From October 26 to November 24, Maison Margiela collaborated with Kubo, the author of “BLEACH”, to launch a joint project and held an exhibition at Dover Ginza Street Market. This link has sparked many heated discussions.
The heart of the show is the Maison Margiela Artisanal clothing line worn by the first generation of the 6th division captain “Saito Immortal” in “BLEACH”. This collaboration was reportedly first proposed by creative director John Galliano, and Kubo eagerly accepted.
Over the years, the intersection between street brands, fashion brands and the second side has emerged one after another, so why do many brands focus on the second side? Let us examine it briefly.
A great influence over many generations
A noble monster
“Second Dimension” is a collection of ACGNC, namely “A: Animation”, “C: Comics”, “G: Games”, “N: Novels”, “C: Role Playing”. “Second-dimensional” culture began in Japan. own special world. Artist Takashi Murakami’s “super-flat” art style was inspired by Japanese animation and cartoon culture.
Until now, Akihabara, which is located in Tokyo, Japan, is a world-famous bilateral holy ground, attracting bilateral enthusiasts from all over the world. , with an average daily passenger flow of up to 125,000 people.
Today, the second side has entered many generations and areas, from the years after the 00s and after the 10s to the years after the 80s and after the 90s, and it has become popular culture around the globe.
In terms of games, from the “Mario Series”, “Pokémon Series”, “Final Fantasy Series”, “Grand Theft Auto Series”, “Tekken Series”, “Street Fighter Series”, “King of Fighters Series”, etc. , to “Warcraft” Games such as “Conflict for Hegemony”, “Glory of Kings”, “League of Legends”, “Fortnite”, “Black Myth: Wukong” and so on have a very large and loyal group of players who creation “League of Legend” has attracted Louis Vuitton, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, emerging Korean fashion brands SAN SAN GEAR, Havaianas, and UNIQLO to offer collaboration, and “Tekken 8” has joined forces with Gentle Monster, F-LAGSTUF- F, Nike launches a series together, and Gikos Industries joins forces with “Black Myth: Wukong”…
In recent years, the two-way industry has developed rapidly in China. According to relevant data calculations, the number of pan-secondary users in China is expected to increase to 500 million this year. .
The massive spending power of the bilateral organization
Supported by a strong industrial chain, perfect management system and policies, the “two-sided” industry has an unstoppable position in the Japanese economy. The total scale of China’s current bilateral trade has reached 90 billion yuan.
In the 2023 income ranking of Japanese cartoonists, Eiichiro Oda, the author of “One Piece”, topped the list with 3.1 billion yen, and the author of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” won in the new generation , Goze Haru, 500 million yen. Japan is still the largest comics market in the world compared to the increasingly difficult physical comic books, it has moved rapidly towards online digital comics in recent years Since 2023 to date, the in-app purchase revenue of the top 30 comic applications in the world has reached 1.6 billion US dollars, of which Japan The market contributed 77% of the revenue total entry from main manga applications, and Shōnen Jump +, the leader in Japanese comics, reached 4.64 million downloads.
In addition to relying on distribution royalties and sales royalties, cartoonists’ income also includes licensed fringe production/co-branded collaborations and film and television/gamification. “One Piece: The Red-Haired Diva” released in 2022 finally earned 32.2 billion yen in box office revenue; more than 3.42 million people watched “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” in three days after its release; Hakusho”, Costumes and peripherals of popular characters from “Spell Fight”…
Today, games are the backbone of the two-sided business. Take “Spell Strike” as an example Chinese original game “Spell Strike” “Genshin Impact” reached sales of US$ 1 billion in 6 months in 2020; “Black Myth: Wukong” has sold more than 20 million units on the Steam platform, and its annual sales are expected to reach 3,000 Ten thousand to 40 million copies; after the launch of “Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket” on the two main platforms of iOS and Android, the revenue exceeded 10 million US dollars in four days.
In addition, the role-playing apparel market is expected to reach US$ 2.1452 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.44% during the forecast period.
Collaboration with ACG is an effort by brands to strengthen connections with Generation Z and make profits.
Louis Vuitton
The value of 2D IP lies in connecting with consumers in a more diverse and emotional way. In recent years, street brands, the fashion industry, and 2D IP have collaborated more and more often.
Generation Z, who grew up in the age of mobile internet, follow fashion and individuality, have different interests and want to share on social platforms luxury brands and sports brands ) to be closely associated with the group.
On the other hand, the great business opportunities behind a wide audience and market testing must be one of the reasons for frequent collaborations between units in different areas such as street brands and fashion industries.
The collaboration between the above-mentioned major brands and animation works has shown good sales data on major domestic online trading platforms including Taobao and Dewu. The collaboration with a two-dimensional game IP is even more popular: Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with “League of Legends” was sold out in Europe within an hour of team members e-sports club EDG wears Li Ning’s “Enlightenment” series in activities and competitions; , promoting sales The crack; the beauty brand MAC launched a cross-border limited edition lipstick for “Honor of Kings” and it sold out in 1 hour…
It is also worth mentioning that, in addition to street brands and the fashion industry, China’s main offline commercial spaces are also actively moving closer to the second direction that Shanghai Jing’an Joy City created the first China’s bilateral corporate commercial space in 2017 Bailian ZX Sports Center developed the entire building into a bilateral business format, creating “Shanghai Akihabara”… These efforts have become a place A new collection for Generation Z.
There is no doubt that the bilateral business is one of the most promising markets at the moment. Especially in China, the two-sided business, which 95% of Generation Z people are looking for, is at full blast level as they enter this area as a big effort to brand new consumer groups to find How to tell the brand’s story and explain the brand’s taste and worldview among this group has become a great test for creative directors and managers.
