The city is hooked on the dacha – Vedomosti

by time news

One of the consequences of the pandemic and self-isolation was the growing interest in rural life. The trend has already got its name – cottagecore. Posts with such a hashtag have flooded social networks: Instagram alone has more than a million posts with photos labeled #cottagecore, and Tik Tok has 4.5 billion relevant video posts.

However, the new hobby of the townspeople has nothing to do with agriculture. Many people used to love to post on their page photos of mushrooms collected in the forest, interiors of wood-paneled rooms, tea drinking on the terrace, tomatoes from their own garden or a basket of picked apples. However, this year, “pastoral” publications became widespread and affected the accounts of eminent influencers. In particular, social networks enthusiastically greeted a photo of football player David Beckham against the backdrop of endless fields and a photo with actress Nicole Kidman in frivolous leggings, watching the sunset clearly from her home lawn.

And there are a lot of such examples. “When the epidemic broke out, the first thought was to flee somewhere, to find a safe place,” said Gianni Giannini, owner and creative director of the Italian fashion brand Doucal’s. – I took my family and went to our village in the Marche region. He spent a lot of time with loved ones, worked in the garden, walked the dogs. And I liked this kind of life. “

Indeed, with the onset of the pandemic, many moved to live “in the region”, renting a country house or turning their own dacha into a place of permanent residence. And some of them liked this solitude so much that some of the summer residents decided to move to live outside the city permanently, and those who had never had a suburban housing were actively looking for it. According to the agency “Inkom-real estate”, from January to August 2020, 432 cottages were purchased on the secondary market near Moscow, which is 12% more than in the same period in 2019. simple country houses fell. “Muscovites were looking for a house with a level of comfort suitable for long-term living, country houses can rarely provide it,” explains Dmitry Taganov, head of the Inkom-real estate analytical center.

Interest in suburban life did not fade away with the arrival of autumn – with the onset of a low season for this market segment. In September and October 2020, 36% more transactions were concluded on the primary suburban real estate market than in the same period last year. “The suburban real estate market has been in crisis over the past 10 years. But the spring-summer self-isolation showed that it is possible to work quite effectively without a daily stay, not only in the office, but in the city in general. Therefore, many preferred to get out of the four walls of the apartment and move out of town. The transfer of a large number of people to a remote mode of work gave impetus to this, ”says Taganov.

New essentials

The new villagers are not content with simple village joys. Yes, cottagecore is fashionable, but any trend needs some kind of set design, glamor. As a result, domestic architectural bureaus began to receive the corresponding orders.

“Unfortunately, by the time the pandemic began, there were almost no suburban real estate objects that would fully meet the tastes and requests of customers on the Russian market – even for a lot of money it is incredibly difficult to find a decent version of suburban housing,” says Vera Odyn, head of architectural Bureau Form. – The suburban real estate market is outdated, as is the quality of architectural solutions. Now, in the conditions of closed borders, the need for private construction has increased significantly – people cannot spend vacations abroad and are striving to create good conditions at home. When the quarantine began, the deadlines for the delivery of our suburban projects, which we took for implementation even before the pandemic, were sharply reduced – the customers were eager to leave for nature as soon as possible. “

Retailers did not stand aside either. For example, the Stockmann company in the beginning of autumn opened its first suburban store with an area of ​​6,000 sq. M. m on Novorizhskoe highway with a wide range of household items: textiles, tableware and decorative items. “In recent months, a new consumer trend for out-of-town shopping has been more and more evident. People began to spend more time at summer cottages and shop nearby, ”says Maria Gaiter, Marketing Director of Stockmann. The analysis of sales carried out in this network showed that the greatest demand is now not for clothes or accessories, but for goods in household categories: sales of bed linen increased by 214%, kitchen textiles – by 335%. “There is also an increase in sales in the Serving All category, with most planning to celebrate New Years at home,” says Gaiter.

Against the background of interest in suburban life, it seems quite logical that a sharp increase in sales in those categories of goods that were previously bought quite rarely, seasonally, seems quite logical. Analysts have noted the emergence of new, often unexpected requests related to the change in lifestyle towards cottagecore. “During the November sale, people were actively buying summer assortment – tools and garden equipment (+ 51%),” says Malik Karimov, director of retail at the online hypermarket Refrigerator.ru. – An interesting discovery for us was the high demand for waste shredders. Apparently, the amount of waste from buyers has increased, but at the same time they still try to leave the house as little as possible. Shredders help solve this problem. ” Well, the highest demand this year was for freezers: “In March, they began to be bought on our website 5 times more often than before the pandemic, and the entire online retail industry recorded a record 1700% growth in freezer sales, – says Karimov. “The category continued to demonstrate high performance throughout the year, apparently because the Russians moved to their dachas and began to pay more attention to storing and freezing food.”

Country theme in clothes and accessories

It is noteworthy that cottagecore has become a source of inspiration not only for country house owners and architects, but also, in particular, for perfumers. “We don’t usually follow trends blindly, but this season we have literally absorbed the English countryside imagery,” says Celine Roux, head of international development at Jo Malone London. “One of the Townhouse Collection, a new collection of home fragrances, for example, recalls the tart smell of a tomato greenhouse.”

Pastoral decorations – matching interiors, wooden walls, aromas of herbs and wild flowers – demanded, of course, appropriate stylistic solutions in the wardrobe. The answer to this public inquiry can already be seen in the spring / summer 2021 collections of leading fashion designers. Dolce & Gabbana has a variety of colorful “country” dresses in the collection, Dior has loose outfits with an ethnic accent and Provence style, Chanel has white sundresses and skirts made of cotton lace.

However, the embodiment of fashionable summer cottage images does not always have to be theatrical – most often it is about everyday comfortable clothes. The designers took this into account as well: many brands have special home collections. For example, the French brand Eres, which specializes in lingerie, has launched a line of homewear made from cashmere and silk, and the Italian menswear brand Boggi Milano has launched the Smart Working collection, a line for those who work remotely.

Russian designers also have similar collections. “The Activewear collection has become a logical addition to the home line that the brand launched during the period of self-isolation in the spring,” says designer Alena Akhmadullina. “Both capsules are created in the concept of self care clothes -“ clothes for taking care of yourself ”, which manifests itself in relaxed silhouettes with elements of Russian style in a soothing color scheme.” And the Victoria Andreyanova brand presented a New Year’s collection, which included not evening dresses, but T-shirts, long sleeves and hoodies. “A practical capsule meets the demand of the time: the usual basic models that have steadily entered the wardrobe allow you to feel comfortable,” says the founder of the brand, Victoria Andreyanova. At the beginning of the quarantine, the Silvashi brand released a Home Office capsule – with knitted pajamas and soft terry suits; the young You brand also launched the Home capsule collection. And designer Vika Gazinskaya has launched a new line of sustainable clothing Vika 2.0 with basic items (jeans, trousers, skirts) created from recycled materials.

Online retail changes its assortment

Owners of online stores keep up with retailers. They also observe an increase in demand for home and summer cottage products and are actively adjusting their assortment to this trend. “Comfortable, including home, clothing and household goods have become one of the bestsellers at Lamoda this year,” says Victoria Abdrashitova, Director of Growth Categories Development at Lamoda. – During the period of self-isolation, sales of women’s home clothing increased 2.5 times compared to the same period last year.

Underwear was bought 1.7 times more, hoodies and home suits – 1.5 times more. Looking at certain popular categories, the sales of sweatshirts increased by 25%, home suits – by 69%. In the household goods section in the spring, the most actively growing categories were kitchenware (+ 169% in April) and tableware (+ 96% in April), and both categories maintained their gains in May. ” According to Abdrashitova, the second wave of popularity of household goods came in October – November, but the list of requests changed somewhat: “In October, sales were 67% higher compared to the beginning of the year, and in November – by 120%. In addition to the traditionally popular products from the listed categories, in November, customers began to buy lighting fixtures much more often: they ordered 85% more than in October. “

The online platform KupiVip is now looking towards the house. At the very beginning of the quarantine, the company launched an FMCG marketplace. “At the end of March, we declared ourselves a full-fledged marketplace. Demand is growing not only for various categories of clothing, but also for goods for home, leisure and recreation: home textiles, board games, needlework sets, – says Oleg Minaev, CEO of KupiVip. – The Leisure category, for example, grew by 101% during the last Black Friday. Also, our clients began to buy products for baths and saunas more often ”.

As for clothing, in this sector, according to Minaev, there is a home, if not dacha, bias: “We are seeing an increase in sales in certain categories, which indicates that Russians have begun to move from apartments to summer cottages. For example, in early November, sales of down jackets and winter jackets increased by 290%. Pullovers, sweaters and warm shoes are also more frequently purchased. Russians are now less interested in office wear, as many now continue to work remotely. And it is curious that the demand for fur coats, unlike down jackets, has not increased: apparently, this is also due to the fact that winter jackets are more suitable for walking outside the city. “

Large retailers are followed by small concept online store owners. “We see a demand for hand-made items, nostalgic things reminiscent of the time spent at summer cottages with grandmothers, who almost all knitted, embroidered or sewed,” says Olga Mikhailovskaya, co-founder of the Front online store. – It seems to me that this trend, which social networks called cottagecore, is with us for a long time. And he successfully fell on the soil fertilized by the ecotrend ”.

Ksenia Sklyarova, CEO of Criteo Russia, a technology company that provides advertising solutions based on artificial intelligence and proprietary customer data, agrees with Mikhailovskaya. She believes that after the end of the pandemic, the trend towards dacha life will not go anywhere: “According to our data, more than 20% of Russians are going to continue to do gardening after the pandemic, about 60% will spend more time at home and at dachas, and 40% will refuse office work “.

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