Weather forecasts show that starting today, a new round of cold air is ready to go, get on the “cooling” train, and roar all the way through 28 provinces across the country. This means that winter has officially arrived.
As a sign of winter. On every shivering winter day, after being put on loose, colorful autumn pants, wool pants and cotton pants painted with various strange patterns by adults, wrapped like a rice dumpling, almost every collective memory born in the 80s and 90s is the collective memory of everyone.
In recent years, autumn pants have also been constantly innovating. From “young people don’t wear autumn pants” to “one in the shopping cart”, this year’s Tmall Double 11 sold a total of 4.74 million autumn pants, a year-on-year increase of 34%.
From European breeches to Chinese specialties
For autumn pants, people “love and hate”.
Not long ago, autumn pants were still called “cotton wool pants” by southerners, which is synonymous with “ugly” in people’s minds and a “nightmare” with Chinese characteristics.
In fact, autumn pants are not “Chinese characteristics”, but first originated in Europe.
The prototype of autumn pants was originally men’s breeches, and as early as the 15th century, King Henry VIII of England loved to wear these tight and elastic pants. It is also the prototype of autumn pants and various modern leggings.
From 1914 to 1918, one of the main underwear purchased by the armies was something called “jumpsuits” – this kind of clothing that covers the upper and lower bodies and tightens the wrists and ankles is actually equivalent to the combination of autumn clothes and autumn pants.
However, jumpsuits, although warm, have significant limitations and are not very convenient to move.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a member of Parliament named Frank Stanfield in Canada creatively designed tight underwear with a split upper and lower body, which formed the modern autumn pants and became an invention patent. With the invention of the modern autumn pants, he also founded a Stanfield company, which became a century-old enterprise that still exists today.
After it was introduced to China, people gave the autumn pants a very foreign name, chill cool. Southern students prefer to call it, me more cool (cotton sweaters), in short, very cool.
Later, due to the popularity of heating in Europe, autumn pants gradually faded out of the market. Therefore, in the eyes of many people, autumn pants, like confinement, have become a Chinese feature, and only Chinese will wear autumn pants.
In fact, after entering China, autumn pants have also undergone a lot of changes.
Take the 82-year-old, Chinese first underwear brand – Three Guns as an example.
In 1928, Gan Tinghui opened a small knitting factory in Shanghai. The boss was an avid shooter, and in 1937 he won three consecutive championships in shooting competitions. In order to express his determination to defend his home and the country, Gan Tinghui applied to the then Trademark Office for registration of the trademark “Three Guns,” which has been used ever since.
At that time, just when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, promoting domestic products, boycotting Japanese products, and the three-gun brand became a hit.
After liberation, the workshop was renamed Shanghai Knitting Factory No. 9. Cao Chunxiang, 63, executive vice president (title) of Sangun (Group), joined the factory at the age of 19 and became a textile worker. In his impression, the Ninth Knitting Factory is different from other textile mills. Under the planned economy system, when many factories were still lying there asking for orders, Shanghai Knitting Factory No. 9 set up a special research and development department to boldly innovate and change.
At the end of the 80s, the “soft warm cotton wool” underwear developed by Sangun was born. Comfortable and warm, it sells out instantly as soon as it enters the market. Unit sales account for two-thirds of the entire factory. When the business is at its best, dealers line up at the factory gate, just for this one, sometimes queuing overnight may not necessarily get the goods.
Since then, Sangun has also taken the lead in cooperating with Laika, adding elastic fibers to the clothes, slimming and fashionable, and becoming the prototype of modern Chinese underwear. China’s first antibacterial underwear, China’s first modal underwear, and the first fever underwear are all from “three guns”.
Among them, the most sensational is the 42 double-stranded shimmering cotton sweaters led by Cao Chunxiang. A white thread and a colored thread spun cloth, especially strong, wear 10 years will not break. “This is a popular wedding necessity in those years, and couples have to buy it to press the bottom of the box.” Cao Chunxiang said.
Autumn pants for the “new era”
In order to make more young people fall in love with autumn pants, underwear merchants are heartbroken.
Northeasterners have implemented their obsession with broken flowers into the choice of autumn pants. Men’s autumn pants may be second only to mobile phone cases in terms of boldness and richness of decors. Coconut forest waves, plaid camouflage, dragon, tiger and leopard autumn pants.
In today’s China, autumn pants also have a new form, called “leggings”.
This kind of leggings combines the dual functions of socks and autumn pants, and has the effect of shaping and preventing cold. In the south, a pair of plush and thick leggings is enough to withstand the bitter cold of the winter.
Xiao Jiuyi, the operator of leggings of Tmall Apparel and Accessories Division, said that from Tmall’s data and feedback from merchants, girls now prefer to buy leggings to replace autumn pants, and beautiful legs are warm.
At present, searching for “autumn pants” on Taobao, a 24.9 yuan Antarctica women’s flagship store with bare legs and transparent bottom, with a monthly sales of 450,000 pieces, ranking first. Tmall Double 11 Antarctica transaction increased by 72% year-on-year; Hengyuanxiang’s transaction volume increased by 56% year-on-year. Playboy’s thermal sets also sold 152,000 units.
More functional black technology has been given autumn pants. On Taobao, fat-burning slim-leg thermal pants with a shaping effect, bare leg artifacts that are worn the same as those not worn, self-heating autumn pants made of far-infrared fiber, and graphene autumn pants that claim to be able to generate electricity.
A few years ago, Sangun, who never advertised, chose the younger generation of idol star Li Chen as a spokesperson. It has cross-border cooperation with major brand platforms such as Disney, and has also set up studios in international metropolises such as New York, Tokyo, and Seoul, specializing in designing trend-setting underwear styles.
In September this year, three guns appeared on the stage of New York Fashion Week with the latest autumn pants, causing a crowd of amazement. At present, the annual sales of “Three Guns” exceed one billion yuan, and it is still showing a rapid growth trend.
From group ridicule and refusal to true fragrance, autumn pants ushered in a “new era”. This year, the cold winter has just arrived, and many netizens have already called for the arrival of autumn pants: Ask Jun how many worries, just like not wearing autumn pants in the cold snap.
Source: China Garment Network