"Youthful Brand's Demise: 1B Left, 90% Debt, Selling Buildings for Survival"

In 2009, in the TV series "Meteor Shower," Chu Yuxuan said, "Duanmu took me to Metersbonwe, and he picked out a lot of clothes and shoes. When I looked in the mirror, I didn't even recognize the girl in the reflection."

By 2023, Metersbonwe, which had already sold properties in Wuhan, Guiyang, Shenyang, and other places, sold its shop on Chengdu's Chunxi Road once again.

The fashion brand that was once a memory for the post-80s and post-90s generation can now only survive by "selling off assets," which is quite lamentable.

It's important to note that when Metersbonwe went public in 2008, it immediately won the title of "the first leisure wear stock" on the A-share market.

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In the three years following, Metersbonwe's revenue continued to rise, approaching the ten billion mark.

However, after that, this industry giant embarked on a path of "ups and downs, downs and downs."

In 2019, it suffered a loss of 826 million yuan; in 2020, it lost 859 million yuan... In the last four years, it has lost a total of 2.9 billion yuan.

The company's third-quarter report this year shows that Metersbonwe's cash on hand is less than 100 million yuan, and its debt ratio has exceeded 90%.

After selling properties to recover funds, the current external debt of Metersbonwe and its parent company has decreased to some extent.

But how long can the hard-earned assets accumulated over the past two decades sustain Metersbonwe's current losses?Metersbonwe, Taking the Road Less Traveled

Metersbonwe's founder, Zhou Chengjian, hails from an ordinary peasant family in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province.

Due to financial hardship, he dropped out after completing junior high school and went to a local tailor shop to learn the craft.

After experiencing his first entrepreneurial failure and being in debt, Zhou Chengjian decided to try his luck in Wenzhou City.

With his solid craftsmanship and good reputation, Zhou Chengjian not only paid off his debts but also established a firm foothold in Wenzhou.

Because of an accidental mistake, he designed and tailored casual style clothing, which unexpectedly sold extremely well.

In 1995, the first Metersbonwe specialty store opened on Wu Ma Street in Wenzhou.

Later, Zhou Chengjian recalled, "That day, I covered Wu Ma Street with red carpets, each leading straight to the specialty store."

Faced with a flood of dealers, Zhou Chengjian, who "takes the road less traveled," made a bold decision.

Metersbonwe outsourced all production and sales processes, retaining only the core brand and design.Zhou Chengjian, who is adept at marketing, also invited popular stars such as Jay Chou, Aaron Kwok, and the Flowers Band to be spokespersons, establishing the concept of a "trendy brand" in the hearts of young people.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Metersbonwe was undoubtedly the "King of Casual Clothing."

Everything has its ups and downs, and a huge crisis is brewing quietly.

Betting on the wrong direction almost cost a life.

Since its listing in 2008, Metersbonwe has been firmly on the path of accelerated expansion.

At its peak, Metersbonwe had 5,220 stores nationwide, including 3,914 franchised stores and 1,306 directly operated stores.

Due to the high total cost of expanding stores, Metersbonwe's short-term loans reached 2.5 billion in 2012.

To recover the huge investment in the early stage, there must be enough sales and profits during the operation period.

However, the rapid development of China's e-commerce disrupted Metersbonwe's plans.

Perhaps too confident in past successful experiences, Zhou Chengjian initially did not pay attention to the new model of online sales.It wasn't until the actual loss of 432 million in 2015 that the company began to adjust its strategy and focus on e-commerce channels.

In 2016, Zhou Chengjian's daughter, Hu Jiajia, took over the leadership and started to develop an APP, launching the "Bangou" platform.

At the same time, Metersbonwe sponsored online variety shows like "Qi Pa Shuo" and replaced its spokespersons with celebrities from Europe, America, Japan, and Korea.

It is evident that Metersbonwe was striving to adapt to the internet era, attempting to once again become a trend leader among young people.

Under these initiatives, Metersbonwe's revenue "sprung back" to 7.677 billion in 2018, but this was also its last moment of glory.

Adhering to the old path led to a vicious cycle.

Starting from 2019, Metersbonwe's decline accelerated, with revenue decreasing by about 30% each year and losses mounting annually.

This is what led to the situation mentioned at the beginning of the article, where the company had to rely on selling properties to recover its financial health.

Not only properties, but shares were sold too; in March 2021, the company sold a wholly-owned subsidiary, and in April, it transferred 10% of its shares in Shanghai Hua Rui Bank.

This situation inevitably reminds me of the plot in "To Live" where Fugui sells off all his family's assets.Why has the once-dominant casual clothing brand fallen so far?

Some say that Metersbonwe has been too focused on marketing, spending over 2 billion yuan annually on advertising despite consecutive years of losses.

Others argue that the brand has invested too little in research and development and design, with clothing styles no longer keeping up with the aesthetics of young people.

There are also those who believe that foreign brands like Zara and Uniqlo have taken away market share from Metersbonwe.

Perhaps all of these reasons are correct; they are all straws that have broken the camel's back.

But fundamentally, the problem lies within Metersbonwe itself.

Zhou Chengjian once said, "It doesn't matter how many resources a company has, but rather how much ability the company has to integrate resources. This is the core issue. Everything in the world is mine, and everything of mine is in the world."

While this statement is not wrong, does Metersbonwe have the sufficient capability to manage these resources?

During periods of rapid economic growth, all participants can make money, and the quality of management only affects how much they earn.

Once the overall environment enters a stable phase, companies without refined management and cost control can easily fall into a vicious cycle of "earning less than they owe."It is evident that Metersbonwe has already reached the brink of the precipice.

To conclude:

Since the twenty-first century, the logic of business has undergone tremendous changes.

If one cannot truly comprehend the rules of the internet age, even the tallest buildings can collapse in an instant.