Apparel and textile are among of the worlds largest industries and represent a dynamic, constantly changing market. While global apparel exports are worth approximately USD 412 billion and global textile exports USD 294 billion, the performance of the global apparel retail industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 5.1% for the five-year period 2013 – 2018 (expected value of $1,695.6bn by the end of 2018).
Behind those figures, the geographical distribution of production in the textile and clothing industries has changed dramatically in the last decades. Indeed, while developped countries have been outsourcing a large part of their production activities, India and China have been taken a significant part of the market share for textile and apparel production and other developing countries are now catching up in Asia, Middle East and Africa.
More and more dynamic countries in terms of fashion and clothing (UK, US, France or Japan for instance) benefit from developed multichannel retail markets where consumers enjoy shopping across a variety of digital and physical channels, thus attracting international brands. Indeed online sales represent a new challenge, pushing brands to be innovative and proactive in order to be able to compete on this new digital market gathering multiple actors.
Consumers now spend a smaller share of their income on clothing than in the past, although they shop more frequently and buy a larger number of clothing items than before. The response from brands and manufacturers to the challenge of slow growth in total demand is to build on consumers’ love of variety and provide new fashions at a frequent rate (e.g. fast fashion). Their competitive advantage is related to the ability to produce designs that capture tastes and preferences, and even better – influence such tastes and preferences – in addition to cost effectiveness.
In parallel, the fashion world has seen in the last decades the raise of eco fashion with an increasing interest for more natural and ethical fashion products. Demand fo more sustainable clothes and textile is growing in developing countries and is creating new business opportunities.
Thanks to our significant expertise and key references in the fashion, clothing and textile sectors, Expandys can provide you with:
- Market evaluation & market intelligence
- Business entry and development support
- Research of business partner (retailers, distributors…)
