In 2011, there is a padding that earned the nickname’Spine Breaker’ in the sense of expensive clothes that take away the back of parents. It is the story of the brand’North Face’, which has become a social issue with the appearance of’padding class’ depending on the price model. Afterwards, more expensive padding such as Canada Goose and Moncler appeared, and on the other hand, as you introduced long padding at a reasonable price, the majesty of the national padding gradually disappeared.
The North Face was once popular with national padding. Photo online community
The padding that looks great again
But now, about 10 years later, the North Face padding is showing signs of revival among fashionistas. It was when American model Kendall Jenner started wearing brown North Face short padding.
Kendall Jenner posted a video of skating wearing North Face padding on Instagram in December of last year, and the post recorded 6.5 million likes. There was a comment saying’North Face looks great again’. Among foreign stars such as Bella Hadid and Emily Ratakovsky, wearing leggings or jersey pants (stretchy pants) over the North Face short pad has become the formula of’zipcock’ fashion in the pandemic era.
Kendall Jenner is getting a hot topic by wearing the brown North Face padding in a fashionable way. Photo Pinterest
The collaboration between Gucci and North Face, which was unveiled on December 22nd, fueled this. The retro concept advertisement photographs mainly using warm colors such as pale green, brown, and mustard color comforted the winter of the gloomy pandemic era. A padded mural painted across a five-story building in Milan also became a hot topic. It is the moment when North Face, which was treated as a somewhat old brand, revived as the latest street fashion.
The collaboration between Gucci and North Face, unveiled last month. It was a hot topic with a padded mural. Photo Gucci official Instagram
What is interesting is that vintage (used) products are more popular, not new products. The model that foreign stars such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid wear is also a model called North Face’Nupsi’, which was released in 1992. The voluminous short padding style, which is commonly used as’Nupsi 700′, is the most popular, and many people want to find the brown that Kendall Jenner often wears.
According to the British Guardian, the number of North Face searches has increased by 500% over the past four months in Depop, a second-hand app that is popular with younger generations. On eBay, a used site, North Face was searched every 3 seconds from July to December last year. In Korea, an article looking for a brown nymph, aka’Kendall Jenner Padding’, has been posted on online cafes.
North Face also unveiled the ‘1996 Eco Nupsi Jacket’ in the winter of 2020 thanks to the popularity of retro products. Photo north face
Is it a new growth engine in the used and fashion industry?
The reason why used models of certain brands are becoming a hot topic now is due to changes in consumption trends. In addition to the North Face, legendary fashion items that enjoyed glory in the past, such as Levi’s 501, are drawing attention again. Although it was influenced by the retro fashion trend, it was influenced by the increasing number of second-hand fashion sites where you can easily find past products. It is not a new product that has been released similar to the old one, but the attempt to obtain and wear the old product has become natural. Second-hand fashion is also the’sustainable fashion’ that the younger generations pursue.
Used clothing company’Threadup’ advertises that buying used items instead of new will reduce its carbon, waste and water footprint by 82%. Photo Threadup Homepage
In fact, the second-hand market is the hottest field in the current fashion industry. U.S. online used clothing company thredUP predicted that the U.S. used clothing market will grow 69% between 2019 and 2021.
The domestic second-hand market is also booming. According to market research firm Nielsen KoreanClick, as of June 2020, one out of four domestic smartphone users used a second-hand transaction service with a smartphone. Among second-hand transactions, the growth of the fashion category is remarkable. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of clothing and fashion accessories traded on the used trading platform’Lightning Marketplace’ was 1.16 million, up 27% from the third quarter. The combined clothing and miscellaneous goods traded at Lightning Market over the past year amounted to 450 billion won.
Brands that directly sell their own used products are increasing. Levi’s also opened a used site. Photo levis
As interest in second-hand fashion is increasing, the plate is changing not in platforms such as eBay, Thread-up, and Posh Market, but in a way that brands directly sell used goods.
Gucci has partnered with the luxury used platform’The Real Real’, and the H&M Group opens a used category on its website and sells used clothing. Levi’s also opened its own used trading site’Levi’s Second Hand’ in October last year. There is no time when it comes to realizing that fashion is spinning around. The old clothes in the corners of the closet may be the very models someone is looking for.
Reporter Yoo Jiyoen [email protected]