Unraveling The Mystery behind Downfall of “Supreme Viet Nam”

In the fashion and garment industry, it can be said that Colkids Club was once a “bright star” among the local brands in Vietnam for young people from 2018 to 2020. However, up to the present, this brand has experienced a downfall and gradually lost its appeal to customers. Join TWS as we explore “Why Coldkids Club declined in popularity” and uncover the factors behind this brand’s challenges.

Colkids Club – From a design trend-setter…

According to The Four Ps of Marketing, the product is one of the essential factors in the business process. So, what are the particular points about the products of Colkids Club?

Since its inception in 2018, Colkids Club has left an impression on the market, starting with its popular line of backpacks, handbags, and wallets. Over time, the brand ventured into the fashion sector, establishing itself as a renowned name with a diverse and captivating product portfolio.

Coldkis with a diverse range of products with a dynamic style.

The launch of Colkids Backpack Season 1 in 2018 created a strong impact, especially among the youth, setting the stage for subsequent eagerly anticipated seasons. Among these, Colkids Backpack Season 4 stood out as a remarkable product, gaining prominence in the thriving streetwear scene of its time.

The CND SS4 backpack marks the comeback of a prominent new image.

Besides the highly sought-after backpacks, Colkids Club’s clothing products have significantly contributed to the brand’s profitability and revenue. Notably, the CND Colkids logo Jacket exemplifies the brand’s exceptional talent when delving into the fashion industry. With its commitment to quality and trendsetting designs, Colkids Club has successfully captured the attention of fashion-forward consumers. The brand’s product range resonates with the youth, ensuring continuous growth and success in the ever-competitive market. However, understanding why Colkids declined in popularity means looking at how these products evolved in terms of design and quality.

…to the fall from grace in design and quality

Over time, the products of Colkids Club gradually lost their appeal to its once-loyal customers. The decline in product quality, along with designs that were not in line with current trends, became factors that made the once-hot items become boring in the eyes of consumers.

The products had poor craftsmanship, substandard materials, and outdated designs.

In the fiercely competitive fashion market, where streetwear styles for the youth continuously evolve with new brands emerging, Colkids Club faced challenges in maintaining its position as a trendsetter. The inability to keep up with industry changes in product designs and quality led to a transformation, with the brand transitioning into a local name that exists only in the nostalgic “memories” of its customers.

Pricing strategy – The double-edged sword

“The right price drives up the most amount of sales and the most profit for your company. The price also must be related to the product’s real and perceived value.”

1. “Ridiculously expensive brand”

Colkids Club, once renowned for its expensive products, was associated with relatively high prices compared to the general market during its peak. Their exclusive items were typically sold at prices ranging from 8.46 to 33.84 USD, depending on the item.

During its heyday, the brand’s products continuously increased in price, with a limited number of products on sale. This popularity led to an interesting phenomenon – “campers” – individuals who bought Colkids Club products at retail price and resold them at 2-3 times the original cost due to limited quantity, which has contributed to increasing the value of the brand in the eyes of customers and making Colkids even more famous. The high prices and limited production quantities relative to market demand earned the brand the title of “Local brand VN that is difficult to obtain as Supreme.”

The prices of Colkids Club’s Backpack Season 3 and Season 4

However, as time passed, this pricing strategy proved pivotal in the brand’s downfall. The decline in product quality and ever-changing consumer tastes, combined with growing criticism of the high prices, began to tarnish not only the products but also the Colkids brand itself, labeling it as a “ridiculously expensive brand.”

2. The emergence of counterfeit products

The rapid and intense fame also led to an inevitable consequence – the emergence of counterfeit products with inferior quality and varying prices, ranging from 2,12 to 21,15 USD. Although efforts were made to educate customers on distinguishing between authentic and fake items, the aforementioned negative influences had already swayed some young consumers towards affordable knock-off products that still offered acceptable quality.

The emergence of counterfeit products with inferior quality and varying prices on Shopee

Despite attempts to lower product prices to stimulate demand, it was too late due to the negative impressions that had already formed among customers. Therefore, the pricing strategy initially elevated Coldkids Club to a high position in the hearts of fans. However, it became a double-edged sword that contributed to the brand’s decline as it is today.

Mistakes in distribution channel selection

1. Online channels

With a target audience of young people, Colkids placed high expectations on its online distribution channels, including Facebook, Instagram, the brand’s website, and e-commerce platforms. However, the brand’s rapid rise in popularity also led to challenges. The overwhelming influx of messages on social media proved difficult for the service personnel to handle effectively, causing delayed responses to hundreds of messages. Meanwhile, the brand’s website did not receive sufficient investment commensurate with the product’s popularity, leading to frequent website crashes whenever new products were released.

One of Colkids Club’s websites

From another perspective, the continuous website crashes led to offline sales events for the brand, where the allure of the products peaked, with each event attracting over 1,000 participants. However, over time, the experience of website crashes and unresponsive messages became reasons for customers to have negative buying experiences.

A public event attracting over 1,000 participants of Colkids Club – Mel TV

2. Physical stores

Additionally, relying on physical stores and platforms like Shopee for product sales without adequate brand protection or an established reputation (which can only be proven over time) led to challenges for “Supreme Vietnam.” In the era of robust e-commerce development, customers often prioritize design and price over product material quality, making it harder for the brand’s products to stand out amidst the abundance of counterfeit products priced at the cost of only a cup of bubble tea. 

Furthermore, with prices higher than the average market, many customers need guidance and consultation about the products to understand their value and the standout features that justify such costs. This is where physical stores have a significant advantage over any e-commerce channel. However, during the peak of its fame, Coldkids Club only had two stores in major cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with less prominent locations often found in “underground” areas of the youth culture. As a result, the brand’s revenue primarily relied on online channels, making it challenging to effectively address and persuade customers about the product quality at premium prices through computer screens alone.

In conclusion

Therefore, despite once being a famous brand that created extremely hot trends, mistakes in pricing and distribution strategies, as well as inadequate investment in product quality, directly led to the downfall of a brand that was once a major star in the Vietnamese streetwear scene.

Furthermore, intense competition in the market and the proliferation of counterfeit products also contributed to turning this star into a phenomenon that existed only in a fleeting moment, quickly rising and fading among hundreds of local fashion brands in Vietnam.