US consumers plan to spend less on apparel and accessories this holiday season, says a new KPMG report. The report, which surveyed 1,000 US consumers in September, found on an average, consumers had reduced their holiday shopping budgets by 18 per cent due to the financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, average holiday spending this year is expected to decrease from $627 in 2019 to $515 per consumer in 2020.

Shoppers are likely to spend less 27 per cent less on apparel and accessories this year. Their spending on electronics and gift cards is also expected to fall by 16 per cent and 14 percent, respectively.

Consumers are expected to purchase all product categories significantly more through e-commerce platforms than in previous years, with online spending on apparel and accessories predicted to increase by 25 per cent.

The reasons for the overall decrease in holiday spending include the impact of COVID-19 on the employment status of consumers. Around 36 per cent of consumers said that their income had been negatively affected, reducing on average 34 per cent.

Around 19 per cent of the respondents reported becoming more mindful of their spending habits due to the health crisis.

Wool prices in Australia have increased by over 30 per cent since September as Chinese processors boosted purchases to meet an expected jump in apparel demand after a coronavirus-related slump. According to Robert Hermann, Managing Director, Mecardo, wool mills and manufacturers have prepared for an anticipated increase in consumer spending after pandemic lockdowns. The benchmark Eastern Market Indicator wool price had slumped by 47 per cent in Australian dollar terms to A$8.58 per kilogram between the first week of auctions in January and the first week of September, as demand shriveled due to global Covid-19 lockdowns.

Australia typically exports about 80 per cent of its greasy, or untreated, wool to China. However, this figure surged to 96 per cent in the June quarter, amid COVID-19-related disruption in export markets, particularly in Europe, said Abares, a government forecaster. Still, the prospect of strict COVID-related lockdowns in the EU and consequently lower apparel sales are likely to limit price upside, said Dennis Voznesenski, Rabobank associate analyst, in the bank’s October agribusiness report.

Though further lockdowns in Europe would be negative in the short term, pent up consumer demand should cause the market to rebound strongly after restrictions ease, added Herrmann.

Technavio reports, the global market for high-visibility clothing is poised to grow at 2 per cent CAGR to $120.22 million from 2020-2024 The report states, the market is expected to be driven by increasing demand for high-visibility clothing from the manufacturing industry.

The manufacturing industry has different applications that can pose diverse risks to workers. Hence, high-visibility clothing needs to be used at manufacturing sites to ensure the safety of workers. This growing need has encouraged many high-visibility clothing manufacturers to offer a wide range of clothing. Having the largest high-visibility clothing market in 2019, North America offers several growth opportunities to market vendors during the forecast period. These opportunities include the use of green materials and processes for manufacturing of high-visibility clothing.

To save cash while dealing with sales slump bought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and competition from fast-fashion companies, Gap Inc plans to close stores in some European countries. The San Francisco-based company had 129 Gap brand stores in Europe at the end of July. The brand now plans to close outlets in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Italy by mid-2021 as it is struggling with out of fashion styles, which has pushed shoppers towards apparel brands like Zara and H&M. The coronavirus crisis has compounded troubles by stifling sales at brick-and-mortar sales across the globe. However, online sales of Old Navy and Athleta brands have surged since the start of the pandemic.

Gap Inc is also reviewing its warehouse and distribution model and its Gap and Banana Republic-owned e-commerce operations in Europe. It plans to transfer parts of its European business to third parties in a partnership mode. Earlier this year, Gap planned to close over 225 unprofitable Gap and Banana Republic stores globally as a part of a restructuring plan.

Hatch an innovation entity backed by PVH Corp and Joor, the world’s leading digital wholesale platform for fashion, beauty and home have signed a commercial agreement to include the Hatch Digital In-Showroom software in Joor’s service offerings to customers, accelerating the adoption of the innovative technology among brands.

The Hatch Digital in-Showroom technology offers brands an intuitive way to digitize their physical wholesale appointments. First developed in 2014 by PVH Corp., the Digital In-Showroom technology has since revolutionized the wholesale selling process for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. Hatch has been using this technology since , January 2020 through a SaaS model: a software licensing model in which access to the technology – hosted on the cloud – is provided on a subscription basis. Based on this expertise, Hatch also offers digital transformation consultancy services to ease a brand’s transition into the future of wholesale selling.

With the new partnership, Joor will offer select brands exclusive and seamless access to Hatch's Digital in-Showroom software. Founded in 2010, Joor has put the entire buying process online to make wholesale smoother and smarter for both brands and retailers. The platform connects over 8,600 brands with 200,000 retailers across 144 countries every day, with three quarters of the world’s luxury brands using the it to conduct their wholesale business.

Despite China offering duty-free market access to 97 per cent of Bangladesh products, more than a third of total apparel exports continue to remain out of duty-free benefit coverage. As Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA, says, out of 507 million worth of apparels exported by Bangladesh to China in fiscal 2018-19, only $308.4 million worth of apparels enjoyed duty free benefits. Garment products worth $20 million out of the remaining $198 million would be included in the latest duty-free scheme, she adds.

In June, the Tariff Commission of the Chinese State Council granted zero treatment to 97 per cent of tariff products of Bangladesh to its market effective from July 1. China then included additional 5,161 Bangladeshi products to enjoy zero-tariff treatment in its market. Prior to that, 3,095 Bangladeshi products were eligible for duty-free access to the market under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.

To get duty free benefits in China, Bangladesh would have to add 40 per cent more value to its exports, says Huq. Earlier, the threshold for value addition was 30 per cent for the China market. Bangladesh's RMG export to China declined by 34.35 per cent to $72.21 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2020-21. It was $109.99 million during July-September period of the last fiscal.

Figures released by National Bureau of Statistics and analyzed by Apparel Resources indicate, China’s apparel and accessories sales in September ’20 grew by 8.30 per cent to RMB 112.50 billion. Total retail sales of consumer goods in China grew by 3.30 per cent to 3,529.5 billion.

However, retail sales were severely impacted by the pandemic that hit China in the first quarter of 2020 as well as in subsequent months till May. This led to an overall drop of 12.40 per cent in apparel retail sales in the country during January-September ’20 period as against the same period of 2019.

August ’20 was the first month when retail sales increased by 0.5 per cent from the same month in 2019 and the figures are even better in in September. Most retail categories grew significantly in comparison to the performance recorded in July ’20. Garment sales increased by 4.20 per cent in August ’20 over July ’20 as compared to 2.50 per cent fall in July ’20 over preceding month.

China’s goods trade stats from January to September 2020 reveal textile and clothing exports in the first three quarters achieved faster growth than national trade in goods. From January to September 2020, China’s textile and clothing exports increased by 12.2 per cent to 1,515.67 billion yuan, as per General Administration of Customs. This included textile exports worth 828.78 billion yuan and clothing exports worth 686.89 billion yuan.

Cumulative T&C exports rise 9.3 per cent

From January to September 2020, China’s cumulative exports of textile and clothing increased 9.3 per cent to $215.78 billion. Of this, textile exports increased by 33.7 per cent $117.95 billion while clothing exports decreased by 10.3 per cent to 97.83 billion. In the first three quarters, China's total import and export value of goods trade increased by 0.7 per cent to 23.12 trillion yuan. Amongst this, the value of exports increased by 1.8 per cent to 12.71 trillion yuan, while the value of imports decreased by 0.6 per cent to 10.41 trillion yuan.

From January to September 2020, the total value of imports and exports of goods trade increased by 0.7 per cent to 23.1 trillion yuan. Of this, exports increased by 1.8 per cent to 12.7 trillion yuan while imports decreased by 0.6 per cent 10.4 trillion yuan.

In the first three quarters, the total value of US –China trade increased by 2 per cent to 2.82 trillion yuan. During this period, China’s exports to the United States increased by 1.8 per cent to 2.18 trillion yuan while its imports from the United States increased by 2.8 per cent to 640.86 billion yuan. During the period, China exported 1.31 trillion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products to the United States, which accounted for 60 per cent of its total export value to the United States.

Cross border e-commerce platform leads to 52.8% trade growth

China's import and export through customs cross-border e-commerce management platform increased 52.8 per cent to reach 187.39 billion yuan. Of this, China’s imports and exports to ASEAN, the EU, the United States, Japan and South Korea increased by 7.7 per cent, 2.9 per cent, 2 per cent, 1.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent to 3.38 trillion yuan, 3.23 trillion yuan, 2.82 trillion yuan, 1.61 trillion yuan and 1.45 trillion yuan, respectively. ASEAN emerged as China's largest trading partner, accounting for 14.6 per cent of its total foreign trade.

China's general imports and exports increased by 2.1 per cent to13.92 trillion yuan. Textile and clothing exports increased 5.4 per cent to reach 2.59 trillion yuan. Among these, the export of textiles including masks increased by 37.5 per cent to 828.78 billion yuan. In future, the Chinese government needs to focus on exports of mechanical equipment, electronic components, textile and clothing, shoes and boots.

Bangladesh garment shipments recovered as stores reopened and international brands and retailers gave new orders to suppliers’ factories. However, the wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, fear of a second wave of infections and US elections is threatening this recovery as manufacturers have witnessed a sharp fall in orders, reports Daily Star. Data from the Export Promotion Bureau shows, in July, Bangladesh garment exports reached $3.24 billion before falling to $2.47 billion in August and totaling $2.41 billion in September. Exports reached rock bottom in April to $0.37 billion. Manufacturers fear, the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 and complications in US elections may further affect exports.

Second wave may deepen suppliers’ payment crisis

Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, Managing Director, Evince Group and Former President, BGMEA says, a second wave of infections may have deeper impact on garment exports as stores would have shut down again. Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, Managing Director, Rising Group, believes further delay in US elections may defer recovery of garment exports from the country.

Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA opines, if the US and EU are hit by a second wave Bangladesh will have to face a tough situations. The first blow of COVID-19 has already exposed significant drawbacks in trade and supply chain, particularly in area of transactions between buyers and suppliers. Currently, one of the major concerns of Bangladesh exports is the uncertainty over payments of confirmed and shipped orders, which amount to $8 billion.

Focus on logistics and port management

Syed Earshad Ahmed, President, American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh believe, competitors like Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka have been getting more advantages and they have better infrastructure and managed the pandemic better than Bangladesh. He advises Bangladesh to focus on logistics and ports management to avoid delays in clearing imports and exports.

As per Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute, garment exports from Bangladesh are yet to rebound fully. Their full recovery is expected by next March. These exports are been supported by shifting of work orders from China. US’ work orders to China declined by 40.93 per cent between January and August compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the US reduced garment imports from India by 25.47 per cent, 9.92 per cent from Vietnam and 14.76 per cent from Bangladesh between January and August this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the US Department of Commerce. Mansur believes, Bangladesh might receive some of these work orders that got shifted from China.

After the cancelation of its April edition, Performance Days will replace its physical edition by a digital event on the planned dates of December 09-10.

‘Digital Fair’ will once again present various solutions, such as the online sourcing of materials, which can be ordered to the (home) office, as well as digitalized trends and colors. There are additional features: When logging in to the Digital Fair, visitors can enter their interests, enabling Performance Days targeted matchmaking functions with corresponding suggestions for exhibitors/suppliers.

Performance Days also wants to bring to life new call, chat and video chat functions, which enable digital visitors to enter into dialogue with exhibitors. These shall complement the digital collections with technical data sheets and video presentations, which now allow for questions to be discussed directly online from Asia to Europe and to America. This feature will be available during the two days of the trade fair on December 09-10, and for another 14 days thereafter.