Renew Cooperation With China Polar Research Center

On November 23, the second batch of 101 members of China's 38th Antarctic expedition set off from Shanghai on the "Xuelong 2" polar scientific expedition icebreaker. Like the first team members on November 5, the second group also wore a custom-made team uniform for the Chinese outdoor brand Pathfinder.

This is the 13th consecutive year for Pathfinder to provide equipment support in extremely cold environment for the team members, and it is also the only one among many shoe and clothing listed companies in China.

On the eve of Xuelong 2's departure, Pathfinder The holding group has signed a brand cooperation agreement with China Polar Research Center. According to the agreement, in the next three years, Pathfinder's equipment will continue to be selected products for China's north south polar expedition and escort China's South (North) polar expedition.

Taking independent R & D innovation as the breakthrough point of the market is a hard road to attach importance to assets, but it is also easy to form an unbreakable barrier. Through years of polar investigation and support work, pathfinders constantly improve their R & D capabilities and finally apply scientific and technological achievements to mass products. Under the dual opportunities of the continuous warming of outdoor sports and the vigorous development of the ice and snow industry driven by the Winter Olympics, Pathfinder is expected to embark on an iterative upgrading road from the production end to the brand end.

　 Strengthen R & D capability and go to the polar region for another three years

Li Ming (left), chairman of Pathfinder group, and Chen Nan, director of China Polar center support department

At the signing ceremony, the relevant persons in charge of China Polar center and Pathfinder discussed the cooperation prospect and made clear the next cooperation plan. Chen Xu, CO CEO of Pathfinder outdoor, said“ Pathfinder The group's outdoor business will continue to assist the polar expedition team members. It will systematically improve the equipment in combination with the feedback of previous team members on their return trip, and further improve the function, fabric and pattern. "

Chen Xu (left), CO CEO of Pathfinder outdoor and Zhao Yanping, former Xuelong and Xuelong 2 Captain

Exploring the unknown and seeking breakthroughs in the field of scientific research has a high degree of agreement with Pathfinder brand which focuses on outdoor sports and research and development, which has also become the basis of cooperation between the two sides in the past 13 years.

R & D investment can best explain the importance of enterprise to R & D. According to the financial report, the R & D investment of Pathfinder will be more than 42 million yuan in 2020, accounting for 4.63% of the operating revenue (R & D intensity). In the context of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, many local listed companies either suspend R & D plans or cut R & D costs, but the R & D investment of China's first outdoor Pathfinder did not decrease but increased.

With high investment, Pathfinder's innovative achievements are constantly emerging. In 2020 alone, Pathfinder won 20 industry awards and 8 patents. As one of the "integrators", Tief, Pathfinder's polar bionic technology platform, has also been further developed, and has made a number of independent research and development achievements, including waterproof and moisture permeability technology, sun protection technology, dry and cool technology, thermal insulation technology, multi-functional protection technology, cool sense technology, anti-static technology, intelligent light change technology and other independent research and development achievements. At present, 25 national industry standards are formulated by Pathfinder.

However, technological innovation is not "innovation for the sake of innovation". Sporting goods are functional, especially in the field of outdoor sports. In this regard, Pathfinder regards the north and South Pole, Mount Everest and even the aerospace field as the category of "big outdoor", forcing R & D innovation with actual scenes.

In addition to cooperating with the polar center, Pathfinder has established cooperation with China Aerospace in various fields since 2016. On September 17, 2021, shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft re-entry module successfully landed at Dongfeng landing site. The clothing and equipment developed by Pathfinder guarantee the astronauts' work and life in space.

On October 16, Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft was successfully launched at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and 13 sets of equipment developed by Pathfinder, such as cabin integrated work clothes, split work clothes, cabin leisure clothes, cabin vest, sleeping bag, waist bag, gloves, eye mask and sleeping bag bag bag were "launched" again. In addition, China and Nepal jointly confirmed the latest height of Mount Everest after sending survey teams in December 2020. The climbing suit, which is closely related to the life safety of the altimeter team, is the himex high altitude climbing one-piece down jacket developed by Pathfinder.

The outdoor products industry chain can be roughly divided into four links: raw material production, factory manufacturing, brand manufacturers and retailers. Most of the domestic listed companies are in factory manufacturing. Some people in the industry believe that in the face of domestic market competition, it is a high-quality development path to focus on the accumulation of technical advantages and the establishment of strong barriers.

On the one hand, as there are no large-scale enterprises in the domestic outdoor retail end, it is easier for companies with advanced technology to realize brands and further improve their profitability.

On the other hand, outdoor products have high requirements for functionality. At the same time, due to more market segments, competitors rarely break through with heavy investment. Therefore, technical barriers are easy to maintain, and leading manufacturers can achieve long-term benefits. With the downstream expansion and continuous R & D, the moat will continue to deepen, and companies with first mover advantage are expected to continue to grow with product evolution.

From this point of view, it is of great significance for Pathfinder to check the R & D achievements and help the company continuously strengthen its R & D capability.

　　 Release the potential energy of R & D and continuously improve the brand power

Another significance of this cooperation is to release the potential energy of R & D and to shape product strength and brand impression.

Li Ming, chairman of toread group, said, "we always take it as a matter of pride to provide services for China's polar expedition. The polar expedition is facing the most severe natural environment, and Pathfinder can provide reliable products for the expedition team members in such an environment, which shows that the product quality and enterprise R & D ability can not stand the test."

Although it is a simple logic to reflect the reliability of products through the help of scientific examination, it is of great significance in the background of outdoor industry development.

Europe and the United States and other developed countries are the birthplace of a variety of outdoor sports, the overall development of outdoor sports for a long time, has formed a strong outdoor culture. Compared with Europe and the United States, China's outdoor sports started late. Although the industrial scale has been growing in recent years, there is still a big gap between China and the United States.

This means that China's outdoor sports is still a market to be developed with great development potential.

From the perspective of outdoor sports participation rate, China is only about 10%, while in the United States, Germany, Britain and other European countries, the participation rate of outdoor sports is basically above 50%. According to the statistics of the textile association, the total retail sales of outdoor products in China will reach 25 billion yuan in 2019. According to statista data, the retail sales of outdoor products online in the United States and Europe alone will reach 17.8 billion US dollars and 15.5 billion US dollars respectively in 2019. Therefore, China's outdoor sports participation rate and consumption expenditure both have greater room for improvement.

But it also means that mature "foreign brands" have already taken the lead in the potential huge domestic outdoor market. Overseas head retail products are comprehensive and have scale, and have obvious marketing advantages after entering China. In order to break through, local enterprises need to complete the transformation from "product" to "brand".

It can be illustrated from the case of Canada goose, a world-famous clothing brand. Canadian geese did not have brand awareness at the beginning of its birth. In 1980, a batch of canadian goose down jackets were taken to Murdoch station in Antarctica for testing. With good performance in cold protection, they began to gain popularity in the market. Then the operator redesigned the trademark and changed it into a polar top view composed of red, white and blue, and began mass production, eventually becoming a world-famous brand.

In the past 13 years, Pathfinder has continued to help polar scientific research, which not only shows the hard power of products, but also reflects the responsibility of enterprises and improves the brand height.

Li Ming, chairman of Pathfinder group, said: "polar investigation is a kind of national behavior, and Pathfinder, as an enterprise with national feelings, is duty bound to provide support." from its initial involvement in the north and south poles to the completion of several inspection stations, China is moving forward from a big polar country to a powerful country, and generations of Chinese scientific researchers are blooming in the polar regions. As a Chinese outdoor brand shouldering the responsibility of social development, Pathfinder closely integrates outdoor equipment research and development with polar work content, fully demonstrates its strength and scientific and technological content, and jointly promotes the construction of polar investigation work and creates a more competitive brand image.

　 Seize the opportunity of Beijing Winter Olympic Games, brand ushers in development dividend

When the time node comes to 2021, local outdoor brands also usher in a rare market opportunity, that is, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

The participation of 300 million people in ice and snow sports is a solemn commitment made by China to the international community when Beijing joined hands with Zhangjiakou in bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. After China's successful bid for the Winter Olympics in 2015, a series of policies were issued to support the development of ice and snow industry, including venues, equipment, training, events and other details. With the growth of per capita GDP, ice and snow enthusiasts are constantly emerging, policy and demand resonance, promoting the rapid development of ice and snow industry. As an emerging country in the development of winter sports, the number of ice and snow tourism in China has reached 224 million in 2018-2019, which is the first time that the number of ice and snow tourism in China exceeds 200 million in a single ice and snow season.

As an outdoor sport with a large number of participants and a large economic output value, skiing has a global output value of about 700 billion US dollars, nearly 400 million skiers and about 130 million skiers. At present, China's skiing penetration rate is only about 1%. Even in the United States with similar climate conditions in China, the skiing penetration rate is 8 times that of China. With the success of the Winter Olympic Games, the ice and snow industry is expected to usher in a new round of rapid growth. According to statistics, China's skiing output value is about 400 billion yuan, and the development of skiing plus other ice sports is expected to bring a wave of huge increment to the related industries such as supplies, field equipment and so on.

Ice and snow sports have high requirements for equipment, which need wind proof, cold proof and waterproof products, which coincide with the research and development achievements of Pathfinder. During the more than ten years of helping polar expedition, Pathfinder collected and analyzed the needs of polar expedition team members, and integrated the high-tech applied by professional polar work clothes into the daily outdoor equipment development.

In addition, Pathfinder has a deeper connection with the Beijing Winter Olympics, which has the first mover advantage that other brands do not have.

In 2020, Pathfinder Participated in two sub projects of the key research and development program of "winter sports and training competition high performance clothing research and development key technology" of Ministry of science and technology "Winter Olympics". After six months of development and dozens of comparative tests, Pathfinder selected three kinds of products with 100% localization, low temperature resistance and protection level reaching international level 1. This research and development achievement can help "300 million people go on ice and snow", help people participate in national fitness in a scientific, safe and healthy way, and provide more social services for the winter sports public ice and snow industry.

The Olympic Games have always been a "grand exhibition" of sports brand product power and an excellent platform to enhance brand influence. The attention of Chinese people is very high, especially for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games held at the "home gate". "Opportunities for those who are prepared" is the principle that the market can not be broken. Who can take advantage of the situation depends on the accumulation of the enterprise itself.

The "Snow Dragon 2" polar scientific expedition icebreaker has set out, and the future is still in the making. As a representative of China's outdoor sports brands, Pathfinder is waiting for the arrival of the "explosive point" of the industry.