.

The development category is called "the way to represent the uniqueness of the brand" by Crash founder Francesco Pavia. In an interview, he told "gorgeous" that Chinese young consumers especially liked different brands' mashup style.

In addition to the 240~260 Euro priced suitcase, the SKU of the Crash products also includes: the hard shell base travel bag series (priced at 129~159 euros), a Satchel Bag with toiletries, make-up bags or commuter functions (price 55~65 euros), and letter printing toiletries (priced at 13~20 Euro yuan). When people do not want to buy suitcases, these become the favorite products of the brand.

Founded in 2015, Away was named "the best suitcase" in the second year by the American version of Vogue. DTC (Internet direct sale) mode has removed the middleman cost, and its suitcase is priced at 195~595 dollars, which is more close to the people. After that, it has launched a traveling bag (selling price of 145~245 dollars), the accessories (priced at 45~65 dollars), the trunk nameplate and other peripheral products (priced at 10~50 US dollars). Sales in 2016 amounted to $12 million, and by 2018, overseas media estimated that its sales exceeded $125 million.

Compared with overseas brands such as Crash and Away, ITO, as an original Chinese brand, is more aware of the travel habits of local consumers. Besides the above-mentioned shoulder bag, slanting bag and wash bag (priced at 128~298 yuan), the brand has also introduced practical accessories such as eye patch, packing strap, box and so on (the price is 68~128 yuan).

Social media marketing + Flash shop

On Instagram, the interesting content of Francesco Pavia has fully displayed his marketing talent. For example, a @ airport push: "disturb the little brother, can not light my suitcase lightly." After gaining a lot of attention in social media, he also launched the "box throwing" activity, the 5 worst boxes that fall, and the brand will provide free bags for the winners.

The $1 billion 400 million valuation of Away is another classic case. Its co-founder, Jen Rubio, was the head of social media operation of Warby Parker, the Internet eyewear brand, and easily accumulated about 400000 fans for the brand on Instagram. In 2017, Away also launched its own podcasts and travel magazine "Here", by exploring the travel content with users, and building a brand of travel lifestyle in depth.

Since 2016, Away has tried many times to test the water line in the form of creative flash shop, including the flash hotel during the Paris fashion week in September 2017, and the Losangeles Airport flash store in May 2018. Both of them naturally connect the use scenarios of the trunk.

As for the outlets under the direct line, or the creative space of the brand exhibition travel lifestyle, Away, which has opened 7 stores in the US and the UK, sees it as a "tourist destination" to stimulate their next travel inspiration.

The future of Chinese market

According to the forecast data released by China Tourism Administration in February this year, the number of outbound Chinese tourists will reach 160 million times by 2020. The growth of the tourism market has provided a strong market potential for the luggage industry, which is a great benefit to the explosive growth of these cutting-edge brands in China.

For example, through the show of "Daddy where to go 3", "we love each other" and so on, Crash has gained a lot of attention. The founder Francesco Pavia has strong feelings for Chinese and Chinese culture. This big bearded Italian has been coming to China since she was 17 years old. He said, "although it is not yet clear how to play the social accounts of China," he hopes to voice his voice in Chinese social media with a very real personal image.

Take the Chinese market as an example, in addition to the official website, Tmall, Jingdong and WeChat's small program sales, Crash has recently arranged various flash shops in many first tier cities, such as Hongkong Kapok, Shanghai K11, Lafayette department store, 10 Corso Como and Nanjing De Ji square.

Is there any need to open a permanent shop? The new brand is still being tried, and Francesco Pavia has sold a pass to us. He disclosed that the contract period of the flash shop in Shanghai is now 6 months, but the feedback from the mall is very good. "I think they will keep it!"

At the same time, when the new brands are rising, the old brands are always in a sense of crisis. They don't dare to slack off: RIMOWA frequently crossover Supreme, Moncler, Alex Israel and other famous brands and artists, and even change the logo font; the world's largest luggage manufacturer Samsonite new series of 007 Bond film bulletproof wear material CURV as a selling point.

On the other hand, OFF-WHITE and other red tide cards have begun to develop independent suitcase product lines in addition to cross-border topics, so as to enrich the product mix.

In the increasingly crowded market of suitcases, players are facing more intense competition.

How to get rid of the doubt that "new brand is not professional"? How to design the designer's brand with stronger fashion gene? How can consumers really fall in love with "brand" by buying suitcases? It is a difficult problem before Crash, Away, ITO and more latecomers. Author: Liu Jun