Metersbonwe, which once “did not take the ordinary path”, is now facing an increasingly difficult road.
Metersbonwe was once a leader among national clothing brands. It once led the clothing trend of young people and was known as the “Whampoa Military Academy in the clothing industry.” Before 2010 It is an all-powerful presence in the industry.
Nowadays, this series of operations of selling off assets to “recover blood” makes people wonder whether America will be unable to bear it?
1. The Little Tailor’s “Half-Sleeve” Great Leap Forward
Initially, Zhou Chengjian was indeed a tailor.
When he was 14 years old, he learned to make clothes from his relatives, and later came to Wenzhou to work as a clothing processing agent, mainly supplying goods to Miaoguo Temple wholesalers.
(Miaoguosi Market is known as the “originator of the professional market”)
“Original processing is generally We would receive orders in the afternoon and deliver the goods at noon the next day, and the longest time would not exceed 72 hours, because customers would not wait that long.” Zhou Chengjian said that at that time he was extremely busy, taking jobs during the day and cutting at night, and would cut when he was sleepy. Put a quilt on the board and sleep.
“At that time, there was a popular joke in our circle, ‘Be the boss during the day and sleep on the floor at night.’” he said.
A mistake was made while busy. One day when cutting, Zhou Chengjian drew the wrong size and cut a pile of fabric more than ten centimeters, causing the sleeves of these suits to be shorter. Later, he was “scorched so badly by the client” that he was asked to pay hundreds of thousands in compensation.
In desperation, Zhou Chengjian went to the market and bought another kind of fabric to splice the sleeves. In order to cover up the mistake, he changed the straight sleeves of the suit into color-blocked jacket sleeves, and then asked the customer to “try Sell it if you can. If you can’t sell it, I’ll pay for the loss myself.”
Unexpectedly, this patchwork suit was so popular in the market that it was quickly sold out, and many people even came to “buy it.” one”.
In this way, the “spliced version of casual suits” was born and became a new clothing category.
“I used to think that I just made clothes for others, but after this incident, I realized that I could also create clothes, and I started doing it after that. I put a lot of thought into the clothes. Others buy a piece of clothing and imitate the tailoring, but I will change some details of the clothes, such as changing the sleeves or pockets, so that the clothes look different and the business will be better than others.” Zhou Chengjian said that the “half sleeve incident” was a breakthrough point in his career.
2. Tailors who “do not do their job properly”
In 2003, Zhou Chengjian Signed up-and-coming Jay Chou at a low price. As Jay Chou became popular all over the country, and the slogan “Don’t take the usual path” spread throughout the streets, America ushered in its heyday.
In 2005, Meibang’s turnover reached 3 billion, ranking among the top 500 manufacturing companies in China. Headquarters Moved from Wenzhou to Shanghai.
In 2008, Meibang was officially listed in China. At the end of the year, its market value climbed to 18.5 billion yuan, becoming the first A-share casual apparel stock. Zhou Chengjian also jumped to the top spot with a wealth of 17 billion yuan. The richest man in China’s clothing industry.
In this year, Zhou Chengjian made a vision: “to become the tailor of the world.” But later, he became somewhat inconsistent with his words and deeds.
Before going public, Zhou Chengjian focused all his energy on the clothing industry. He often went to international fashion weeks such as Milan and Paris to exchange clothing experience with designers.
But after going public, he changed from a farmer to the owner of a listed company. He was involved in more and more circles, and he became drifting off.
Meibang’s success is inseparable from core product research and development and supply chain management. However, after Zhou Chengjian’s mind deviated from the clothing industry, he blindly followed “outsourcing the design process” and “supply chain management”. These measures have saved costs in the short term, but have left devastating consequences for the United States.
With the rise of e-commerce and new retail, the clothing industry has undergone earth-shaking changes.
At that time, the channel manager repeatedly suggested that Zhou Chengjian should change the retail operation and channel planning. The high-end sub-brand ME&CITY should enter the shopping mall business district and open stores of appropriate size. Rather than just choosing large-area stores in traditional neighborhoods.
In addition, Metersbonwe should not use this store on Nanjing East Road as a standard for nationwide replication, because this is just an example and has no replicable value. There is an urgent need to develop new promotion standards.
These are the key points of the reform of the United States. However, because Zhou Chengjian did not understand the changing market, was stubborn about channels and retail, and fell into the trap of experience, which led to the United States taking more steps. detour.
Since 2012, due to the influence of international fast fashion brands and e-commerce, Smith Barney’s revenue has plummeted, and its market value has evaporated by more than 30 billion in a few years.
Faced with the decline of the brand, Zhou Chengjian worked hard to save himself, but fell into the vicious circle of “continuous transformation and continuous failure”.
After experiencing a series of failures, Zhou Chengjian did not attract…After learning the lesson, the mobile e-commerce “Youfan APP” was launched in 2015.
This time, Zhou Chengjian continued the routine of spending a lot of money on advertising, naming “Qi Pa Shuo” for three consecutive seasons. The cost for the first season alone was as high as 50 million.
After the popularity has passed, the shortcomings of Youfan APP are gradually revealed, including products, logistics and after-sales, etc. , none of them can satisfy users, and the experience is extremely poor. After persisting for two years, “Youfan APP” was quietly removed from the shelves, leaving nothing but brainwashing slogans.
3. Let go of face and return to the original intention
2016, 51 At the age of 20, Zhou Chengjian announced his retirement, and his daughter Hu Jiajia took over as chairman. Meibang’s transformation journey continues.
After Hu Jiajia took office, she upgraded the brand’s single casual style to five different styles in 2017, and appointed popular young artists as image endorsements.
However, the reality is cruel, and Hu Jiajia was unable to turn the tide. Last year alone, Smith Barney’s net loss was as high as 854 million yuan.
In the first half of this year, Zhou Chengjian decided to close a number of loss-making stores and sell assets for cash, so as to reduce expenditures and increase revenue, allowing Meibang to travel lightly.
In the past, Zhou Chengjian was afraid of losing face on hot searches, so he held on even if the store had been losing money for a long time. But now he has adjusted his mentality and believes that face is worthless, and the most important thing is to solve the debt and supply chain. The problem.
Zhou Chengjian, who had put down his dignity, also began to change his identity and was willing to be a “supporting role” for the young team.
He handed over the front-end business to the young team and let them lead the communication with consumers, while he provided back-end support and strengthened the company’s risk control.
After constant communication with young people, Zhou Chengjian admitted that his thinking and logic could no longer keep up with theirs. In the past, his parents could not understand what he said, but now young people say He doesn’t understand anything.
But he believes that young people are right, they are the mainstream of this era. Times are a double-edged sword. In the past, young people succeeded and failed in the United States.
After the Xinjiang cotton incident, the trend of domestic products has revived, and domestic clothing brands may usher in new opportunities.
But after so many detours, does Zhou Chengjian still have a chance? </p
