Read More《讨好年轻人，布局多品牌，海澜之家困在转型中？》
Positive Reviews: Multi-dimensional Transformation Sends Positive Signals, and the Revitalization of Traditional Brands Shows Initial Results
As the former “No. 1 men’s clothing stock,” Hailan Home, facing the dual pressures of market environment changes and the shifting aesthetics of young consumers, did not choose to cling to the label of a “dad-style brand.” Instead, with “breaking through the circle” as the core goal, it launched a systematic transformation covering the brand, channels, and capital. Although the transformation has not been completely successful, its multi-dimensional exploration has sent positive signals and provided a practical sample for the youth-oriented upgrade of traditional clothing brands.
First of all, the innovative attempts in youth-oriented marketing have effectively enhanced the brand’s vitality. From inviting new-generation stars like Cao Jun and Zeng Shunxi as brand ambassadors, to collaborating with “Ten Diligent Farmers” for a live-streaming session to support agriculture (with the total viewership across all platforms exceeding 140 million), and even the chairman Zhou Lichen personally participating in trendy content creation to build his personal IP, Hailan Home’s marketing approach has shifted from traditional “hard advertising bombardment” to “emotional resonance.” This “down-to-earth” live-streaming model has not only attracted the attention of young fans (the official Douyin account has 5.7 million followers) but also broken the consumers’ stereotypical impression of it as a “men’s clothing brand for the middle-aged and elderly.” For example, a young user commented, “I didn’t expect Hailan Home’s live streams to be so interesting,” indicating that the brand’s communication efficiency with young people is improving.
Secondly, the optimization of the channel structure has strengthened the control over terminal stores. Hailan Home’s strategy of “increasing direct-operated stores and reducing franchised stores” (the proportion of direct-operated stores increased to 29.12% in the first half of 2025, and the number of franchised stores decreased by 174) is essentially a correction of the “asset-light franchising model.” In the past, although the franchising model reduced the expansion cost, it also led to inconsistent styles and service standards among terminal stores, making it difficult to convey a unified brand image. By increasing direct-operated stores, Hailan Home can more directly control product display, user experience, and the price system (the national unified pricing strategy), providing a practical carrier for the brand’s high-end and youth-oriented transformation.
Moreover, the layout of a multi-brand matrix has injected new impetus into growth. Although the main brand still accounts for 72.58% of the revenue, the revenue of its new businesses such as the women’s clothing brand OVV (positioned as high-end and located in core business districts) and the children’s clothing brand Yingshi increased by 65.57% year-on-year, initially showing the potential of the “second growth curve.” For example, OVV competes with brands like JNBY in business districts such as Yitigang and Hopson One in Beijing. Its high unit price (coats cost over 3,000 yuan) and an independent design team (with a design department in Shanghai) demonstrate Hailan Home’s ambition in the segmented market. This strategy of “stabilizing the basic market with the main brand + expanding incremental revenue with new brands” conforms to the development trend of the “multi-brand group” in the clothing industry.
Finally, the synergy between online channels and capital operations provides support for the transformation. In the first half of 2025, Hailan Home’s online revenue reached 2.308 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 4.36%), and the flagship store of the main brand on Douyin topped the category sales list multiple times, proving that it has established certain advantages in the live-streaming e-commerce field. Meanwhile, if the plan to list in Hong Kong is successful, it will provide more sufficient financial support for its global layout (overseas revenue accounted for only 1.78% in the first half of 2025) and supply chain upgrade, further opening up room for growth.
Negative Reviews: The Pain Points of Transformation Remain Unresolved, and Hailan Home’s “Youthfulness” Still Faces Multiple Obstacles
Although Hailan Home has carried out intensive transformation efforts with a clear direction, its core issues – how to truly win the recognition of young consumers and how to solve the high-inventory and low-efficiency operation model – have not been fundamentally improved. Judging from the current data and market feedback, the transformation still faces multiple challenges, and there is even a hidden concern of “transforming for the sake of transformation.”
Firstly, the actual conversion effect of the youth-oriented strategy is limited. Although the marketing end has attracted the attention of the young group, the “generational gap” on the product end is still obvious. For example, Heijin, a sub-brand targeting young and trendy consumers, has a monthly sales volume of only 16 pieces for its best-selling product on its Tmall flagship store, and there are even no offline stores in first-tier cities like Beijing. The customers in the offline stores of the main brand are still mainly young people buying for their elders, and the willingness of their peers to buy actively is extremely low. A 25-year-old consumer bluntly said, “My peers around me won’t buy Hailan Home.” The core reasons are the outdated product design (mainly promoting traditional men’s clothing categories such as jackets and windbreakers) and the prices higher than fast-fashion brands (sweatshirts cost 200 – 300 yuan without discounts), which fail to meet the young people’s needs for “trendiness, cost-effectiveness, and personalization.”
Secondly, the unbalanced development of multi-brands and the weak growth of the main brand have intensified the overall pressure. In the first half of 2025, the revenue of the main brand “Hailan Home Series” decreased by 5.86% year-on-year. Although the new brands have a high growth rate, they only account for 13.35%, and it is difficult to make up for the decline of the main brand in the short term. More importantly, the synergy effect of the multi-brand matrix has not yet emerged. OVV is positioned as high-end women’s clothing, Yingshi focuses on children’s clothing, and Heijin targets trendy men’s clothing. Each brand belongs to a different company (with independent management systems and separate design teams), resulting in the dispersion of resources and making it difficult to form a group’s design, supply chain, and brand potential.
Thirdly, high inventory and an inefficient supply chain have become a “stumbling block” to the transformation. In the first half of 2025, Hailan Home’s inventory scale reached 10.255 billion yuan (accounting for 57.83% of the net assets), and the inventory turnover days were 323 days (while fast-fashion brands only have 80 – 100 days), far exceeding the healthy level of the industry. The root cause lies in the backward supply chain model. It still adopts the traditional “large-batch, seasonal ordering” model (producing several months in advance), while the “small-batch, quick-response” model of fast-fashion brands (producing a small batch initially and replenishing quickly based on sales data) has become the industry mainstream (for example, Zara only produces 10% – 15% before the season). In addition, although Hailan Home’s “returnable” model transfers some risks, the cut-labeled overstocked goods flowing into the gray market (suppliers selling at low prices) not only disrupts the regular-price sales system but also damages the brand value.
Fourthly, the investment structure that emphasizes marketing over R & D is difficult to support long-term competitiveness. In the first half of 2025, Hailan Home’s sales expenses reached 2.472 billion yuan (accounting for 21.37% of the revenue), but the R & D expense ratio was less than 1%. This “emphasis on traffic, neglect of products” strategy may increase sales in the short term, but in the long run, the lack of design ability (outdated styles, difficult to match young people’s aesthetics) will lead to a low customer repurchase rate and further intensify the inventory pressure. For example, the recruitment for design positions has strict educational requirements, and the passing rate of on-site hand-drawing tests is low, reflecting the gap between the professional ability of its design team and market demand.
Fifthly, the lagging organizational management ability restricts the transformation efficiency. As a key front for transformation, the online business (such as live-streaming) is facing the dilemma of “frequent personnel turnover, with employees leaving right after the probation period,” exposing the immaturity of its operation management. Although new brands (such as OVV) operate independently, the core capabilities in design and supply chain have not formed barriers and rely more on the financial support of the main brand rather than endogenous growth. If this “shortcoming in organizational ability” is not resolved, even if more resources are invested, the transformation effect will be greatly reduced.
Suggestions for Entrepreneurs: Key Paths for the Revitalization of Traditional Brands from the Perspective of Hailan Home’s Transformation
Hailan Home’s transformation practice provides important inspiration for the youth-oriented upgrade of traditional brands. For entrepreneurs, the following points need to be focused on during the brand transformation process:
Product strength is the core of youthfulness, avoiding the trap of “hot marketing, cold products.” Hailan Home’s case shows that simply relying on star endorsements and live-streaming traffic to attract young users will ultimately fail to achieve conversion if the product design and price range do not meet their needs (such as the low sales volume of Heijin and the high prices of the main brand). Entrepreneurs need to conduct in-depth research on the aesthetic preferences, consumption scenarios, and price sensitivity of the target users (such as Generation Z), integrate user needs into product design (such as adding trendy elements and simplifying traditional styles), and at the same time control costs through supply chain optimization (such as the small-batch, quick-response model to reduce inventory risks) to achieve an accurate match between “products and users.”
Optimize the supply chain model, shifting from “scale-driven” to “efficiency-driven.” The high inventory problem of traditional brands (such as Hailan Home’s 323-day inventory turnover) is essentially the result of an inefficient supply chain. Entrepreneurs need to abandon the inertial thinking of “large-batch production” and learn from the “small-batch, quick-response” model of fast-fashion brands. Use digital tools (such as real-time monitoring of sales data) to quickly identify market trends, establish a flexible cooperation mechanism with suppliers (such as producing in batches and replenishing quickly), and reduce inventory backlogs caused by “prediction errors.” At the same time, avoid relying on short-term risk transfer strategies such as “cut-labeled returns” to prevent damage to the long-term brand value.
Balance the investment in marketing and R & D, and build a “product – brand” dual-drive model. Hailan Home’s investment structure with a 21% sales expense ratio and less than 1% R & D ratio reflects the short-sightedness of some enterprises in “emphasizing traffic, neglecting products.” Entrepreneurs need to realize that marketing can solve the “awareness problem,” but R & D and design can solve the “recognition problem.” It is recommended to increase the R & D investment ratio to the industry average level (about 3% – 5% in the clothing industry), and at the same time, quickly improve the design ability through external cooperation (such as co – branding with designers and collaborating with trend institutions) to form a differentiated product competitiveness.
Strengthen organizational capacity building, avoiding the internal friction of “new business, old management.” The problems of Hailan Home’s new brands (such as OVV) operating independently but with scattered management and the high turnover rate of the live-streaming team are essentially due to the organizational capacity not matching the business expansion needs. When expanding new brands or new businesses, entrepreneurs need to simultaneously build a suitable organizational structure (such as independent design and operation teams), an incentive mechanism (such as performance – based bonuses and equity dividends), and a talent cultivation system (such as internal job rotation and external recruitment) to ensure that new businesses shift from “receiving blood transfusions” to “self – generating blood.”
Proceed with multi – brand layout prudently, focusing on “synergy effect” rather than “quantity expansion.” Although Hailan Home’s multi – brand matrix (covering men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing) covers all categories, there is a lack of synergy among the brands (design, supply chain, and user traffic are not integrated), resulting in the dispersion of resources. When laying out multi – brands, entrepreneurs need to give priority to the relevance among brands (such as overlapping user groups and shared supply chains), integrate resources through group – based management (such as sharing a design center and logistics system), and form a “1 + 1>2” synergy effect, rather than simply replicating the main brand model.
In short, the youth – oriented transformation of traditional brands is a “long – term battle” that requires coordinated promotion from multiple dimensions such as products, supply chains, organizations, and capital. Although Hailan Home’s attempt has not been completely successful, its experience and lessons provide valuable references for entrepreneurs – the key to transformation lies not in “what has been done,” but in “whether the core contradiction between user needs and enterprise efficiency has been truly solved.”
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