It's like a volcano that has been suppressed for a long time has finally erupted. During the May Day holiday, people rushed out and rushed to every outdoor corner where they could breathe fresh air.
According to the estimation of the Ministry of culture and tourism, 230 million domestic tourists visited during the May Day period, an increase of 119.7% over the same period last year. According to comparable standards, the number of domestic tourists has exceeded the level of the same period before the epidemic and returned to 103.2% of the same period before the epidemic.
Among them, outdoor tourism has become the choice of many tourists. According to the data released by Feizhu, during the May Day period, young consumers were keen on outdoor sports, such as desert camping, rock climbing and hiking, diving and parachuting, and their bookings increased by more than 200% year on year.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, outdoor tourism has met the needs of consumers for safety because of its open space. The upsurge has been high, and hiking is the most involved outdoor tourism project.
In the hiking supplies demand, the first equipment is a pair of hiking shoes. But compared with the traditional climbing shoes, some hikers begin to focus on the lighter and more lifestyle revealing sneaker boot.

What's the difference with traditional hiking shoes?
As early as many years ago, sports shoes have begun to appear on the market.
Forbes wrote four years ago that sports shoes are aimed at consumers who are unwilling to give up sports shoes in winter, especially Millennials. Jake Anderson and Sam Barstow are the representatives of this group of young consumers, so they founded the outdoor sports brand forsake.

The upper part of the sneaker looks like a traditional hiking shoe, but there is a comfortable sole at the bottom. With good traction and stability advantages, sneakers become lighter. In addition to hiking, the applicable scenes can also be extended to bar making, mountain riding, road pressing, etc.
In design, the sports shoes give up the rough of traditional hiking shoes, and "reduce matching" can reduce the cost of shoes to some extent. At the same time, the tide design is more suitable for the taste and lifestyle of contemporary young people, and undoubtedly more suitable for the needs of those who are not often on foot.
John Burch, senior vice president of global business at merrel, the American outdoor brand, told Forbes that they saw the growth of light hiking products. "Consumers are looking for fashionable but powerful shoes, and light hiking shoes are a great entry-level shoe."
In addition to forsake, the brand embracing the new hiking footwear category is growing, including Danner, merrel, Salomon, timberland, oboz and Hoka one.
Nike launched the sneakerboot series earlier, which improves the performance of the classic Nike sneakers against cold weather, providing more protection and functions, more antiskid and weatherproof capabilities for those who want to wear favorite sneakers in different seasons, and are positioned as products with lightweight function and weather resistance.
There are also some similar footwear on the market, such as some brand high-rise sneakers, but they are not really foot shoes or hiking shoes with sports sole. Lazy bear sports learned from some domestic brands that they have developed similar products, "low help to change the middle help, upper thickening, cotton in, originally to adapt to the north market, especially in the northeast." However, there is no special category for this, and it is obviously difficult to achieve the quality of climbing boots.

Outdoor hiking has a great market potential, but sneakers are still small categories
According to the data of China Research Institute of Puhua industry, the market scale of outdoor sports industry in China has reached 53.7 billion yuan in 2018.
The development report of China hiking (2019) (hereinafter referred to as the report) shows that 94.3% of the outdoor population participated in the hiking in 2019, and for the fourth consecutive year, hiking became the most popular and favorite outdoor sports event for outdoor population, and 80% of the outdoor hiking users showed the demand for hiking shoes.
Therefore, whether it is the outdoor hiking, or hiking shoes, there are considerable market scale and consumption population. With the epidemic's catalyst, the sales of hiking shoes will continue to rise.

This trend is confirmed by the observation of Matt Powell, senior sports industry consultant of NPD group. In an interview with Forbes, Powell said that sales of hiking shoes in the United States declined in the first half of 2020 due to the home ban, but increased by 22% in the second half of 2020 and 60% in the first quarter of 2021. "I expect hiking to maintain a strong momentum in 2021."
In addition, the report points out that most outdoor walkers spend 3000-5000 yuan on equipment, and 86.6% of them spend less than 5000 yuan. More than 60% of the outdoor walkers are women, and the proportion of women's high expenditure above 30000 yuan is higher than that of men.
It's also an inspiration for sneakers: focus on female hikers and provide products with the right budget. In this regard, forsake launched its women's product line in 2016, in which the patch is the best seller.
These new consumption trends on the other side of the ocean may give some enlightenment to domestic brands.