With lockdowns and people being stuck at home, the intimate apparel and sleepwear market has seen surge. As per a WWD report the complete innerwear category has recorded higher sales both for men’s and women’s segment including comfy basics, underwear and lingerie since the pandemic started.

Brands record sales surge

With people staying at home more people are spending on intimate wear, lounge wear and casuals, point out expert. For example, Canadian innerwear brands Mary Young’s revenues grew 70 per cent year-over-year in December while Knix recorded 80 per cent growth. Similarly, Paper Project, a men’s underwear brand was up 438 per cent in fall 2020, compared to same period in 2019. Direct-to-consumer lingerie brand Adore Me’s sales are up 50 per cent year-on-year since March. The story is similar for numerous other brands. London-based Playful Promises recorded 90 per cent sales jump for crotchless-style underpants.

Looking at the market potential, many popular brands like Zara, Karl Lagerfeld and swim and resort wear designer Miguelina expanded their product basket to include intimates. While many others are entering new markets, Kim Kardashian West’s Skims launched in the Middle East; Victoria’s Secret plans to enter Israel in the second half of 2021. Brands like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty and Frederick’s of Hollywood — traditionally known for scantily-clad women’s lingerie —recently launched men’s wear collections.

Not to be left behind and looking at the market growth, investors are now putting in money in the sector. Mindd Bras by Helena Kaylin, earlier associated with Victoria’s Secret got a $1 million investment push from Canadian financial platform The51 and investment firm WVL Capital; similarly MeUndies received investments worth $40 million.

High growth expected to continue

Indeed the pandemic and stay at home may have given a huge boost to the overall segment however, the question remains if this trend will continue in future. Experts believe consumer mindset has changed in the last few months with more focus on casual, loungewear and athileisure. And even when people return to regular office, not much will change as the pandemic has permanently altered consumer’s sense of style. More and more people will embrace a new business casual with the acceptance of upper management in more casual clothes with small details of formality and tradition, believes Guido Campello, Co-chief Executive Officer and Creative Director, Journelle. Fashion has changed forever and styles at work will be more relaxed and cooler than before.

In fact, Helen Mears, Chief Design Officer at Adore Me opines, sales will remain high, even when the pandemic is over. The world has gotten used to this work-from-home, flexible lifestyle — and all the clothes that go with it.

After facing several impediments in the first three quarters of 2020, due to US-China trade stand-off and the pandemic, China’s economic growth has steadied. In fact, the country is doing better than most others at the moment on all economic indicators. Business has recovered steadily as consumption has grown and investment stabilized and exports recovered beyond expectations. In continuation, the textile industry too is improving. Therefore, the overall operation of textile machinery sector in the first three quarters has recovered, while a dip in its economic operation indicators has reduced, says a survey by China Textile Machinery Association.

Demand still to pick up

With growing demand for textile equipment used for epidemic prevention, China’s exports increased significantly. However, the global textile market is still facing pressures due the pandemic and demand for textile machinery is still low, reports Digital Journal. The analysis reveals from January to September 2020, the total cost of textile machinery enterprises above designated size was down 15.7 per cent to 43.77 billion yuan compared to the same period last year.

The China Textile Machinery Association survey of 95 key textile machinery enterprises on their operating conditions in the first three quarters of 2020 shows operating conditions have improved compared with the first half of the year. Operating income of 50 per cent enterprises declined to varying degrees. In fact, for 11.83 per cent enterprises orders dropped more than 50 per cent, and the prices of textile machinery products are generally stable and down. Almost 41.76 per cent enterprises have the same inventory as last year, and 46.15 per cent enterprises’ capacity utilization rate is above 80 per cent.

Companies point out the problems they are facing are mainly due to low demand from both domestic and foreign markets, pressure from rising costs, and blocked sales channels. Weaving, knitting, chemical fiber and non-woven machinery companies expect orders in the fourth quarter to improve compared to the third quarter.

Customs statistics reveal, cumulative total of China’s textile machinery imports and exports from January to September 2020 was $5.382 billion, a year-on-year a drop of 0.93.

Market ahead

The reports suggests textile machinery industry’s business in Q4 and 2021 is still facing many pressures. The pandemic has slowed down global economy. As per IMF global economy will fall 4.4 per cent in 2020. With uncertainty and instability there are pressures on global supply chain, a sharp decline in trade and investment, massive loss of jobs, and geopolitical conflicts. As per, a survey by the International Textile Federation (ITMF) in September 2020, the turnover of major global textile companies in 2020 is expected to drop on an average 16 per cent. And it will take several years to fully compensate for the losses. As a consequence market adjustment of the textile machinery industry will continue, and pressure on enterprise production and operation will not ease soon.

Cotton stocks at China’s ports are largely from India, ending the India-China tussle. As per feedback from cotton traders and overseas entrepreneurs located in Qingdao, Zhangjiagang, Shanghai and other places, enquiries for bonded cotton and customs clearance cotton (imported cotton) have shown signs of recovery since mid-December.

Imported cotton attracted attention and favour of cotton textile mills and middlemen that has resulted in continually active transactions. This rebound in transaction of imported cotton was mainly due to the widening of price difference between domestic and foreign cotton as well as early overdraft of 2021 cotton import quotas by some buyers.

As per a cotton company based in Jiangsu, sales of high-quality Indian cotton have gradually improved since October ’20 and squeezed the loss of Brazilian cotton ranked second in China’s cotton imports in October and November, second only to the cotton sourced from US.

Meanwhile, in the past two months, the price difference between Brazilian and Indian cotton – which is the same as commodity inspection index – has widened to 800-1000 RMB/tonne, and price of Indian cotton has become more competitive. This upward trend has been facilitated by the short transportation distance and the increase in freight costs as the impact of the epidemic on ships is relatively controllable. Hence shipment and delivery of Indian cotton is normal compared with Brazilian cotton and American cotton.

It is estimated by the end of December ’20, the total amount of bonded cotton in China’s main ports may reach 410-440 million tonnes, which is largely contributed by US cotton, Brazilian cotton, Australian cotton, Indian cotton, African cotton, Central Asian cotton and European cotton.

Mainland China, which now accounts for 20 per cent of global luxe sales is forecasted to have the biggest market share by 2025. As per Bain & Company and Tmall report, the luxury goods market is forecasted to grow 48 per cent to almost $53.6 bn in 2020 with leather goods and jewelery the most in-demand categories. Demand growth is attributed to the increase in domestic spending resulting from a drop in international travel.

After Covid-19 lockdowns in early 2020, China’s luxury-goods market began to grow in April as consumers made purchases within the country. This repatriation of consumption is one of four factors driving this growth. Reduction in import duties, price harmonization and stricter gray market controls, helped China’s luxury markets boom, reports Bain. Positive consumer sentiment and increased wealth also helped to drive luxury consumption, as did government measures designed to encourage spending.

As per the report, Chinese millennial may be its core consumers, making up more than 70 per cent of the platform’s luxury fashion and lifestyle consumers, but Gen Z shoppers are an emerging strong category. Gen Z puts greater emphasis on “the pursuit of fashion”, and their purchase of luxury collaborations and limited editions increased 300 to 400 per cent between January and October 2020. Indeed, digitalization is another factor driving luxury in China, with Covid-19 resulting in online channels increasing luxury sales by around 150 per cent in 2020.

Another unique trend observed in 2020 was the online growth of domestic duty-free channel, including sales from the Hainan duty-free zone, where 55 per cent merchandise sold online. Similarly, China’s annual luxury online penetration also increased 23 per cent in 2020, up from 13 per cent in 2019, driven by beauty products and domestic duty-free sales.

However, despite the boom, Bain notes the growth in Mainland China failed to compensate for the loss of Chinese spend overseas – the drop in travel saw consumers’ total luxury spend fall around 35 per cent.

The readymade garment (RMG) manufacturing export earnings, the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy dropped 2.99 per cent to $15.54 billion. As per data from Export Promotion Bureau (EBP) RMG contributes 84 per cent to the national exports. While the overall garment export observed an extraordinary 16.94 per cent year-on-year drop in 2020.

Rubana Huq, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) 2020 was a dark year for the industry with lockdowns in Europe and the US and its impact on retail and demand, the worst-ever Christmas sales, and effects of price decline. Of the export earnings, knitwear shipment earned $8.52 billion, up 3.9 per cent compared to a year ago, while woven exports declined 10.22 per cent to $7.01 billion. However, knitwear export rose as consumers mostly wear casual dresses with stay and work from home.

EPB data also showed that apparel export was down 9.64 per cent in December as the pandemic continues to pound the global economy. Last month, woven garment export recorded the worst performance since June plunging 18.07 per cent. While knitwear export fell 0.45 per cent. One of the key reasons for knitwear growth was easy sourcing of raw materials for local manufacturers. Whereas the majority of raw materials required to produce woven garments, need to be imported.

Leading textile units mainly, Winsome Textiles, Auro Textiles, Auro Dyeing and Auro Textile-II in the Baddi industrial area in Himachal Pradesh have been directed to close their dyeing processes as their effluents have rendered the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) defunct. Three textile units have been levied environmental compensation from July 2020 to December 2020 (160 days), while Auro Textiles has been levied for 140 days. For violating the provisions of the Water Act, 1974, and Environmental Protection Act, 1981, an environmental compensation worth Rs 1.86 crore has been imposed on them by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).

This issue was under process from last year as an inspection committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had observed in November 2019 that these textile units engaged in dyeing processes generate category-IV effluents comprising concentrated dyes.

While the government had directed the textile units to chalk out action plans and install their own treatment system to treat these effluents and follow inlet and treatment quality standards the textile units had challenged the order in the high court. However, the court has disposed their petitions and directed the State Government to take appropriate directions as per law against the polluting units while observing that no industry can be allowed to pollute water bodies.

Leading designer, Steve Madden, has appointed María Teresa Kumar to the company’s board of directors. Kumar will be a member of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. Her inclusion expands the board to 10 directors.

Edward Rosenfeld, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer has expressed delight on the appointment of Kumar. Her expertise in connecting and engaging with young audiences, particularly through digital communications, social media, and influencers, along with her passion for creating positive change in the world make her uniquely well-suited for enhancing value for the brand.

Kumar is also the President and CEO of Voto Latino, which she co-founded and built into America’s largest Latinx voter registration and advocacy organization. She is a regular on-air contributor for MSNBC. Serving on the Boards of Emily’s List and the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers. Kumar is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Council on Foreign Relations Life Member.

Before the pandemic hit global businesses, with Brexit and US China trade stand off the biggest question that bothered businesses worldwide was will the age of globalization come to an end? In fact, COVID-19 exposed the vulnerabilities of long-distance supply chains even more. With 64 (Thomasnet) US manufacturers actively looking at bringing back production nearer home there is a clear redrawing of global supply lines, wrote Enno Lueckel, VP, Scoutbee recently in Spend Matters.

Lueckel writes, “Amid this uncertainty, resilience is the new supply chain imperative. Across industries, there is growing recognition that managing supply chains for maximum efficiency hampers companies’ ability to respond to risk events.” And the frequency of such disruptions is rising, with a recent McKinsey Global Institute survey showing companies expect severe supply chain disruptions every 3.7 years. “Yet when resilience can mean many things to different industries, how should leaders prioritize?”

Transparent supply chains a priority

Lueckel says to reap the benefits of resilience, such as improved flexibility, responsiveness and agility, companies must first make their supply chains transparent and diversified. In fact, transparency is important as organizations can tackle risks only if they can see it clearly. “Effective risk management requires greater visibility into all the interactions and movements taking place within their networks.” However, supply chains too have their rough spots with vendors not divulging information making tracking difficult. Moreover, most companies map only their direct suppliers, not keeping track of the intermediaries in the middle. This could result in expensive repercussions.

Lueckel explains the next step is diversification. Here, companies with broad supply chains will be ahead of competition during a natural disaster or geopolitical shift. However, geographic concentration can increase risks. Meanwhile concerns about domestic supplies of essential goods and continuing US-China tensions are forcing many US companies to reshore of their activities. In an uncertain world, companies need options.

Ways to tackle procurement

In uncertain times, companies are looking at ways to assess risks and come up with ideal supplier mix. However, this will need complete overhaul of how sourcing is done. New tools need to be adopted as procurement needs advanced digital solutions. Artificial intelligence can give a boost to procurement’s data capabilities. AI offers end-to-end market visibility, which helps companies plan and respond in the best possible way to emerging risks.

AI also offers information advantage – not only for new supply needs, but also to qualify data in existing ERP systems, to identify alternative vendors for existing setup suppliers, provide additional data points for negotiations. It can extract data from publicly available sources to fill-in or verify existing supplier maps. Monitoring real-time inventory movements can enable organizations to quickly scale orders up or down and avoid the kinds of replenishment issues that plagued manufacturers at the onset of COVID-19.

AI also gives access to the entire global market, identifying competitive options in untapped supply markets or those visible in different languages. Indeed, while globalization will not go anywhere, new technologies will make it easier to track and remain competitive in an increasingly changing world.

To support 20,000 weavers’ families, Kodakandla, in Warangal district, Telangana state government plans to set up a mini textile park at Kodakandla in Warangal. Kodakandla has been selected for easy availability of workforce. Warangal already has another big textile park promoted by the state government.

“Scores of skilled weavers are available in the area and they migrated to other sStates due to absence of employment opportunities,” said the state’s industries minister K T Rama Rao1. He also assured the ongoing welfare schemes for weavers would continue uninterrupted. It is important to mention here that the state government is running some beneficial schemes for the weavers like the Cheyutha scheme, which helped weavers overcome the difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic and the relaxations to the tune of Rs 95 crore extended under the scheme assisted nearly 25,000 families.

For, Next holiday sales have been good, however, the new lockdowns have dented its business to some extent, but the retailer is now eagerly looking forward to rebound from July. Next showed a lot of optimism at a time when the retail world continues to be shaken by the pandemic.

“Traditionally this is the quietest period of the year and will continue for some time. However, it will improve in April and is likely to return to normal business from July onwards,” says Simon Wolfson, CEO, Next, “we are better prepared this time to face lockdowns and consequent challenges than it was earlier,” he added.

Meanwhile, Next has said it hopes to see a pretax profit of $503 million for its fiscal year before two one-off charges.