What About Fall Products... Outdoor Industry Says "The Cold Is Unforgiving"

Increased Production of Best-Selling Fleece
Winter Items Needed Due to Cold Weather
Long Padding Expected to Trend Over Short Padding

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Outdoor companies are facing difficulties as temperatures drop sharply from October and a cold wave is forecasted early. They had increased production of fleece, a popular item in the fall season, but now find themselves in a situation where they must release winter new products first. Some predict that long padding jackets will regain popularity instead of short padding jackets, which were expected to be popular again this year following last year.

According to the industry on the 12th, major outdoor companies such as The North Face, K2, Nepa, Discovery, and Eider are advancing the timing of winter new product arrivals in stores and reorganizing their winter product lineups. They had increased fleece production anticipating higher demand in the fall, but now face a situation where they must sell winter products instead of fall items starting this month. With temperatures dropping sharply in the mornings and evenings instead of mild fall weather, there are concerns that, following the ruined spring sales due to COVID-19 and the summer sales affected by the longest rainy season on record, fall sales might also suffer.

These companies planned to increase the supply volume of fleece and short padding products for this fall and winter season by up to 100% compared to the previous year. Expecting another warm winter following last year, they aggressively expanded supply volumes with fleece and short padding as their main seasonal products. However, with the early cold snap and forecasts of the strongest cold wave this winter, there are worries that fleece and short padding products will remain as inventory. The outdoor industry experienced an unexpected cold wave in 2012, which brought an unusual boom, but they did not benefit much due to a shortage of products to sell. An outdoor industry official said, "Contrary to early-year predictions, temperatures dropped sharply from October, leading to poor sales of fleece, a transitional season item, and more people seeking long padding jackets instead of short padding."

Increasing long padding production immediately is also not easy. This is because procuring essential materials such as filling is difficult. A Nepa official said, "Securing filling, an essential material for additional long padding production, is crucial, but for duck and goose feathers, pre-orders must be placed a year in advance, so it is difficult to respond quickly to sudden weather changes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.