Why are cashmere sweaters in China shopping malls so ugly?

Four years ago, I took a fancy to a cashmere scarf when I was traveling in Nepal. Pakistani businessmen told me that this kind of scarf is very rare. It is made of goats growing in Kashmir plateau and the softest wool on their necks, and is hand-woven by local people. It's rare.

Anyway, I spent 3000 yuan to buy it home, and I feel like a rich man every time I wear it.

Until a few months ago, I went to visit a senior cashmere supplier in Inner Mongolia.

When Mr. Pan drove to pick me up, he took a look at the scarf around my neck that I pretended not to care, and happily told me, alas, this scarf of yours can be mass-produced in our factory, and it costs hundreds of dollars each.

I'm dying, saying it's made of the finest hair on the neck of Kashmir goat, which can only be bought in Nepal.

Manager Pan said, nonsense, sheep have short hair on their necks, and the softest cashmere obviously grows on their backs. Moreover, Kashmir is always in war, and cashmere production is very small. Now 70% of the world's cashmere is made in China, and 90% of the world's raw cashmere is processed here and then exported. You may be the OEM of this scarf in Inner Mongolia.

Scarf devalues ten times in an instant, which is really depressing to the separation of quality walls.

However, I followed Mr. Pan around the factory, and my mood suddenly brightened up again, because I found many beautiful scarves and shawls, and they were not expensive, so I could buy more and average the previous prices.

Pan General Factory mainly makes export orders, and some domestic merchants also place orders. I found an interesting phenomenon: the cashmere scarves on the production line are all from abroad. For example, the goods ordered by loro piana, acne and MUJI are all high-grade gray tones, and I have received several tail orders myself; The ugly ones are all domestic orders, characterized by all kinds of big red.

This reminds me of a classic question I saw on Zhihu before, "Why are cashmere sweaters in China shopping malls so ugly? It's not a big flower, it's not a diamond, it's ugly. "

The answer is actually very simple, because good things are exported.

Although China holds the monopoly right of global cashmere raw materials, it can't make good-looking cashmere products.

Mainly domestic cashmere sweater shawl brands have a fixed consumer group before. The popular aesthetics in the last century decided that the factory at that time could only produce this style of big flowers and big diamonds. Up to now, most brands have formed an inertia production thinking, staying in their comfort zone and unwilling to spend money to ask designers to make improvements.

The most common pictures of cashmere sweaters in domestic shopping malls come from the Internet.

Look at the world-class cashmere brands. They are masters of top aesthetics, constant innovation and storytelling.

For example, loro piana, a leading Italian brand in the cashmere industry, never holds public new product launches, nor does it advertise much. It only sponsors equestrian, sailing, classic car racing and other activities that only old money will participate in.

And silently on the homepage, I have my own Peruvian camel Ma Ziran Biological Reserve:

"I can only catch camel horses here in the future." The picture is from loro piana.

Their lamb cashmere has signed a monopoly purchase agreement with herders, and they can only use cashmere from three months to twelve months old:

The picture of lamb is from pinterest.

After being acquired by LV, it was manipulated by top designers from all walks of life, and its quality and style determined that it was the first in cashmere industry and refused to accept the battle.

Image from loro piana

The same name as LP is brunello cucinelli from Italy. This brand has a short history. Decades ago, I became rich by virtue of "I invented cashmere dyeing technology". At that time, the dyed cashmere sweater they made directly changed the production form of cashmere, and then became famous all over the world.

Before the invention of dyeing technology in BC, cashmere had only three colors, white cashmere, blue cashmere and purple cashmere. The picture comes from the Internet.

However, BC was famous in China for ode to joy. Andy's clothes belong to his family, and Tamia Liu himself is a loyal user of this brand:

The picture comes from the internet.

Of course, there are also fashionable cashmere sweaters, such as British brand barrie. This brand has been telling stories in a low-key way since it was acquired by Chanel. First of all, it found the contemporary speaker Lily Collins:

In cooperation with lesage, an old French embroidery workshop (also bought by Chanel), several hand-embroidered cashmere sweaters are introduced, featuring embroidery and cashmere jacquard, which look beautiful, advanced and fashionable. This one can do the following:

Of course, there are also some unpopular cashmere categories, and people are still doing well. For example, the British brand Lock &；; Co.hatters, a cashmere hat specially designed for good looks, the main publicity copy is "Princess Kate, a small expert with goods, likes to wear our hat best".

The picture comes from the internet.

On the other hand, our domestic factories are basically at the bottom of the value distribution chain in the international cashmere market, and doing OEM all the year round is a typical job with little money and no right to speak.

And the advertisements of domestic brands are all like this:

Of course, some large domestic manufacturers have actually realized that their products are too ugly and are trying to improve them. For example, Ordos has launched a blue Ordos production line with a sense of design (that is, the brand premium is too high), and Wang Lu is drastically transforming the window appearance and clothing style of the store.