Sports Bra, Abs, and Designer Snowboard – This Winter’s Must-Have Photo Op

Posing with supercars, brunch on The Bund… Nope! This winter the newest trendy image for Chinese influencers: wearing a sports bra, showing off their firm abs, holding a Dior or Chanel snowboard.

Thanks to the upcoming winter Olympics and a lot of promotion from the Chinese government, winter sports – particularly skiing and snowboarding, have become very trendy in China this year with related content popping up all over top social media channels such as Douyin, Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu. “Skiing” related searches on Xiaohongshu have increased 150% YOY. 

One of the most popular resorts is Chong Li (崇礼), which will host the Winter Olympics in 2022. 

Short-term stay rental prices for condos near the mountain have skyrocketed, for example an upper mid-tier 2 bedroom condo went from an average of 16k RMB for the ski season 23k RMB. In the past, it was typical for the price to shoot up during peak times such as the Spring Festival, but this year this has become the regular price. 

Consumer Group

The majority of people (78%) going skiing are still very new and just want to experience this activity. 

According to Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency, currently 80% of skiers are first time learners and over 90% of them ski only one or two times every winter. A 2020 skiing report (中国冰雪旅游消费大数据报告2020) found that the majority of people who go skiing are coming from southern cities in China. 

And the skiing trend isn’t limited to outdoors. You may be surprised to learn that Chengdu (成都), Guangzhou (广州), Hangzhou (杭州) and Wuxi (无锡) – all southern cities, are some of the biggest clients for snowmaker machines as their ski resorts are indoor ones and people have a large demand for this activity in those cities.

New Brands Rising to Meet the Demand

Along with people’s increasing passion for skiing and snowboarding, is an increase in purchases of equipment. According to a winter activity report published by CBNData and Tmall Sports, in December 2020, the sales volume of ski equipment was 13 times higher compared with the same time in 2019. 

In 2019, there were 824 skiing companies that manufacture and sell equipment, which was a 15% growth compared with the number in 2018. In November 2020, the number rose to over 5,000. 

Compared to other countries’ winter sports industries, China is still in the early stages. In terms of the skiing equipment market, according to Snow Sports Industries America, the US market was valued at $4.3 billion USD in 2016. In China, however, in 2018, the skiing equipment market was only $492 million USD.

In China, on Taobao, there are mainly two types of ski equipment stores. One is multi brand stores that sell western brands, such as “冷山雪具” “肆加贰雪具库”, the other is domestic brands, such as NANDN (南恩), Vector or Nobaday. 

The Flashy Side of the Industry – Luxury brands and Group Buying Wannabe Socialites

For some Chinese skiers (or wealthy skier wannabes), ski equipment is like bags. They are desperate to own the highest-level products from professional ski equipment brands such as K2, Burton, Nitro to luxury brands such as Dior, LV or Balenciaga. 

Just like with special limited edition sneakers, there is already a second-hand market for hard-to-get items. For example, Burton has a ski suit called AK457, which is only sold in Japan. A coat whose original price is 3,000 to 4,000 RMB can be sold for 15k RMB on second hand platforms such as Xianyu.

While some consumers are certainly buying these products for their personal use – others just want them for the photo op. You might remember the Shanghai Debutante story we shared earlier in the year where influencers were pooling money to rent luxury cars and hotel rooms and buy clothing that they could use to take pictures. 

Well now that phenomenon has extended to skiing and snowboarding.

Some of the images that we mentioned in the beginning are probably taken by influencers group renting or group buying those luxury brands’ snowboards. Other than snowboards, these influencers also rent other high-end ski equipment to take photos. 

Local Brands are Also Booming

As mentioned above, there are already several domestic brands making a name for themselves including NANDN (南恩), Vector or Nobaday. 

Compared with international brands, these Chinese brands are most well-known for either their goggles or helmets, and their prices are way lower, with an average of 200 RMB, while for brands such as Burton, it costs around 1,000 RMB for a pair.

Among these brands, Vector has done a great job of niching down on a specific consumer group. 85% of Vector’s consumers are females. After carrying out surveys, they learn that when Chinese females are skiing, they also want themselves to look good. To be more specific, they want to look slim and have bright skin. 

So when the team of Vector designed a gaiter for women, they thought not only about warmth and comfort, but how to make it look slimming and make it in colors that are good on Asian skin tones. In their marketing, they often promote that this gaiter makes your face look slim compared to gaiters from other brands. 

Majority of Sales Still Offline

Another key point to note is that the majority of Chinese consumers prefer to buy ski and snowboard equipment offline so they can try it on first. Take the example of the multi brand retailer 冷山雪具, online business only contributes 20% of its total sales, the other 80% is coming from its 27 offline stores.

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