When Xiao C started her business, her product hadn’t even launched, and the market was already cooling off.

The factory owner, who previously ignored her and boasted about making 30,000 camping chairs, later personally called her and said she could produce even 1,000. Once inside the factory, the standard was lowered to 300.

She chatted with the factory security guard, who pointed to a blue metal warehouse and said there were tens of thousands of units in stock. She realized that wasn’t just unsold inventory; it was also the scattered passion of outdoor entrepreneurs.

Gao saw that the subway was filled with fleece jackets and knew this category was retracing the old path of Converse shoes.

“Last year, domestic outdoor jackets were selling for 99 yuan in live streams; by year’s end, they were cleared out at 39 yuan,” Gao said frankly. Even top influencers are experiencing aesthetic fatigue, and young people are now saying, “The end of Arc’teryx is Goldwin.”

However, Gao remains deeply rooted in the outdoor industry. His lightweight urban outdoor brand produces only 30 styles a year, with over 100,000 product additions in the past half-year; Xiao C, who once fled the camping scene, didn’t switch careers but entered accessories like multifunctional blankets and socks. His brand broke even within a year.

Their shared insight is that trends fade, individual products cool down, but the outdoor lifestyle itself will never go out of fashion.

As the mass market rapidly rises with a focus on aesthetics and lightweight design, replacing outdoor enthusiasts, a paradigm shift from “functional consumption” to “lifestyle consumption” is unfolding in China’s outdoor industry.

In this trillion-yuan potential hot track, competition is fierce, and gold is everywhere.

1. Non-outdoor workers buy up all the high-performance jackets

Lü Lei vividly remembers the day he first reviewed his sales performance, counting the top sellers from the top down—all outdoor products—yet they targeted the opportunities in tech fabrics for everyday commuting wear!

This unexpected scene made him both amused and speechless, but it all seemed logical in hindsight.

As a former internet entrepreneur, Lü Lei understands too well the exhaustion of KPI-driven work and overtime, and he knows the urgent need for stress relief and escape from internal conflicts. Turning to outdoor activities is a low-cost, fast-acting way to relax.

He is an avid hiker himself. Every time he steps into nature—standing beneath icy peaks, beside tranquil lakes, feeling the mountain wind on his face—all worries seem to dissipate. “Once you experience this healing and awe, it’s hard to refuse outdoor life.”

In the past, domestic outdoor participation was low, but with the rise of experiential economy, people increasingly value “quality of life,” and the outdoor industry may finally see widespread adoption.

“People often associate outdoor with mountains and rivers or extreme sports,” Lü Lei said, “but in highly developed outdoor markets like Switzerland, you see families with kids, walking leisurely with pets on weekends.” The goal of outdoor activities shouldn’t be “conquering,” but a relaxed, accessible lifestyle everyone can participate in.

Having worked in the outdoor industry for years, Xiao C clearly perceives this shift.

Over a decade ago, her view of outdoor was just a pastime for middle-class city dwellers. Then, a pandemic pulled the general public into the mountains and wilderness. From “special forces” college students to subway commuters, everyone had a piece of outdoor gear like a jacket.

In fact, Xiao C shares that 70% of outdoor apparel today is not purchased by outdoor enthusiasts at all.

Just like after WWII when people loved buying trench coats or after the oil crisis when jeans became popular, the current popularity of outdoor clothing is also tied to specific economic cycles. Xiao C explains, “3-in-1 jackets can be worn in three seasons, suitable for work and mountain trips, and one piece can replace several. It fits current consumer psychology.”

When practicality and versatility become the “standard answer,” even fiercely competitive jackets see market expansion year after year. “E-commerce platforms are encouraging sellers to add more outdoor jackets,” Xiao C notes. Even fashion brands like Peacebird and business-oriented brands like HLA are actively entering the outdoor market.

Compared to eight years ago when Gao first entered the industry, the scene is vastly different.

Back then, “cotton” was the true material of clothing, and his obsession with functional fabrics made him an outsider. His first outdoor bag, limited to 400 units, took seven months to sell out. “Factories were busy with thousands of foreign trade orders, and didn’t care about small players like us,” Gao joked.

But as foreign trade fluctuated and domestic demand surged, factories making jeans, fashion women’s wear, and office uniforms upgraded their equipment and shifted to outdoor gear. “They feared that if they didn’t do outdoor, they’d be eliminated.”

“Second-generation factory owner” A Xuan also seized the opportunity to build his own brand. At its peak, a jacket sold for 20 million yuan GMV.

But he also sensed danger: as more players entered, return rates for jackets soared, becoming as high as women’s fashion. After careful consideration, he pivoted to the “snow and ice” segment: “Many people can’t tell the difference between a jacket and a ski suit, which shows the market lacks awareness. That’s a chance to get rich.”

A Xuan threw himself into it. Every year, numerous ski clothing brands come knocking for OEM. But about 70-80% of these brands disappear after just one year.

2. When camels become top influencers, is this just the beginning of the kill zone?

A Xuan watched the videos sent by friends repeatedly and had to admit that these “knockoff alternatives” are quite capable.

“Knockoff” means domestic ski suits priced over 1,000 yuan compared to thousands for international brands; “knockoff of knockoffs” are the 300-400 yuan sets his friends wear.

These ski suits sound unreliable and are actually unsafe—“on a ski slope, at high speed, if not windproof or sweat-wicking, you risk hypothermia,” A Xuan explained, emphasizing that every detail from fabric to zippers must be carefully considered.

But opportunistic merchants don’t care about that. Like many jackets, some are made to the lowest standards or are outright fake, forcing legitimate brands with costs of 300-400 yuan to sell at 199 yuan and lose money.

Behind this chaos is that despite the outdoor boom, consumers with tight wallets still prioritize low prices.

“People don’t understand parameters, don’t care about labels, only whether the price is attractive,” A Xuan said helplessly. His own ski jacket, made with solid materials and fair pricing, failed because of poor design, costing him 3 million yuan.

Sun Lei, founder of the “Black Titanium” fabric brand, believes that there are many affordable quality domestic products. For ordinary consumers, distinguishing “real deals” from “fake cheap” is itself a barrier.

Take jackets from Camel, Bosideng, Li Ning, Anta—selling for 300-400 yuan—these already perform well in windproof and waterproof features.

This isn’t overnight success but the result of over a decade of relentless “retraining” by domestic brands.

Sun Lei notes that for a long time, Anta and Li Ning almost worked for international fabric suppliers like GORE-TEX. Their cooperation was limited, and the same fabric cost domestically only 30-50 yuan, while international materials cost over 100 yuan.

To break the high-price monopoly of international giants, these brands started developing their own fabrics.

With the advent of Anta’s membrane, Pathfinder’s nano double-venting, Camel’s ENFO, Bosideng’s Storm Breath, and Kailas’ Filtertec, the “outdoor tax” has been lowered, making “high-end but affordable” jackets a reality.

Consumers now prioritize cost-performance. Under this “dual pursuit,” domestic brands have experienced explosive growth: Camel has ranked first globally in jacket sales for six consecutive years, and Bosideng sold about 3.8 million units from 2022 to 2024, achieving an astonishing 144% CAGR.

As domestic brands grow into billion-yuan giants and even dominate single categories globally, once high-end international fabric giants will also lower their stance.

Sun Lei observes that GORE-TEX, once exclusive to premium brands, is now used in children’s clothing. Small entrepreneurs like Gao can now access Patagonia’s fleece or share the same OEM factory as Descente.

But widespread access to entry-level products often marks the beginning of intense competition.

Gao’s pace of material updates has accelerated from every six months to each season. He finds it still not fast enough because new fabric combinations are quickly learned and copied, leading to widespread homogeneity within a year.

“Everyone is competing on materials and styles, product homogeneity is worsening,” Gao said helplessly. In the end, they resort to price wars.

Now, Gao’s products sell well, but his profits shrink. He feels frustrated—how to break this “selling more but earning less” cycle?

3. The low-hanging fruit is gone; outdoor brands are heading into deep waters

Lü Lei attended an industry conference and was struck by a question: China’s outdoor industry has developed for so many years, producing several hundred-billion-yuan brands, yet it seems there’s little progress.

He recalled a hike on Peacock Mountain in Yunnan—an easy “white trail” that takes an hour, wide and with little elevation gain, sunny that day. Yet many tourists he saw wore hard-shell jackets suited for extreme environments, heavy hiking shoes, large backpacks, and trekking poles, fully armed.

“Equipment and scene are mismatched,” Lü Lei said. Consumers lack a culture of active outdoor engagement; instead, they’ve fallen into the trap of “outdoor Hermès,” treating gear as social currency.

This prosperity built on comparison and conformity is essentially “consumerist carnival.” When rationality returns, real growth must focus on solving users’ pain points.

Xiao C also feels this deeply. She believes “there are almost no truly female outdoor products.” For example, quick-drying shirts use fibers designed for rapid sweat-wicking, but the rough texture and small sweat volume make them uncomfortable for women who sweat less. Few products on the market balance skin-friendliness and performance.

Even jackets are problematic—weight, performance, and color options are the same for men and women; changing deep blue or green to white or pink is considered a “women’s version.” “The industry still immerses itself in stories of higher, faster, stronger, as if conquering Everest is the only way to talk about outdoor,” Xiao C said, “but it ignores consumers’ real needs.”

Today, the low-hanging fruit is almost picked clean, but the gaps left behind are perfect for vertical deep cultivation.

A pair of wool socks that maximize comfort can become a best-seller in Xiao C’s shop; Lü Lei’s multi-pocket jacket for “one-day hikers” is also an instant hit.

He also borrowed community strategies from lululemon and On, organizing activities like trail cleanup, which have cultivated loyal fans contributing 4-5 times the repurchase rate of ordinary users. He estimates that his brand “Xinqi Tian” will reach over 100 million yuan in revenue in five years.

Besides niche, refined brands, Xiao C also notices that high-end brands with stronger design are becoming new growth engines—Mountaineer 2025’s first-half revenue in China surged 300% year-over-year, leaving many Camel competitors behind, proving that “young people are starting to pay for design.”

Sun Lei sees an even stronger trend: domestic sportswear brands’ material development has shifted from “catching up” with international brands to “standing on the same starting line.”

“GORE-TEX and eVent are now researching ‘fluorine-free’ membrane iterations, betting on polyolefins, which are most developed in new energy batteries,” Sun Lei said. “North Face’s research into electrospinning membranes has been applied in power and medical industries for years.”

In this new wave of technological windows, domestic brands have an advantage of proximity. Anta and Li Ning are ramping up investments, jointly developing fabrics, conducting 2-3 rounds of testing annually.

When new fabrics move from labs to production lines, outdoor consumers can finally escape high premiums and enter a true “value-for-money” era. Sun Lei believes this day is not far off: “The largest single consumer market, the most complete supply chain, and the most competitive brands are all here. How could it not succeed?”

(Special thanks to bloggers ROCKY1984, An Sheng, and brands “Yuexia,” “Super Sound,” “March Good,” and “Xinqi Tian” for their support of this article.)