Tencent Bets 300 Million, Revenue Soars 3.6 Times in Two Years: How Was the “Affordable Alternative King” of Windbreakers Born?
Text | Peng Qian
Editor | Qiao Qian
Tencent entered the game at the last minute. In two years, the revenue of Pelliot has increased by 3.6 times, and now it is planning to list in Hong Kong.
The news that Pelliot was planning to go public first emerged in August 2023. At that time, Pelliot filed for guidance with the Anhui Securities Regulatory Bureau, intending to make its initial public offering and list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. However, in April 2025, Pelliot terminated this round of listing guidance and turned to pursue an IPO in Hong Kong.
Compared with many popular domestic brands that have recently entered the capital market, Pelliot is relatively low - key. Many consumers initially even thought it was a foreign brand or related to the French outdoor brand Decathlon. The brand name was indeed originally taken from the controversial French explorer and sinologist Paul Pelliot. But after realizing the unfavorable public opinion, the brand quickly rewrote its story, emphasizing that the inspiration for the name came from the allusion of "Boya playing the zither, with high mountains and flowing waters", highlighting the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
The main brand of Pelliot was founded in 2012 by the couple Liu Zhen and Hua Jingling. In 2015, they officially established Pelliot Sports Group in Bozhou, Anhui. As of the end of last year, it had a total of 146 stores in first - and second - tier cities.
There are many well - known capitals behind this low - key outdoor brand. Since its establishment, Pelliot has completed two rounds of financing. The investors include well - known institutions such as Tencent, Qiming Venture Partners, and Sinovation Ventures, as well as local state - owned assets. In March 2025, Tencent completed a 300 million yuan capital increase in Pelliot. On the eve of the IPO, it held 10.70% of the shares, becoming the fourth - largest shareholder and the largest institutional shareholder of the company. As of the last round of financing, Pelliot was valued at about 2.8 billion yuan.
In the first eight years after its establishment, Pelliot was an unremarkable small brand. Until 2022, its sales were only about 300 million yuan. The turning point came in the past two years. Pelliot became popular among hikers with a variety of affordable windbreakers. In recent years, the outdoor industry has become a popular track in the consumer field, and windbreakers are the most core and fastest - growing category. According to Magic Mirror data, in 2023, windbreakers had become a product with over 10 billion yuan in sales on online channels alone. A research report from Guosen Securities stated that among all sports and outdoor categories, the growth of windbreakers was far ahead, exceeding 40%, while yoga pants declined and sun - protection clothing also showed a downward trend.
With the support of popular products, Pelliot's revenue and profits have also been rising. According to the prospectus, Pelliot's revenue soared from 380 million yuan in 2022 to 1.76 billion yuan in 2024, a 3.6 - fold increase, and its market share reached 5.2%, making it one of the top three domestic high - performance outdoor brands. The profit also increased by 10 times. The adjusted net profit soared from 27.6 million yuan in 2022 to 300 million yuan in 2024, and the adjusted net profit margin rose from 7.3% in 2022 to 17.2% in 2024, far higher than the adjusted net profit margin of 4.5% of Amer Sports, the parent company of Arc'teryx, in 2024.
With a gross profit margin of 60% and a net profit margin of 17%, affordable windbreakers have become a profitable business.
Cost - effectiveness, self - developed technology, and popular windbreakers
Similar to the well - known outdoor brands Arc'teryx and Kailas in recent years, Pelliot also uses high - priced and highly functional windbreakers as its market breakthrough. By developing different combinations of windbreaker outer shells and inner lining fabrics, especially the first - created "down windbreaker", which is suitable for various scenarios such as outdoor activities, urban commuting, and sports fitness, this has become the cornerstone of the brand's identity.
Outdoor brands like to compete in technology and tell stories, especially in the mid - to high - end market. They try to achieve a monopoly through some black technologies to increase their value. For example, the "Bird, Elephant, and Mouse" (Arc'teryx, Norrøna, and Mammut) use Gore - Tex fabrics and thermo - formed structures. These brands have defined the rules of this market based on this, creating the perception that "professional = expensive" for windbreakers. To join the "zoo" camp, the domestic brand Kailas has also moved closer to big brands in terms of technology and pricing in recent years.
Many domestic mid - to low - end windbreakers, although affordable, generally have performance problems such as poor waterproofness, poor breathability, and improper tailoring, which are difficult to meet the needs of outdoor sports. This market gap of "unaffordable high - end and unusable low - end" has given rise to consumers' demand for "affordable alternatives".
In 2013, Pelliot obtained more pricing freedom by developing its own technology system, PT - China: STORM BREATH waterproof and breathable technology, STORM SHIELD wind - proof technology, and eVent Blue Label professional - grade fabric. These technologies and new fabrics enable Pelliot's products to perform well in terms of waterproofness, breathability, and wear resistance.
For example, an industry insider said that the eVent Blue Label professional - grade fabric has comparable performance to the Gore - Tex Pro series of Arc'teryx but with a lower cost. It achieves more than 90% of the performance at one - third of the price, successfully breaking the technological monopoly of international brands and to some extent changing consumers' perception of windbreakers. A hiker who has worn Pelliot windbreakers many times during outdoor sports said intuitively: "From suddenly encountering heavy rain at an altitude of 3,000 meters to being splashed with coffee on the subway, in actual tests, its durability index beats some international big brands with a 200% premium."
Based on the successful application of self - developed technology, Pelliot has taken a completely opposite path from international big brands and has become the "king of cost - effectiveness" in the outdoor sports industry. Whether it is adult products or children's products, it follows the cost - effective route, targeting the largest consumer group. In Pelliot's official store, the most popular windbreaker is priced at only 499 yuan, lower than similar outdoor sports brands. Some outdoor fleece jackets cost only 149 yuan, similar in price to Decathlon's products with the same performance.
All brands want to be the next Arc'teryx, and their products are getting more and more expensive. Pelliot's differentiated strategy has found growth opportunities for it. According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, Pelliot sold about 3.8 million windbreakers in total, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of sales reaching 144.0%, far higher than the growth rates of other leading players in the industry. Affordable windbreakers do have great market opportunities. Another leading outdoor player, the new affordable brand "Panda" incubated by Camel Group, sold more than 600,000 affordable windbreakers in 2024, with sales reaching 800 million yuan on the Douyin platform.
After the windbreakers became popular, Pelliot still faces the problem of new - round growth. Pelliot's revenue is highly dependent on some popular clothing products. The classic series of products (clothing) contribute more than 82% of the revenue.
In contrast, for brands like Arc'teryx, footwear and women's products perform particularly well. Their growth rates far exceed the overall level of the brand, and their sales shares have also increased significantly. Among them, women's products account for more than 25%, and footwear accounts for more than 10%. These newly expanded categories already account for more than 30%.
To expand its product line, Pelliot introduced the South Korean canvas shoe brand Excelsior in 2020, but this business only accounts for 1.9% of the revenue so far and has not yet formed a second growth curve.
To find popular products other than windbreakers, Pelliot has invested in more than 10 enterprises, including Jingyiqiujing Brand Management and Anhui Dajiang Garment. It owns multiple outdoor sports brands such as Pelliot Outdoor Clothing, Pelliot Exquisite Camping, HIKERHIKER Outdoor Cultural and Creative, and Excelsior Canvas Shoes. These investments have helped Pelliot expand its product matrix to the greatest extent. Now, in Pelliot's stores, products such as tents, hiking poles, and footwear are also sold.
Highly dependent on online sales, building brand power still takes time
Pelliot has successfully opened the door to the capital market with its high - cost - effective popular windbreakers. Such examples are not uncommon in the outdoor field in recent years. In addition to Pelliot, brands like Beneunder and Leoxin have also taken actions related to listing. Companies in the industry chain such as Mobi Garden, Toread, and Sanfo Outdoor, which have already successfully listed, have also had good performance and soaring stock prices.
For small and medium - sized enterprises that have been working hard in the outdoor track for many years, this is undoubtedly a good opportunity to go public. However, the outdoor industry is not short of hot spots now, and it is not difficult to break through with a single category. The difficult part is how to achieve continuous high - growth.
Enriching the product matrix and building brand power are the keys. In addition to increasing product categories and continuously investing in technology R & D, opening stores as much as possible and moving towards high - end are also inevitable paths. The prospectus mentions that Pelliot recently successfully completed a Series B financing of hundreds of millions of yuan. This funds will be used for the innovative design and R & D of professional and high - end product lines. At the same time, it will also be invested in the expansion and layout of the company's offline channels and the improvement of the global supply chain system.
Domestic outdoor brands basically rely on e - commerce and online advertising to open up the consumer market. In the past two years, Camel, Pelliot, and Beneunder, which ranked among the top three during the Double 11 shopping festival, all started from the online market. According to the data in the prospectus, Pelliot's online sales account for as high as 70%, and the main sales channel is Tmall.
Since online sales account for the majority, Pelliot's marketing expenses are mainly spent on online advertising, accounting for as high as 30% of sales. Liu Zhen, the founder of Pelliot, once revealed that Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, and Bilibili have all become sources of traffic. The company has its own content and short - video operation team and has long been deeply involved in content marketing.
The data in the prospectus shows that Pelliot's marketing investment has been around 30% from 2022 to 2024, which is a very high level in the sports and outdoor field. Relying on a large offline distributor network and strong brand awareness over the years, many well - known sports and outdoor companies have controlled their marketing expenses at around 10%. As the cost of online advertising gradually rises, Pelliot's marketing expenses may continue to increase.
Over - reliance on online sales also brings the problem of insufficient consumer brand awareness. Pelliot realized this early on. In 2020, Ma Yubiao, the director and general manager of Pelliot, said in an interview that offline development would be the key point for Pelliot's development. In the next two to three years, it was expected to make further breakthroughs offline, with a plan to open more than 500 stores. However, to date, Pelliot has only opened 146 stores, among which only 14 are directly - operated stores, and the vast majority are joint - operation stores. With the arrival of financing and successful entry into the capital market, Pelliot may have more funds to open stores.
R & D investment is an important selling point for many outdoor brands to tell stories. From the data in the prospectus, Pelliot's R & D investment is indeed increasing, but the proportion in the overall investment is still very low. From 2022 to 2024, Pelliot's R & D investment increased from 13.6 million yuan to 31.5 million yuan, more than doubling, but the proportion is still far lower than the nearly 10% R & D investment of brands like Arc'teryx.
High marketing investment and low R & D investment will inevitably be criticized for "emphasizing marketing over R & D". As a leading domestic brand in the outdoor industry, Beneunder has faced a similar public opinion dilemma. This is why Pelliot emphasizes in the prospectus that part of the financing will be used for R & D.
Pelliot has become well - known for its cost - effectiveness, but to enhance brand power and stabilize profitability, moving towards high - end is still a very important step. In January 2025, Pelliot launched the Peak series with a price close to 2,000 yuan. However, the sales volume of this series has not been disclosed yet, and it is still unknown whether it can successfully capture the high - end market.
To enhance its brand image, Pelliot announced a cooperation with Youmei Camp and signed Li Haorong, the No. 001 member of the Youmei Youth Mountaineering Team, as its brand mountaineer. In addition, Pelliot has also been sponsoring the "Pelliot Cup" National Ski Mountaineering Championship for a long time. Some social media users who follow such projects and events left messages under relevant videos, saying: "I never thought that one day wearing Pelliot clothes would make me feel like a professional scientific expedition team member."
Riding on the wave of the outdoor industry, Pelliot has opened the door to the capital market with its high - cost - effective popular windbreakers. However, listing is a new beginning. How to get rid of the "affordable alternative" label and create the next popular product still poses a great challenge to the brand's operational ability.