Apparel industry body Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) in a survey on Friday indicated weak sentiments for clothing demand ahead of the festive season this year. The survey comprising CMAI’s over 5,000 members including manufacturers, exporters, brands, and ancillary industry noted that 63 per cent of the respondents expect the same or lower sales of clothing and apparel in comparison to the last year.
Of this, nearly 25 per cent expect sales to be as low as 75 per cent of the previous year.
In a survey-based statement, CMAI said the biggest factor impacting the low sentiments appeared to be the significant shift in larger wallet share of consumer spending moving towards other avenues of lifestyle.
“35 per cent of the respondents attributed their low expectations to this factor. Another sizeable portion of 24 per cent of respondents attributed a slowing Economy and Inflation to be the top challenges at the moment,” CMAI said.
Speaking on the survey, Rajesh Masand, President, CMAI, said the trends are not surprising considering the sluggish business environment that the industry has experienced in the past six months.
“Yet, we are hopeful of not missing out on the festive spending and expect demand to gradually surge considering the Wedding season later in the year,” he said.
Among categories, the survey said men’s wear seems to have been the worst affected as 75 per cent of the respondents expect women’s wear and kids wear to perform better in terms of demand during this festive Season.
Moreover, 75 per cent of the respondents said the mid-priced brands are expected to perform the best while only 18 per cent expect low-priced brands to do better. Further, 52 per cent anticipate demand for Indian wear to perform well followed by casual wear.
Nonetheless, the survey noted a 75.5 per cent preference for offline retail against 24.5 per cent for online retail despite the growing penetration of the e-commerce industry in India.