China's helmet industry: after thirty years, it has finally become a new "outlet"

On May 1 this year, the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Safety Management of Non-motorized Vehicles" were formally implemented. A number of new non-motor vehicle traffic regulations have been added, the most important of which is: safety helmets should be worn when driving and riding electric bicycles.

Nowadays, in Shanghai, not only riding motorcycles and electric motorcycles, but also riding electric bicycles with a speed of no more than 25 kilometers per hour, you must wear a safety helmet.

This is also one of the most stringent traffic regulations in the country since the Ministry of Public Security launched the "One Helmet and One Belt" guardian action nationwide in 2020, that is, "wear helmets when riding motorcycles and electric bicycles, and fasten seat belts when riding or driving cars." one.

Nowadays, motorcycle helmets have officially become a rigid demand of the general public in China, and have even become the "outreach" in the eyes of many investors and entrepreneurs.

A few years ago, if you wanted to see them on a large scale, you might only have to watch motorcycle races, or go to train stations, long-distance stations, or subway exits where motorcycle drivers waited for work. More than ten or twenty years ago, most motorcycle helmets belonged to the "handsome props" in movies, basically equated with "luxury goods", and only a few motorcycle riders who got rich first could have them.

In these short decades, the "experience" of motorcycle helmets can be described as ups and downs. Through this helmet, the rider can see the continuous development of the domestic economy in the past few decades, the continuous improvement of traffic laws and regulations, and the continuous changes in the manufacturing industry.

From the death of "Lawrence of Arabia"

On May 2, 1935, British officer T.E. Lawrence (the prototype of the protagonist in the classic movie "Lawrence of Arabia") returned from the post office on his beloved Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle. In order to avoid two teenagers on bicycles, Lawrence died in the hospital 6 days after his head hit the ground, at the age of 46.

The death of Lawrence greatly moved the neurosurgery doctor Hugh Keynes who was involved in the rescue at the time. Keynes started research on unnecessary head injuries of motorcyclists for several years, and finally announced the research results: the world's first professional motorcycle helmet. It is precisely because of Keynes' research report that Britain became the first country to require motorcyclists to wear helmets.

However, whether it is the motorcycle helmet body or related laws and regulations, it seems that it is still far from enough. Through those classic motorcycles or road movies, one or two can be glimpsed-for example, "The Speeding Party" starring Marlon Brando in 1953, it can be found that Americans did not have the habit of riding motorcycles and wearing helmets at that time.

It was not until the mid-1970s that most developed countries in the world made the "helmet must be worn when riding a motorcycle" into the law.

China's motorcycle helmet industry: once belonged to a very small group

The first generation of motorcycles and motorcycle riders in New China appeared in the late 1950s, but for a long time, they did not have the habit of wearing any protective gear. In the 1980s, those who got rich first began to wear sunglasses and string gloves, and motorcycle helmets were almost hard to find.

It wasn't until the 1990s when Taiwan's VR-1 entered the mainland market to find a foundry, and two motorcycle manufacturers, Adela and Eternal, were established in Foshan. Chinese knights gradually realized the existence of motorcycle helmets. However, at that time, a helmet was the cheapest at nearly 100 yuan. For most people-just look at it.

"Motorcycle Technology" has listed a set of analysis on the operation of the industry in 2005-at that time, the annual output of motorcycles reached 17.7 million, and they were exported to 186 countries and regions, among which Nigeria’s export volume exceeded 1 million. Vehicles.

The huge throughput will inevitably drive a series of upstream and downstream industrial chains. Although Chinese consumers were still ignorant of motorcycle helmets at the time, it did not affect the two largest motorcycle production areas in China, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and many manufacturers specializing in motorcycle helmets emerged.

Most of the manufacturers are targeting the domestic "blue ocean of helmets" in response to the processing orders from overseas, playing a "trick" of exporting to domestic sales.

Of course, another reason why riders are willing to try helmets is inseparable from the experience of repeatedly watching classic Hong Kong films such as "A Lang's Story" and "Heavenly Love" in the video hall-so when most people choose helmets, the first standard Is to wear it to look good or not, and then to consider safety.

Around 2010, riding on the east wind of domestic e-commerce, genuine and overseas brands that were placed in the windows of some motorcycle stores entered China one after another. The German Schuberth, French ROOF and SHARK, Belgian LAZER, Italian NOLAN, and the Japanese OGK and South Korean HJC that cost between five and six thousand yuan all poured in.

However, for the vast majority of Chinese motorcycle riders, the behavior of domestic and foreign helmet brands to seize the domestic market is still a typical "fairy fighting mortal watching."

How did China's helmet industry quickly heat up?

Indeed, the most obvious growth rate is in 2019 and 2020.

On September 1, 2019, the "Classification of Toll Road Vehicle Toll Vehicles" was officially implemented. The new standard completes the current domestic motor vehicle categories that can be driven on toll roads. Different models can find corresponding stripes in this new standard. Among them, there are motorcycles: you must have a driver's license to go to the high speed, no people are allowed, you must wear a safety helmet, and you can only drive in the rightmost lane, and the speed should be above 70km/h and below 80km/h.

The real-time of this new regulation has played a great role in driving the consumption of motorcycle helmets in my country-compared with the market size of 1.881 billion yuan in 2018, it has rapidly increased to 2.376 billion yuan in 2019.

However, the helmet market really experienced a massive surge in May 2020.

On April 21, 2020, the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice on the nationwide deployment of the "One Helmet and One Belt" security guard operation: Starting June 1, the public security traffic control department will strengthen law enforcement management and investigate and correct motorcycles in accordance with the law. , Electric bicycle riders do not wear safety helmets and car drivers do not use seat belts.

On May 15, Jiangsu and Zhejiang respectively passed the province’s electric bicycle management regulations. The two regulations coincidentally stated: In order to protect electric bicycles