"We overcame consumerism by reason and poverty. We didn't buy anything for ourselves, but we didn't escape the fate of those who spent the last half a year hoarding grain for our master." This message from the circle of friends, from Xiaowan, a netizen with two cats, was released during the double 11 in 2020.

They are more economical, but they are willing to spend money for their pets, which is a vivid portrayal of the real life of contemporary young people.

By the end of the year, this phenomenon has become more and more serious: for a long time, it is a habit for parents to buy new clothes for their children; Nowadays, many young people buy new clothes for their favorite to celebrate the new year, which has become an upsurge.

According to the "top ten new year's products of tmall in 2021", the post-90s are the main buyers of new year's products for the first time. The pet New Year's clothing is their target. The consumption growth rate is second only to the semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner, ranking second.

Pinduoduo data also shows that Mengchong clothing is one of the most popular "three piece sets for local Chinese New Year" of post-90s consumers on the platform. During the new year's festival, the sales volume of all kinds of cute new clothes on pinduoduo platform soared by 360%.

According to the media, many pet owners say that when they choose new clothes for their families, they are more careful and picky than buying new clothes for themselves.

Pet clothes become a hot new year's goods, but it's not as simple as pet incarnation as "master", what is surging behind is the human loneliness and the game of the market.

Strong demand

To buy clothes for pets, first of all, is out of human needs.

With the rapid development of China's economy, more and more young people are constantly improving their self-awareness. They are unwilling to get married and have children and live a single life. Data show that in 2018, China's single adult population has exceeded 200 million, and the single adult population has exceeded 77 million. The fifth "single tide" is rolling in.

In addition to single people, the elderly, DINK families, families with few children and other groups all use pets to accompany themselves and meet the needs of loneliness.

Among them, young people are undoubtedly in the strongest demand. According to the white paper of China's pet industry in 2020, the post-80s and post-90s are the main force of pet keeping, accounting for 36.2%, which is nearly 7 percentage points higher than that in 2019, and the post-90s have reached 38.1%.

Whether it's feeding, or accompanying, or taking photos, or sharing on social networks, these young pet owners can relax, get a sense of accomplishment, and even "feel cured.".

Because of this, most of them regard their pets as their children or relatives. "To me, pets are more like children. I want to give them the best," said a cat netizen

For this reason, young people buy imported food, intelligent devices and beautiful clothes for their pets, so that they can live a fashionable and exquisite life. However, disputes also arise: do pets really need to wear clothes?

To answer this question, we need to understand the role of pet clothes.

The first is keeping warm. For some pets, keeping warm is necessary. Long haired dogs can adapt to the low temperature in winter, but short haired dogs will feel cold in the low temperature climate. Wearing thick clothes can really play a role in keeping out the cold.

2020 coincides with the cold winter, many consumers buy down jacket for pet dog. Zhu, who lives in the north, told the media that he raised a short haired dog and worried about catching a cold when walking the dog. He bought nine down jackets for pet. "The most expensive one is Prada, which is more than 4300 yuan.".