Yoga pants have fallen out of favor. Will the next big item in women's clothing be the tennis skirt?

From yoga pants to tennis skirts, the fashion trend has been changing, and major brands have also stepped up to create momentum. Will tennis skirts become the next fashion item?

"Old money style + functionality + fashion", precisely targeting women.

Following Gu Ailing's skiing craze two years ago, Zheng Qinwen ignited my country's tennis economy this year.

After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, her tennis skirt became a hot search on Taobao, and the search volume for tennis-related equipment on Tmall increased by 300% year-on-year.

At the same time, "Tennis skirts are almost becoming the new work uniform for workers" became a hot topic on Weibo. The surge in sales of tennis skirts made many people sigh that tennis skirts have replaced yoga pants and become the most popular clothing item this year.

Tennis skirts hot searches on Taobao/Weibo

In fact, the popularity of tennis skirts had already shown signs long before the Olympics. In the first half of this year, online sales of tennis skirts skyrocketed.

According to Tmall data, the search volume for tennis skirts during the 618 shopping festival this year increased by 256% year-on-year, and transactions increased by 160% year-on-year; in addition, according to data from JD Research Institute, sales of tennis apparel increased by 90% in the first half of 2024.

Zheng Qinwen's victory in the Olympic women's singles tennis championship in Paris has undoubtedly added fuel to this year's tennis fever.

Now, if you search for "tennis skirt" on Xiaohongshu, you can see that there are more than 50,000 related products, and the number of notes related to "tennis skirt outfit" has exceeded 50,000+, and is still rising.

1. "Old money flavor + functionality + fashion", the middle class loves it

Why are tennis skirts so popular this year? New Consumer Think Tank summarizes the reasons in three aspects:

First, there are many tennis events this year and they are very popular. Coupled with the Olympic year and the emergence of new stars, "tennis fever" has been pushed to a climax step by step.

This year can be called the "big year for tennis". Since May, major tennis events have been held one after another. The Rome Masters, French Open, Wimbledon, and the just-concluded Paris Olympic Games tennis tournament. The dense grand events have increased the exposure of tennis. And the Olympics has brought it to a climax.

Chinese star player Zheng Qinwen emerged and won the gold medal in women's singles tennis in her first Olympic Games. The gold medal effect triggered all kinds of tennis consumption, including tennis skirts.

The second is the entry of luxury brands, which brought tennis skirts from the court to the catwalk. Later, celebrities and KOLs promoted the tenniscore trend, and traditional sports brands entered the market to layout products, further accelerating market education.

In 2022, Miu Miu sensed the business opportunities of tennis skirts as a fashion label and brought a series of products that mixed preppy style with tennis elements to the runway. In the same year, Gucci and Adidas launched a joint series including tennis skirts.

Subsequently, tennis-style outfits worn by stars such as Zendaya, Kendall Jenner, and Zhang Yuanying became popular on overseas social media, and tenniscore became a fashion trend. In the domestic market, Anta and Li Ning also launched tennis skirt products, and the tennis-style outfits worn by stars such as Guan Xiaotong and Zhong Chuxi promoted the popularity of tennis-style outfits.

Third, tennis skirts themselves have the triple blessing of "old money style + functionality + fashion", which not only attracts the middle class, but is also popular among young women.

Tennis has always been associated with the nobility. It was once a game played by the French royal family and became popular in Europe in the late 19th century, especially among the upper class. Even today, you can see many celebrities wearing Ralph Lauren (the representative of the "old money style") in the audience at the Wimbledon Tennis Open.

If tennis skirts attract the middle class because they have an "old money flavor", then their functionality of "quick drying + inner pocket + with a base" and their fashion attributes of "good looks + versatile" are the main reasons why they are popular among young people and can become popular on social media.

More importantly, the fabric is quick-drying and breathable, the inner pocket can hold a mobile phone, and it comes with built-in leggings. A tennis skirt can solve multiple pain points, and the price-performance ratio is simply perfect. It is hard for young people not to love it.

Netizens' discussion on the functionality of tennis skirts Source: Xiaohongshu

2. From old sports brands to yoga brands, everyone is betting on tennis skirts

So what is the market size of the popular tennis skirt? What is the brand competition landscape like?

First of all, my country's sports footwear and apparel market has a scale of nearly 500 billion. Tennis apparel accounts for a smaller proportion than basketball and football, but it is also nearly 4 billion in scale.

According to iiMedia Research, the scale of China's sportswear market will reach 492.6 billion yuan in 2023, and is expected to reach 598.9 billion yuan in 2025. In addition, the research and analysis of Betzers Consulting shows that the scale of China's tennis apparel market will reach 3.888 billion yuan in 2022.

Secondly, my country has a huge population participating in tennis, and the long-tail effect brought by the Olympics will continue to stimulate the growth of the tennis population, which means that my country's tennis apparel has huge growth potential.

According to data released by the International Tennis Federation, there were 87.18 million people participating in tennis worldwide in 2021. China ranked second after the United States with 19.92 million people participating in tennis, accounting for 22.9% of the world's total tennis population.

At present, facing the huge cake of China's tennis market, many domestic and foreign brands are eager to try and accelerate their layout to seize the market. In terms of the current brand structure of tennis apparel, it can be basically divided into four camps:

The first camp is professional ball equipment/apparel brands, which have been quietly making efforts in the tennis track recently, such as Wilson and Yonex.

Since last year, Wilson has carried out a series of arrangements for the Chinese tennis market, including store upgrades and community operations: unlike in the past, when stores were mostly located in sports venues such as stadiums and tennis halls, and the main products were tennis rackets, Wilson has opened upgraded retail stores in business districts such as Shanghai Kerry Center and Beijing International Trade Center, focusing on a full range of products including tennis shoes and clothing.

In addition, the brand also held the Wilson Ace Girl National Tennis Tour last year to connect domestic female tennis enthusiasts.

Wilson Shanghai Kerry Center Store

Image source: Wilson

Yonex occupies a leading position in badminton equipment and is also actively developing the tennis market this year, especially youth tennis.

In January this year, Yonex launched a number of tennis tournament series and children's series products at a new product launch conference in Shanghai. It also officially announced its full sponsorship of clothing and equipment for Chinese youth tennis player Tian Yucheng (Tian Liang's daughter), and signed a contract with Tap Tennis to support youth tennis training.

The second camp is traditional sports brands, such as Nike, Adidas, Asics, and FILA overseas, and Anta, Li Ning, and Xtep in China, all of which have their own tennis apparel lines.

It is worth noting that FILA, a brand under Anta Sports, worked with Xiaohongshu last year to promote the topic of "Old Money Tennis Style". It is understood that after the promotion, FILA's tennis skirt sales increased by 370% year-on-year and 5 times month-on-month.

FILA x Xiaohongshu promotes #TennisOldMoneyStyle

Image source: Xiaohongshu Business News

The third camp is clothing brands, such as Lacoste and Uniqlo. Among them, Lacoste is positioned as a high-end sports fashion brand. Last year, on the occasion of the brand's 90th anniversary, it landed in Aranya in China. Its crocodile logo covered Aranya's seaside red clay tennis courts, hard tennis courts and other landmark buildings, turning Aranya into a "LACOSTE CITY".

It is understood that Lacoste will also open a new concept store in Shanghai this year to further tap the potential of the Chinese market and move towards the brand goal set in 2021: to triple its sales in the Chinese market by 2026.

The fourth camp is new forces such as lululemon and alo, which started out as yoga wear. Domestically, there are maia active and particle fanaticism.

For example, in August, lululemon launched the 2024 Tennis Club series, launching a series of tennis-themed items such as sports vests, dresses and hoodies.

3. Opportunities for new players: Micro-innovation of fabrics, cutting into the mass price range

The old players are making a concerted effort to enter the Chinese market. In the future, the market competition for tennis apparel will become more intense. Do new brands still have a chance? Where are the opportunities?

Of course there are, especially now that suppliers and brands with functional fabrics such as "moisture wicking, quick drying, and high elasticity" can gain good growth by taking advantage of the trend and launching differentiated hot products. The New Consumption Think Tank also summarized two major opportunities for new players to enter the market:

First, micro-innovation of fabrics is carried out to meet segmented needs. Similar to yoga pants, micro-innovation of fabrics is carried out to meet segmented needs to seize market share. For example, SINSIN uses memory yarn fabric to launch the "light plastic shark style" to meet the needs of hip lifting and body shaping, and the brand has entered the 300 million level within one year of its establishment.

It can even be said that using the same idea of ​​making yoga pants a hit product to make tennis skirts can also achieve good results. For example, MAIA ACTIVE, which makes yoga pants, also launched a tennis skirt with a cool feeling and ultra-thin cloud-like fabric this year.

MAIA ACTIVE tennis skirt

Image source: MAIA ACTIVE Tmall flagship store

The second is to enter the mass price range and seize the market share. Currently, tennis skirts from Wilson, Nike, and Lululemon are concentrated in the price range of around 500-800 yuan, while the mass price range of around 200-300 yuan has a larger market size, which is also conducive to the entry of new players.

According to the New Consumption Think Tank, YOTTOY has been growing strongly in this price range. This year, the brand launched a cloud tennis skirt, which features high elasticity, quick-drying, and antibacterial bottom. Currently, the price in the Tmall flagship store is over 220, and the sales volume is over 2,000.

YOTTOY has a very keen business sense. In its early years, it mainly sold yoga mats, foam balls and other fitness products. In 2023, it took advantage of the yoga boom to start the yoga clothing business. In August last year, it launched tennis skirt products following the trend of "tennis aesthetics".

YOTTOY's tennis skirt products

Image source: YOTTOY Tmall flagship store

Looking back at the past few years when outdoor sports have become popular, the successive popularity of professional sportswear is inseparable from the development of everyday wear. The tennis skirt, which is similar to the "pleated skirt", is versatile and more suitable for sports and life scenes. This also means that it has a wider target population and greater market potential to be tapped.

It is foreseeable that with the increasing popularity of tennis and the continuous entry of major brands, tennis apparel will appear even more frequently and the industry will usher in a golden period of development.

Author: Helena, Editor: Zhu Tian

WeChat public account: New Consumption Think Tank