Malls in Kolkata registered record footfalls in 2023. Sales in the year remained slightly tempered but surged above pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

Sales at the Acropolis mall broke all records to generate the highest revenue in 2023, said K Vijayan, General Manager. Footfalls increased by 15 per cent over last year while sales turnover surged y 20 per cent. 

This growth could be attributed to the growth of mall tourism, catalysed by various initiatives by mall operators to whip up excitement among children and youth, adds K Vijayan.

Footfalls at the twin City Centres remained 12 per cent-14 per cent higher than in 2022. But, these did not translate to higher revenues as footfalls at these malls are primarily driven by cine-goers who did not go shopping, observed Ramesh Pandey, Wholetime Director, Ambuja Neotia, the manager of City Centre malls at Salt Lake and New Town. 

The South City mall witnessed a surge in footfalls but a decline in revenues over the previous year, according Manmohan Bagree, Vice President, South City Mall. 

Footfalls and sales at Quest also declined by 10 per cent from last year’s figures. However, the mall is currently under renovation leaving sales at stores disrupted. The brand closed last year on a very strong note, says Sanjeev Mehta,Vice-President, Quest. 

The silver jubilee edition of Bangalore Fashion Week will be held from March 7 to 10, 2024 and present an array of local designers. An international edition of the runway show will also be held in London. 

The 25th edition of Bangalore Fashion Week will facilitate connections between fashion designers and trade buyers from both India and abroad. Focusing on premium designers in both the western and traditional wear segments, the event will present collections for the summer season. 

Scheduled to be held at The Oterra, he event will host runway shows, an experience zone, workshops, and seminars as well as after parties. The event will be organised by events management business Dream Merchants.

The 24th edition of the Bangalore Fashion Week was held in September 2023 in partnership with Wear Style at The Oterra. The runway show was produced by Dream Merchants. The event also taps foreign buyers with international editions in Bangkok, Thailand and Dubai.

Held from November 28-December 2, 2023, the BRICS+Fashion Summit 2023 allowed international designers to present their collections at professional fashion shows.

Giving a unique dimension to BRICS+Fashion Summit 2023, B2B Showroom and Fashion Intensive Course were held on 3,000 sq m in the Parking Gallery in Zaryadye Park. The World Fashion Shorts Festival was held at the Artplay Design Center (Multimedia Hall) and discussed the films demonstrated with experts.

The B2B showroom featured brands like Akhmadullina Dreams, Naushad Ali, Chapurin, Victoria Andreyanova, Loom by Rodina, Surovaya, BLCV, Gapanovich and many other renowned brands.

The Fashion Intensive Course was a special educational platform organised within the Summit. The course gave fashion students and emerging designers an opportunity to learn from 37 lecturers from esteemed universities and international fashion institutions from Brazil, China, India, Argentina, Russia, Colombia, Turkey, South Africa and Nigeria among others.

The World Fashion Shorts featured films from regions as diverse as South Africa, North America, Europe, Central and Southeast Asia to expand consumers’ understanding of fashion in a vast array of cultures.

Currently worth $70 million, the global denim jeans market is projected to grow to $114.6 million by 2030-end.

As per the 'Denim Jeans-Global Strategic Business Report' by ResearchAndMarkets, growth in the global denim jeans market will be driven by a surge in online sales that are expected to grow by 12 per cent CAGR during the analysis period.

On the other hand, the offline sales of denim jeans are projected to grow att 4.2 per cent CAGR and reach $77 million during the analysis period. 

Growth in global denim jeans market will be steered by China which will grow at 8.9 per cent CAGR to reach a value of $25.9 million by 2030. Japan and Canada are expected to grow by 3.4 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively, over the 2022-2030 period.

Growth in the Europe market will be dominated by Germany which will grow at 3.9 per cent CAGR approximately. Denim players will tap evolving consumer preferences by leveraging digital channels and driving innovation in the segment. 

Jemmy Kartiwa Sastraatmaja, General Chairman, Indonesian Textile Association (API), says, the recent issuance of the Minister of Trade Regulation No 36 of 2023 by Indonesia’s government  might trigger a huge influx of batik-patterned fabric from abroad, particularly China, affecting small-scale IKM batik craftsmen.

Introduced at a rather unfortunate times, the policy aims to regulate batik textile products imports for ministry agencies and general public, notes Mohammad Faisal, Executive Director, Center of Reform on Economics (CORE). To make it more effective, the government should focus on improving access to local products in the domestic markets, he adds.  

Nailul Huda, Director-Digital Economy, Center of Law and Economic Studies (CELIOS),  emphasises, the government should introduce stricter controls on batik and batik-patterned cloth imports, especially those from China, as they are impacting local producers.

The government needs to prioritise batik sourcing from local producers rather than foreign imports. It also needs to introduce new policies to help balance imports with domestic batik products, he adds. 

Myanmar’s export of CMP garments exceeded $3.1 billion value during the period of April 1-December, 2023, according to a report by the Ministry of Commerce. 

Myanmar exported CMP garments to 80 countries including Japan, Poland, Spain, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, the United States, France, Denmark and Belgium. 

In fiscal 2022-23, Myanmar’s earnings from CMP garment exports to over 100 countries reached $5.3 billion.

The Southeast Asian country's overall export earnings during the period reached over 10.13 billion dollars, according to the data.

After struggling from global economic slowdown in 2023, Bangladesh’s garment exports are projected to rebound to a 7-10 per cent growth in 2024.

Registering an exceptionally low growth rate, garments exports from Bangladesh grew by 4.35 per cent to $42.83 billion from January-November 2023.

The country’s garment sector has been growing by 10 per cent annually over the last decade, barring the COVID-19 period. The sector has become a nearly $50 billion export market, accounting for nearly 8 per cent of the $700 billion global market.

However, garment shipments from Bangladesh dipped in 2023 as inflation rose in major markets such as the European countries and the US.

This year, Bangladesh’s garment exports are also likely to get a fillip from the reduction in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in the next quarter.

Moreover, waning of old inventories in stores of American and European clothing retailers and brands due to sales during festival seasons such as during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day and Christmas, is also likely to boost demand for garment items from Bangladesh.

Luxury outerwear brand Moose Knuckles will launch a limited edition capsule collection inspired by both Canadian heritage and Los Angeles lifestyle. 

The brand has partnered with LA-based clothing brand Pleasures for the project. The new Moose Knuckles X Pleasures collection will offer a black Skeleton embroidered quilted puffer contrasted with white embroidery, in addition to the quilted Cropped Puffer adorned with reflective Pleasures and Moose Knuckles logos. It will also offer two hoodies, made from premium 100 per cent cotton and featuring myriad technical details for added comfort, in two designs: one with skeletons and the other with a Romanesque statue with flowers.

The collection will be launched with a campaign by Adam Powell focusing on celebrating the creative alignment between both brands within the outerwear and streetwear realms. 

The limited-edition collection will be available from January 16 via Moose Knuckles' and Pleasures' respective e-commerce stores and at select wholesale partners.

Based in Canada, Moose Knuckles is one of the world's leading producers of luxury outerwear, sportswear, and accessories. 

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has urged the government to make it a mandatory for spinners to procure 70 per cent of their total cotton yarn requirement from local sources.  

In a letter of credit to Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, Chairman, National Board of Revenue (NBR), BTMA urged the government to ease ongoing dollar crisis.  

Producing apparels from local yarn would help increase their value-addition to 65 

per cent against 30 per when produced with imported yarn, it said. 

BTMA argued that the local spinners can meet 85 per cent of the total demand of the export oriented apparel industry as they produce export-standard carded and combed yarn in huge quantities.

The association also urged NBR to scrutinise the compatibility of the import price of yarn with other competitor countries before releasing the goods from ports.

The spinning millers proposed to install a yarn count testing machine at land ports and recruit more manpower with required training to protect revenue loss.

Revenues in India’s apparel retail market are expected to surge at a CAGR of 3.58 per cent from 2024-2027 while reaching $105 billion in 2024.

The women’s apparel market is expected to lead this growth with a market volume of $50 billion in 2024, while menswear and kidswear will grow to $35 billion and $20 billion worth of market volume approximately, as per Statista.

Volume in the Indian apparel market is expected to increase substantially to 38.8 billion pieces by 2027. However, in terms of per person revenues, India seems to be lagging behind the major apparel markets such as the US, China and Japan, generating approximately $72 in 2024.

India’s average volume per person in the market is projected to be over 24 pieces in 2024, reflecting the diverse wardrobe needs of the Indian consumer.