China Business Daily (Reporter Wang Yifei) Entering the summer, outdoor wild fun occupies the leisure time of the public. Hiking, camping, picnics, bike trips...... People use fancy outdoor activities to get in touch with nature as much as possible. The river tracing movement has also become popular in the summer of the past two years, and has led to the fire of the river tracing shoe market.
The sun is shining, and river tracing shoes are a must-wear equipment for cool waterside sports; Pouring rain, river tracing shoes can become "functional rain boots" for urban people. In addition to outdoor performance, river-tracing shoes have also set off a trend in the fashion circle. What is its allure on social media? How will the market be different this summer?
Niche river tracing "out of the circle" with fire river tracing shoes
According to the third-party data platform, up to now, the total number of views of the topic #Outdoor River Trace, #溯溪, and #我的溯溪体验在小红书上已有近4 60 million, and the topic #Outdoor River Tracing has increased by 3,917 notes in the past 30 days. Among the "tourism and travel" topics related to river tracing, "place names + river tracing" are the most discussed, such as #Beijing river tracing, #广东溯溪好去处, and #深圳溯溪等.
"River tracing is a niche sport that has only come out of the circle in recent years, which originated in Europe and gradually became popular in Asia and China." Song Ge, an experienced organizer of outdoor activities, told reporters that river tracing requires a variety of skills such as mountaineering, rock climbing, and camping, which requires more professionalism than ordinary outdoor sports. In the summer, many parents are willing to let their children sign up for a group to participate in river tracing, and this trendy sport has also become popular among urbanites and young people.
Song Ge said that some river tracing equipment will be provided by the organizers, but river tracing shoes need to be purchased by themselves. Professional river tracing shoes can walk in the stream, with the characteristics of breathability, waterproof and non-slip, the more professional the "outdoor player" of the river tracing shoes, the higher the grade of the purchase of river tracing shoes.
In fact, the wearing scene of river tracing shoes is not limited to river tracing sports. Recently, all parts of the country have entered the rainy season, and "the appearance of friends from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai going out" has hit the "laughing point" of netizens. Often walking through torrential rains, "what to wear underfoot" attracts the most attention. In the discussion of netizens, wearing shoes in the rainy season is divided into "two factions", rain boots, Martin boots and other shoes that wrap the feet from getting wet are one one, and shoes that are convenient for drainage such as cave shoes and river tracing shoes are the second.
River tracing shoes are popular in the rainy season market. (Picture taken from Xiaohongshu platform)
In the fashion circle, river tracing shoes have become another representative of "ugly shoes" after cave shoes. With the widely popular "ugly cute" fashion and superb performance suitable for multiple scenes, the river tracing shoes have set off a buying boom.
"The essence of this year's workplace outfit is 'the uglier the better', and the river tracing shoes add a sense of lightness to the outdoors in the 'ugly'." Ms. Wang, a consumer, told reporters that river tracing shoes are also a kind of "mountain wear", and when worn on the feet and walking into the office building, you can feel "poetry and distance".
It should be noted that the increase in the demand for outdoor equipment by outdoor enthusiasts and sports trendsetters has promoted the consumption trend of the sub-category of river tracing shoes to continue to rise. According to the "2024 Spring and Summer Trend of Sports and Outdoor Industry" released by the Tmall platform, since the beginning of this year, the Tmall platform has shown great consumption potential in the river tracing shoes, with a year-on-year increase of 75% in the turnover of the Tmall platform and a year-on-year increase of more than 120% in the number of transactions. As outdoor sports continue to heat up, river tracing, diving and road biking are expected to be the most talked about outdoor sports this summer.
The characteristic "mountain ugly shoes" attract the brand to continue to increase the size
In the hot wave, the babbling stream, friends and relatives go up the river, and harvest a "summer coolness" while taking pictures. The reporter saw on social platforms that many tourists enthusiastically shared their river tracing guides and beautiful photos along the way, and there were also some consumer evaluations, among which the most frequently mentioned was Keen, a professional river tracing shoe brand that took the lead in entering the domestic market.
Keen is a popular outdoor casual shoe brand from the United States, which has been mainly popular in the domestic market through purchasing channels, and the fashion trend of "ugly shoes" in the mountains has made it see the potential of the Chinese market. In January this year, Keen opened the brand's first official store in China at iapm in Shanghai, and in May, it opened a store in Chaoyang Hopson Hui in Beijing.
In the Beijing store, the reporter saw that the unique design and rich styles of river tracing shoes were placed on the booth, the novel appearance was peculiar and eye-catching, and the price of a pair of shoes was about 1,000 yuan. According to the sales staff of the store, many of the river tracing shoes in the store are the same for men and women, and Keen's river tracing shoes are very "out of the circle" on the Xiaohongshu platform with their "ugly and cute" shape, and their products are not discounted during the "6.18" e-commerce promotion period.
In the Keen store, the popular light-colored river tracing shoes loved by female consumers. (China Business Daily reporter Wang Yifei/photo)
In addition to Keen, Decathlon, as an outdoor all-round "player", has not fallen behind in the river tracing shoe market. Song Ge told reporters that most of the participants in the river tracing activities wore Decathlon brand river tracing shoes, in addition, camels, pathfinders, and Jeep are also common brands.
Previously, Suxi shoes were mainly among outdoor sports brands, but in the spring and summer of this year, more sports brands such as Anta and Li Ning also increased their sales in this category, and Suxi shoes even "broke the circle" into fashion shoe brands such as Belle (Belle). In the sports brand market, river tracing shoes are mainly promoted with wading performance.
The reporter learned that at present, in the river tracing shoe market, there are Decathlon, Camel, Jeep, Pathfinder, Anta, Li Ning and other brands in the low-price segment, and the average price of river tracing shoes is roughly in the range of 200-300 yuan; In the middle price segment, there are ASICS, Merrell, and Salomon, and the price of river tracing shoes is roughly in the range of 650-850 yuan; The high price segment has KEEN, HOKA, KOLON, and its price is around 1,000 yuan. In addition, the price of river-tracing shoes of casual fashion brands such as Belle and FILA has reached around 400 yuan, and its "ugly and cute" shape is favored by fashionable people.
At different price points, there are various styles of river tracing shoes available on the market, but it should be noted that there are still challenges in the product development of river tracing shoes. Due to the diverse and complex environment of river tracing, manufacturers are required to add sufficient performance points to the design and material selection to meet the specific needs of river tracing. Relevant people in the sporting goods retail industry told reporters that at present, river tracing shoes still need to be improved in terms of slip resistance, wear resistance, comfort, etc., in addition to basic functions such as waterproof and breathable, river tracing shoes also need to consider greater stability and safety, and there is still room for growth in the domestic track in the category of river tracing shoes.