The Siege of Bosideng: The Battle of Bright Summit for Down Jackets

Zebra Consumer Chen Biting

In the fierce Double 11 battle, one of the most intense fights took place in the down jacket market of the apparel sector.

Yaya engaged in close combat with Bosideng's core category, workwear-style down jackets, through price wars and traffic competition; Bosideng defended with its brand strength while deploying its sub-brand Snow Flying to directly counter Yaya with nearly identical products and strategies.

Meanwhile, the "dark horse" of high-end down jackets, K-Fun, surprisingly topped Tmall's down jacket sales rankings in the first round; on Douyin, Coco Zone continued to rapidly move inventory through influencer marketing; in the court of public opinion, everyone was discussing the buzz generated by Semir and Xu Zhisheng's "reverse endorsement"...

No one expected the relatively stable down jacket market of previous years to suddenly heat up in the past two years, especially with more buzz this year.

On one hand, the down jacket market has seen steady growth in recent years, with its scale jumping from less than 100 billion yuan in 2017 to nearly 200 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 15.81%. It is expected to continue leading the broader apparel market in the coming years, encouraging many brands and investors to double down on the down jacket market. On the other hand, Bosideng's focus on down jackets and Yaya's aggressive restructuring have brought two generations of giants back into the game. Additionally, premiumization and new channels have given small and medium-sized brands opportunities to overtake.

Thus, a decisive battle in the down jacket market has officially begun. Can Bosideng challenge Canada Goose and Moncler? Can other brands rise unexpectedly? We look forward to more new stories.

The Down Jacket Melee

After the National Day holiday, temperatures began to drop across the country, especially in northern regions, where each autumn rain brought cooler weather. It was once again the peak season for down jacket sales.

Every year during Double 11, if the apparel industry is one of the core battlegrounds, then down jackets are the fiercest battlefield within it, a must-win for major brands.

This year, workwear-style down jackets remain one of the hottest styles. The most intense battles are also fought here.

Bosideng (03998.HK) had ads for its Extreme Cold series, endorsed by Eileen Gu, plastered across major channels early on; since late last year, it has signed endorsements with Yang Zi and Yu Shi, and recently announced Chen Yao as the Extreme Cold Experience Ambassador, creating a huge buzz.

Yaya's flagship down jackets feature designs, fabrics, and down fill similar to Bosideng's, with a comparable brand strategy. Its chief endorser is Wang Yibo, with female endorser Ju Jingyi and other collaborating celebrities including Chen Muchi, Chen Zheyuan, and Xia Zhiguang. Despite this, the price difference between similar products from these two brands is four to five times.

Of course, Bosideng also brought an assistant—its sub-brand Snow Flying, endorsed by Cheng Yi, which follows a value-for-money strategy to directly compete with Yaya.

Beyond the melee among these three major brands, there are many other highlights in the Double 11 down jacket battle.

On October 21, during the first wave of Tmall's Double 11 sales, the "dark horse" K-Fun surpassed 100 million yuan in sales within four hours, ranking first in transaction volume and becoming a new powerhouse in the down jacket category.

Semir Apparel (002563.SZ), previously unremarkable in the down jacket market, also decided to make it a key SKU. A few days ago, Semir launched its High-Clean 1000+ down jacket, claiming "the previous generation of down jackets focused on warmth, while the new generation focuses on health," with Xu Zhisheng as the chief recommender.

Surprisingly, despite the controversy over this "reverse endorsement," it achieved the desired traffic effect. "The ugliest effect of this jacket is already out—I refuse to believe I’ll look worse wearing it," attracted a lot of attention. Compared to the backlash faced by another comedian, Yang Li, during her collaboration with JD.com during Double 11, the difference was night and day.

50 Years of Chinese Down Jackets

Many people don’t know that China’s first down jacket was actually born in the 1970s at a salted duck factory by Poyang Lake in Jiangxi. Hence, its name: "Yaya."

As the pioneer of Chinese down jackets, Yaya was hugely popular in the 1980s, when people had to queue up to buy one at its stores. At its peak, it accounted for one-third of domestic down jacket sales, making it the undisputed industry leader.

While Yaya down jackets were sweeping the nation, Gao Dekang, a small tailor from Changshu, Jiangsu, was just starting his grassroots entrepreneurship. It would be many years before he founded the Bosideng brand.

Later, after struggling in the down jacket market, Bosideng gradually gained a foothold with its product quality and trendy designs. By 1995, it was selling 620,000 down jackets annually, claiming the national top spot for the first time.

By then, Yaya had already begun to decline due to management’s misjudgment of market trends, giving Bosideng the chance to overtake.

Apart from these two major brands, others like Yalu, Qianrengang, and Eral also emerged, and Bosideng launched its sub-brand Snow Flying in 1997.

After a long incubation period, China’s down jacket industry transitioned into rapid growth around the turn of the century. Despite occasional adjustments, it has continued to grow, forming today’s competitive landscape of one dominant player and several strong contenders.

In fact, among China’s top down jacket brands, there are hardly any so-called industry newcomers—they are all established giants.

Even K-Fun, recently dubbed the industry’s "dark horse," has 20 years of industry experience. It wasn’t until K-Fun moved its brand focus from Anhui to Hangzhou and repositioned as a premium brand that it got its chance in the spotlight.

Even though the down jacket industry stands apart, it remains part of the broader apparel market. Almost all apparel brands, regardless of their focus, release a few down jacket products, leveraging their existing channels, brand power, and customer base to secure a stable share of the market.

This includes established apparel giants like Uniqlo, Decathlon, Arc’teryx, Semir, Peacebird, and Metersbonwe, as well as newer players like Pajamas, Bananain, and others who treat down jackets as key SKUs. Even education company Yuanfudao has jumped in with its Sky People brand, selling jackets for thousands of yuan.

These specialists and generalists, old and new players alike, together make up China’s 200-billion-yuan down jacket market.

The Flames of War Reignite

As China’s down jacket market grew, Bosideng, the industry leader for nearly 30 years, also achieved remarkable growth—or, conversely, Bosideng’s rise became a key driver of the market’s continuous expansion.

When it listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2007, Bosideng reported revenue of 5.633 billion yuan and net profit of 618 million yuan for that fiscal year. These figures fluctuated but trended upward, reaching 23.214 billion yuan in revenue and 3.074 billion yuan in net profit for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, making it one of the best-performing and most profitable companies in the broader apparel market.

During Bosideng’s years of dominance, other down jacket brands, including Yaya, Yalu, Qianrengang, and Eral, remained relatively quiet. After all, when a titan emerges, who dares to challenge it?

In recent years, the down jacket market finally saw new stories. What was once a calm pond began to ripple again.

After securing its position as China’s top down jacket brand, Bosideng sought to climb higher. Coincidentally, during those years, the influence of world-class down jacket brands Canada Goose and Moncler gradually penetrated the Chinese market, raising local consumers’ price tolerance for down jackets.

As Bosideng’s brand image ascended, it left space in the mass market, giving other brands more opportunities.

The down jacket industry has relatively high barriers to entry, making its competitive environment more relaxed than other apparel sectors. At the same time, as functional apparel, down jackets are less price-sensitive and offer higher business value. Thus, the market has attracted increasing capital attention.

At the end of 2020, Fan Jibo, with his capital strength and experience in down jackets + e-commerce, restructured Yaya. Competition in China’s down jacket market entered a new phase.

More importantly, the industry’s new theme of premiumization and the rise of new channels like e-commerce and livestreaming have given brands like Yaya the confidence to catch up with Bosideng.

The rise of Douyin e-commerce has rewritten the competitive landscape of many industries. Here, Yaya shows no fear of Bosideng, consistently ranking high. Similarly, just as Xiamen-based players dominate the beauty industry, down jackets have also seen the emergence of Douyin-native brands like Coco Zone.

Thus, the flames of war reignited in the down jacket market. Due to extreme rain and snow last winter and expectations of colder weather this year, the down jacket market’s prospects for 2024 are expected to improve, making a major battle inevitable. The highlight will be the siege of Bosideng by other brands.

Bosideng’s Offense and Defense

Rome wasn’t built in a day—the same applies to Bosideng.

Bosideng’s rise to the top was never instantaneous. Professionalism, focus, and adaptability to the market made it the "world’s leading down jacket expert."

In previous years, constrained by the seasonality of the down jacket market and the resulting growth pressure, Bosideng attempted a diversification strategy. It launched multiple women’s and men’s wear brands, even a school uniform customization brand, and introduced foreign brands like Petit main and BOGNER through joint ventures.

In recent years, Bosideng has finally pivoted, scaling back its men’s wear and loungewear businesses, ceasing further investment in joint venture brands, and refocusing entirely on down jackets.

Bosideng moved upward, concentrating resources on premiumization to challenge Canada Goose and Moncler. Facing aggressive competition from brands like Yaya, Bosideng nurtured its value-for-money sub-brand Snow Flying to compete head-on. In the 2023/2024 fiscal year, Snow Flying’s revenue reached 2.019 billion yuan, growing 65.3%, the fastest among Bosideng’s three down jacket brands.

To counter rivals’ e-commerce penetration, Bosideng repositioned its sub-brand Bingjie for online operations. In the previous fiscal year, Bingjie closed all its offline stores.

Backed by Bosideng’s industrial foundation, Snow Flying and Bingjie have more confidence in facing attacks from old and new brands.

Additionally, in October this year, Bosideng made a strategic investment in the Canadian luxury down jacket brand Moose Knuckles, which, like Canada Goose, is hailed as a national treasure. This move advances Bosideng’s internationalization while planting a flag near Canada Goose.

In terms of channels, Bosideng has been reducing regular stores in favor of seasonal pop-ups. These temporary locations, open for one week to three months, are mostly set up in high-tier cities’ core commercial districts, selling trending seasonal items to significantly improve offline efficiency.

A differentiated brand matrix + flexible omnichannel strategy + overwhelming marketing—Bosideng has positioned itself for all-round offense and defense against the siege in the down jacket market.

So, among premium strategies, value-for-money models, and traffic tactics, who will successfully challenge Bosideng?