Fixation or fashion, China’s pet economy is nothing short of a phenomenon. As well as wanting their pets to sport razzle-dazzling looks, today’s young Chinese pet owners are making sure their furry friends get enough exercise, regular grooming and even the occasional dab of make-up. Pampering their fur babies brings owners an emotional ROI.
Related
Close-Up: Behind the Hot Hashtag That Inspires Even Hotter Makeovers
China’s pet industry has seen astronomical growth in recent years, a boom fueled by rising affluence and a declining birth rate. The key drivers behind China’s expanding pet industry are millennials and Gen Zs, most of whom were born during the country’s one-child policy (1980-2016).
Younger Chinese are less willing to become parents than previous generations and prefer to satisfy their emotional needs by having one or more… fur babies.
Plus, for the past several years, more and more young Chinese have been living alone. According to the latest Ministry of Civil Affairs data, an estimated 77 million were living alone in China in 2018, and that number had risen to 92 million as of late 2021. Fewer family ties combined with high work pressures in urban areas has led to more and more young people getting pets to help deal with loneliness.
During the pandemic years in particular, pets provided emotional support, and the relationship between pet and owner grew closer. Dressing their furry friends to the nines and taking them out to keep them healthy and show them off became a pressing desire for pet owners, according to a 2021 article on Jing Daily, your go-to for the business of luxury in China.
Zhang Yage, a reporter for Beijing Review, China’s only English newsweekly, looked into the young Chinese pet owner scene anno 2024 and its pursuit of the purrfect (out)fit.
Related
Vintage Vixens: Young Chinese Throw Out the New And Bring In the Old
A Big Chunk
After going over her finances, Li Shiru realized she’d spent more on her furry companion than herself during last December’s New Year-themed online shopping festival, founded by Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba–owner of popular shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall.
“I ordered a set of makeup brushes, three packs of cat food, a cute cloud-shaped bowl, a box of hair ornaments… and 23 outfits for my cat Dabing,” Li told Zhang. “The total came to USD 1,251, half my monthly income.”
Her cat’s new clothes made up the biggest chunk of the bill.
Li regularly takes her cat out for walks, and she ordered customized kitty outfits based on her daily wardrobe from a pet shop on Tmall.
Li was inspired by a few pet vloggers she follows. On 小红书 (xiǎohóngshū| Little Red Book (LRB)), a wildly popular Chinese app that serves as a lifestyle bible and e-commerce platform, videos of such vloggers and their fur babies in matching outfits are some of the hottest on there.
“These vloggers get very creative when it comes to dressing their pets. For example, I follow this one girl who loves to bring her corgi to her gym sessions, and she got the dog matching yoga clothes. The video of them running together in matching outfits is adorable,” Li said.
The Proof Is In the Stats
In December 2023, Alibaba released a “Hot” consumption report, stating that the pet economy had reached a small peak this winter. During the New Year-themed shopping festival on Tmall, the sales of pet fashion products increased significantly, and the transaction volume of pet clothing increased by 50 percent year on year.
Hashtag 狗衣服 (gǒu yīfu| dog clothing), for example, had racked up more than 1 million posts and notes on LRB as of February 11.
FYI: Notes on LRB often center on the user’s own consumption experience, which serves as a useful guide for other users. Generally, photos and text notes are used to convey more detailed product information, whereas short and fast-moving videos highlight looks as well as (dis)advantages of the product in a Douyin (China’s TikTok) style format.
In 2021, the market size of pet supplies (excluding food) in China reached USD 4.53 billion, a steady year-on-year increase. China’s pet product market is projected to see robust growth in the years to come and will surpass USD 6.67 billion by 2025, according to Statista, a German company specializing in market and consumer data.
A furry friend rocking a traditional Chinese “jacket” and a “horse face skirt,” a style dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Image via 柴犬优优 on 小红书 (xiǎohóngshū| Little Red Book (LRB))
Dressed To The Nines
In recent years, the flourishing pet-related businesses have attracted the attention of the fashion industry.
Last October, Shanghai hosted China’s first large-scale pet fashion week, bringing together 15 top pet clothing brands and hundreds of pet models. The event will take to the stage again in March to mark the latest evolutions in this fast-growing industry.
Lu Yangyang, a 30-year-old dog lover and founder of GIGIWAWA, a brand offering matching clothes for pets and their owners, said the fashion week demonstrated the blossoming of this emerging industry.
“The fashion week included several events, such as a dress competition, a catwalk show and an open audition for ‘best pet and owner duo.’ I learned a lot from my colleagues and potential customers,” Lu told Zhang.
After graduating from college with a degree in fashion design, Lu in 2020 stumbled into the burgeoning industry.
“I wanted to design a suit for my Pomeranian, but I couldn’t find a satisfactory product,” Lu recounted. “So I made one myself, some pet owner friends saw it and loved it, and one thing led to another.”
Locking Paws
To create a sense of community among her customers, and to attract new clienteles, Lu started organizing in-person activities of all kinds.
“We invite pet owners to attend our monthly gatherings together with their furry companions, and activities such as handicraft workshops and themed parties are well received by them,” Lu said. “Pet fashion is a rather new field, and there are challenges that have yet to be resolved. So I want to concretize and contextualize this relatively new concept by presenting potential customers with real-life, in-person scenes.”
Some owners also have very specific pet fashion demands. Take the example of hanfu, aka the traditional dress of the Han Chinese, aficionados.
The 汉服 (hàn fú) craze first burst into public sight in 2018, many regarded the trend as a symbol of young China’s surging cultural confidence, driven by a mix of rising nationalism, entrepreneurial acumen, and social (media) hype amongst China’s Gen Z. Many devotees enjoy getting all dressed up and have their pics taken at Chinese cultural beacons, like the Forbidden City or Palace Museum–pets in matching outfits included.
These cartoon paws love to rummage through the make-up drawers. Image via 一只玩图 on LRB
Personal Branding
Aside from wanting their pets to be dressed to the nines, pet owners today also have many ambitious, all-round plans to make their furry friends look their very best, such as making sure they get in enough exercise, regular grooming and even applying make-up.
These elements, long associated with the concept of style in the human realm, are becoming trendy in the pet fashion industry along with pet apparel.
Zhao Sijie’s store in Shanghai now sells several brushes for pet coat care and makeup application, which she said was definitely not the case a few years ago. She admitted that she wouldn’t even have thought of it then.
A 2021 report published by Djyanbao.com, a third-party consulting agency, stated that the total volume of China’s pet beauty industry that year was USD 23.8 billion yuan, with trimming and makeup brushes accounting for 32.6 percent of this market.
Zhao further explained that many pet owners today like to dab some eye shadow and blush on their pets’ faces to emphasize their cuteness.
The makeup products they use are child and pet friendly–as usually stated on the packaging.
Carriers to Consultants
“I have been working in this field for eight years. When I started here, the shop only sold basic items like carriers, pet food and medicine,” Zhao told the Beijing Review reporter.
However, this shop manager found herself having to answer increasingly meticulous questions from customers, ranging from “What clothes do you recommend for my cat that will match her color?” and “Is my baby too fat now? Is there anything he could wear to look slimmer?” to “What kind of ‘hairstyle’ would become her? Oh, then what kind of brush should I get?”
“I’m not exactly a fashion consultant, but I had, and have, to learn about these things to keep up with the evolving market,” Zhao said, adding that pet owners are going out of their way to make their pets look good–both for social and emotional reasons.
“Owners mention how they like to bring their pets to gatherings with friends or colleagues, and pets’ appearances are part of their ‘personal image management’; plus, building up their pet’s image makes them feel happy.” Zhao said.
Another fur baby– posing in her “crib.” Image via Mel是只Miao on LRB
The Emotional ROI
Experts have attributed the diversified and growing trends of the pet economy, and pet fashion especially, to people’s changing feelings toward their pets.
Wu Daiqi, CEO of Siqisheng Communication Corp., believes that an owner’s emotional attachment to their pet leads to increased and diverse spending.
“Pet owners now take their pet’s living standard seriously and are willing to spend money not only on basic products like food, but also on other advanced products in different fields, including education, beauty and health,” Wu told Beijing Business Today newspaper.
According to the 2021 White Paper on China’s Pet Industry, 85.1 percent of pet owners consider their pets family, and 8.5 percent consider them friends. And these owners do indeed treat them accordingly–by spending more on them.
Related
Lu has observed her clientele’s need to create a sense of family with their pets, and to make the pets’ clothing match that of their owners, she keeps up with the latest trends by taking notes from major international fashion weeks and reading fashion magazines and reports.
“It’s important for me to keep my finger on the pulse of the ‘human fashion market.’ That way I can meet the needs of the majority of my customers,” Lu said.
As far as Li is concerned, Dabing is her best friend. Dabing came into Li’s life two years ago, when she moved to Beijing for work, and she didn’t expect Dabing to actually “do anything” for her.
“I don’t mind spending money on her,” Li said. “I have so much fun playing with her. She gives me all these wonderful, emotional gifts that are basically reimbursements for the money I spend on her.”
Pets get the pick of the litter.
THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF ZHANG YAGE’S ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED IN BEIJING REVIEW, VOL 67, NO. 5
FEATURED IMAGE: PET FASHION AS SPOTTED ON LRB–left to right: Images via 柴犬优优 , 一只玩图 and Mel是只Miao
SPOTTED A FASHION FAIL OR HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD? PLEASE LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW OR EMAIL US AT INFO@CHINATEMPER.COM
© THE CHINA TEMPER, 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DO NOT REPRODUCE TEMPER CONTENT WITHOUT CONSENT -– YOU CAN CONTACT US AT INFO@CHINATEMPER.COM
Perpetually in pursuit of the greater good that is “China Fashion”, van Paridon set up The China Temper to help promote the dynamite dynamic fashion scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai, and China overall. Catering to anybody and everybody who reads English and/or Chinese, Temper covers all the basics and bases. From China's street style scenery to its budding photographers, internationally renowned designers, and underground quirks plus phenomena: We present one hot-hip-happening current collective weaving The New "Made in China" tag.
The term “Made in China” is undergoing the ultimate 21st Century makeover. Escorted by the increasingly strong influence of a new thinking among China’s younger generations, regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion scene in the Middle Kingdom is exploding. And stretches far beyond what meets the eye. It’s appliqué, one might say.
- Knocking Out Stereotypes: China’s Women Step Into The Boxing Ring - March 24, 2024
- Roarin’ Revelry? Unpacking Gen Z’s Slaying Dragon Trends - March 1, 2024
- Pet Fashion: Young Chinese And Their Pursuit Of The Purrfect Fit - February 11, 2024