Shoppers facing frustration over rising inflation can find solace in the realm of shoes and fashion, as prices for these items are currently lower than they were 21 years ago, according to Statistics Canada data. In May, clothing and footwear prices stood at 97.9, 2.1% below the levels recorded in May 2002. 

Meanwhile, the overall price index for all items reached 157, with the highest increases observed in gasoline and food. This unexpected trend has surprised experts, with some attributing it to the changing retail landscape, including the entry of Walmart into Canada and the bankruptcy of mid-market retailers like Mexx and Le Chateau. 

The stagnation in fashion pricing, coupled with the rise of fast fashion brands like H&M and Uniqlo, has resulted in a surplus of clothing, driving down prices. 

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic further reduced clothing demand, leading to a downward shift in prices overall. While luxury brands maintain their higher price points, even they have seen reductions compared to years past.

As Saudi Arabia's emerging fashion brands gain recognition on the international stage, the Kingdom is set to host its very own fashion week. The Saudi Fashion Commission has announced the inaugural Saudi Fashion Week, scheduled to take place from October 20 to 23. 

This historic event, which will be held in Riyadh, represents a significant milestone in promoting the creative work of Saudi designers to a global audience. The fashion week will feature a diverse range of collections from brands participating in the Fashion Commission's renowned Saudi 100 brands program.

The announcement took place during Paris Fashion Week, where Saudi design showcases and pop-ups captivated attendees with experiential fashion shows, cutting-edge showrooms, and a series of industry events. This development aligns seamlessly with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, marking another step toward promoting arts, culture, and sports in the country. 

The growth potential of Saudi Arabia's fashion industry is evident, with the State of Fashion in the Kingdom 2023 report projecting it to have the highest growth rate among large, high-income markets. By 2025, retail fashion sales in Saudi Arabia are expected to surge by 48 percent, reaching $32 billion and reflecting an impressive annual growth rate of 13 percent. 

The Saudi 100 Brands program, established in 2021 to empower designers and support their business development, has played a crucial role in nurturing the industry. The inaugural Saudi Fashion Week is anticipated to be a watershed moment for creative talents across the Kingdom, paving the way for global recognition and acclaim.

With a USP of less is more in premium fashion be it minimalist pieces with a timeless appeal or barely-there subtly engraved logos, the concept of making a loud and flashy fashion statement is slowly ebbing out among the well-heeled consumers. The new concept of quiet luxury is all about being anti-bling and wearing designer outfits that show their uniqueness through refined craftsmanship and minimalism as the whole idea is that it is not necessary to be flashy to exude style. Premium avant-garde designer brands that experiment with bold logos, ostentatious patterns, and over-the-top dressing styles are a complete no-no to thee niche rich and discerning consumers who swear by quiet luxury

No-bling minimalistic fashion garments

Although the concept of quiet understated luxury is too conformist and non-appealing to most who can afford to buy premium garments, this new fashion trend that wears its steep price tag discreetly has caught on with many rich and famous around the world. Some genuine shoppers just like to wear simple luxury clothes without the logos and bling that tom-tom the brand to show the world that they are rich enough to afford it.

 Some big fashion houses in the quiet luxury segment include: The Row, Loro Piana,  Brunello Cucinelli, MaxMara, and Loewe along with quiet investment brands such as Hermès, Khaite, Celine, and Prada. Most of these brands concentrate on cutting and finishing statement minimalistic pieces while staying away from synthetic material and logo or monogram prints. Intricate Japanese tailoring, Weston shoes, and Johnstons of Elgin are once again the bestsellers of the low-key luxury segment in European markets and Paris catwalks.

Pitti Uomo highlights this trend

Many premium brands that are resting their laurels on quiet luxury apparel are now showcasing their unique portfolios at fashion ramps and trade shows around the globe. At the leading menswear tradeshow  Pitti Uomo held in Florence in early June, many premium brands had portfolios of understated yet unique shirts and suits. Piero Braga, CEO of Slowear owner of a group of Italian luxury fashion labels feels there is a small percentage of genuine under-stated consumers who are willing and able to spend on expensive garments but are anti-bling and anti-logos.

In fact, many premium brands are now showcasing their top-end collections keeping a lower focus on brand logos and bling for both global and Indian markets as this new mega trend of wearing apparels with subtle details is quietly but surely catching on.

However, not everyone is buying the theory that opulence, bling, and showy logos were on their way out forever as most believe that quiet luxury is just a fad preferred by only a few. Simon Golby, the menswear director for CD Network, a sales and distribution agency feels otherwise. Talking to the media at Pitti Uomo Golby said, “Everyone wants to say that quiet luxury is a trend, but there is no such thing as quiet luxury. This winter when everybody was saying ‘quiet luxury, quiet luxury’, Moon Boot was on fire, we couldn’t keep it in stock,” he explained about the success of one of the company’s brands, Moon Boot, whose bouffant boots have the brand’s name emblazed across the top.

Introduced to the world in 1995, seamless garment machinery was first manufactured in Italy and this category was initially limited to innerwear. Its versatility was soon used not only for outerwear because it combined comfort with body-fitted silhouettes and the advantage of not having seams that can pucker. Soon, it became the go-to technology particularly for athleisure and sportswear and then extended its use in home, automobile, medical and other technical fit outs. In this milieu, Bangladesh, which has been looking for diversifying its export-focused manufacturing from basic cotton garments, has embraced seamless garment manufacturing with a large number of players. 

Reputable Bangladeshi exporters 

Seamless garments are now a serious contender to becoming a star genre of its own and leveraging this opportunity many large players have established their production base in Bangladesh. To name a few: Fakhruddin Textile Mills, Ecta Dhaka, Ever Fashion, Marinetrans India, The Urmi Group, New Line Clothings, Lm Trading, JM Fabrics, Islam Garments, Shanghai All Link Logistics. Seamless garment manufacturing was initialized by the management of Fakhruddin Textile Mills in 2015 in Bangladesh and its success in exports inspired many more traditional knitwear manufacturers to join in as well. Currently, it has an impressive fleet of 78 machines and has plans to increase the number to 150 within the next two years. 

For a nation looking to maximise its share of global apparel export, growing demand for seamless garments was a step in the right direction of diversification. Additionally, Bangladeshi exporters who are reputed for their low-cost supplies saw this technology as cost efficient as it reduced labour hours and rapid production turnaround time – seamless garment technology eliminates fabric spreading, cutting and sewing processes, this was a win-win manufacturing that made Bangladeshi exporters get good deals from the likes of JCPenney, Old Navy, La Sanza, Mother’s Work, Benetton, Reebok, Ahlens, Next, Victoria’s Secret and  Wisport among other international brands. 

As per Foursource, today Bangladesh has nearly 200 sizeable seamless garment manufacturing companies that are geared towards exports. Khan Mohammad Al Farabi, a specialist in seamless (Santoni) and CWS (construction without sewing) and employed at Islam Garments in Dhaka feels Bangladesh has overcome the initial challenges associated with setting up its seamless garment manufacturing base and is now growing at a healthy rate.

Challenges in going seamless

The biggest challenge of setting up a seamless garment manufacturing is the expensive machinery. Bangladeshi currency hasn’t fared too well which makes importing such expensive machinery a huge challenge. Secondly, the labour employed at such units have to be paid higher wages than the ones working for legacy units as a higher skill set is required to operate the production line. This in turn makes the garments dearer, which exporters may not be able to leverage during negotiations with buyers. 

The other overhead cost is that of zero defects, a single defect renders the entire garment useless as there is no room to tuck or fold over. Manufacturers also have to contend with the fact that the manufacturing process cannot be involved if slightly complicated patterns are placed. Faiaz Rahman, Director of Urmi Group say these challenges have been well-handled and as a point of reference his company is one of Puma’s largest global suppliers and also supplies to premium French brand Auchan and high street brands Marks & Spencer and H&M. Today, Urmi produces 700, 000 pieces a month. 

Seamlessly from Europe to Asia

Whilst Europe was the pioneer and held sway for the initial decade and a half or so, the seamless garment production hub has shifted to Asia for obvious cost-efficiency reason. Out of the 40,000 machines operating worldwide, China itself, the largest manufacturer of seamless garments, has 25,000 machines operating in production lines. The remaining 15,000 are spread over Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Mexico and some other South American countries. 

With 2025 its date of expiry drawing close, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that gives duty-free benefits to goods of designated sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, is now set for a change for better or worse. The AGOA legislation was approved by the US Congress in May 2000 and signed by President Clinton to promote better economic growth through good governance and free global markets. 

As it expires, one change that may happen is that the legislation may be replaced with new trade agreements between US and African countries who follow the free trade policies of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement along with trade policies of the Prosper Africa initiative, also sponsored by the US.

US-African summit highlight AGOA report issues

AGOA in its current form is an extension of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) , which is the US trade preference system introduced in 1974 that allows more than a 100 countries mainly low-income nations, to export most of their goods duty-free into the US. At the US-African Leaders Summit 2022 held in Washington DC last December, to enhance cooperation on shared global priorities there was a hint at a probability of an AGOA extension before the up-coming 2025 deadline, although that has not taken place yet. 

At the summit, many leaders such as Katherine Tai as US Trade Representative spokesperson addressed the media about the urgent need to discuss “ways in which we can improve AGOA - including how we can increase the utilization rates, particularly among smaller and less-developed countries, as well as ensure that the program's benefits fully reach all segments of society.”

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) in April 2023 analyzed the trade and economic impact of AGOA and provides utilization rates, recent trends in US imports under this act. It also details the impact of the program on regional integration, workers and underserved communities, economic development and job growth among other important data. The AGOA report includes case studies on four industries that are present in the SSA viz. apparel, cotton, cocoa, and certain chemicals

SSA countries try to maintain regular apparel exports to the US

Around 20 countries are currently eligible for AGOA’s apparel provision and 90 per cent of US apparel imports from AGOA members in 2021, were from the five SSA countries. These are: Kenya 31.5 per cent, Madagascar 19.9 per cent, Lesotho 20.6 per cent, Ethiopia 18.3 per cent and Mauritius 5.1 per cent. 

The much needed AGOA benefits are updated regularly for SSA countries to maintain their apparel exports to the US. Whenever a country has lost its lost AGOA eligibility, there has been a significant decrease in apparel imports, for example, Rwanda and Madagascar saw it between 2000 and 2021.

SSA apparel manufacturers usually prefer supplying to the US as it is easier and more economically-viable than the European markets. This is because US brands place bigger orders for higher volume bulk basic garments, which doesn’t need high-tech skills local African workers. 

Currently, most SSA countries do cut-and-sew operations of apparels based on imported raw materials mainly from Asian countries. There are many challenges in building a fully flourishing local textile industry in SSA. Most SSA manufacturers do not have the expertise to make various types of yarns and fabrics that are most in demand by US buyers and easy access to textile inputs from sources outside SSA is not always feasible financially and logistically. Reliance on imported textiles reduces the incentives for investing in new textile production capabilities within SSA countries. 

Indeed, AGOA has been limited in building a more integrated regional textile and apparel supply chain in SSA countries since its inception. Perhaps the new changes will give it more strength to benefit Africa. 

China's textile and apparel exports grew year-on-year from January to May 2023, but the export value was affected by pricing and exchange rate factors. May's export value, measured in Chinese Renminbi (RMB), decreased by 10.8% compared to the previous year and 1.1% compared to the previous month. 

Textile exports fell by 11.9% year-on-year and 5.5% month-on-month, while apparel exports declined by 9.8% year-on-year but increased by 3.2% month-on-month. In US dollars (USD), China's textile and apparel export value in May dropped by 13.1% compared to the previous year and 1.3% compared to the previous month. 

Textile exports decreased by 14.2% year-on-year and 5.6% month-on-month, while apparel exports declined by 12.2% year-on-year but rose by 3% month-on-month. The analysis of customs data revealed that only Categories 54, 55, and 62 showed positive growth during the January-May period, while other categories experienced declines compared to the same period last year. 

The growth in textile and apparel exports can mainly be attributed to polyester filament yarn and polyester staple fiber .However, downstream products and fabric exports did not exhibit growth but instead declined. 

The increase in polyester fiber exports reflects industry transfer, exploration of overseas markets, and is partly influenced by India's Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The long-term sustainability of this trend remains uncertain.

Online retail in India is projected to surpass organized retail by 2030, according to a Deloitte report. The growth of modern retail, including malls and supermarkets, may more than double to $230 billion by 2030, while online retail is expected to reach $325 billion, growing 2.5 times compared to its 2022 value of $70 billion. 

The overall physical retail market, comprising organized retail and traditional mom-and-pop stores, is set to nearly double to $1.6 trillion over the same period. Traditional retail is predicted to dominate, reaching $1.3 billion, up from $750 billion in 2022. 

The report highlights the influence of emerging channels such as social commerce, quick commerce, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) platforms, reshaping the shopping habits of millennials and Gen Z. 

Investments in specialized vertical e-commerce are also expected to increase. Within e-commerce, quick commerce is anticipated to grow significantly, reaching $40 billion by 2030, while social commerce is projected to reach $55 billion. The expansion of the retail sector will be driven by rising incomes and demographic changes, with 65% of India's population falling into the key consuming cohort of 15-59 years until 2030. 

This growth is expected to contribute to the expansion of the Indian middle class by adding 110 million households. India is currently among the top five retail markets globally and is expected to become the third-largest by 2030, trailing behind China and the United States. The food and grocery retail segment, which currently holds a 65% share of the total retail market, is projected to double by 2030. Categories like apparel and footwear, as well as gems and jewelry, are also expected to experience rapid growth. 

The report emphasizes the significance of tier-2 and tier-3 cities, which are driving the next phase of growth in India's retail sector. Retailers are expanding their presence beyond tier-1 cities to meet the increasing demand. Additionally, the rapid growth of e-commerce in smaller cities is reshaping the retail landscape, with over 60% of orders coming from these regions in 2022.

European Uyghur Institute sues Inditex, Fast Retailing, and Skechers over alleged human rights abuses in China. Uyghur workers claim forced labor, including surveillance and camp involvement. Evidence, including a video of Uyghur workers making Skechers shoes, awaits verification. 

Brands face challenges navigating Xinjiang cotton controversy, fearing Chinese consumer backlash. Xinjiang produces a significant share of global cotton, but accusations of Uyghur detention in internment camps led to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act impacting imports to the US. 

Adidas, H&M, and Nike previously faced Chinese boycotts for criticizing Xinjiang cotton. Nike explores new strategies, like hyperlocal product launches, to mitigate sales impact. 

Despite trade discussions, Xinjiang cotton remains a sensitive issue for Western brands. Some, like Patagonia, relocate production to avoid involvement.

Technavio's latest market research report, titled "US Hosiery Market 2023-2027," predicts substantial growth in the US hosiery market. The market is expected to increase by USD 2,992.99 million between 2022 and 2027, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.95%. The comprehensive report analyzes the market, encompassing key drivers, major trends, and challenges. 

The report highlights the intense competition within the market, prompting vendors to implement growth strategies like promotional activities and increased advertising expenditure. Market positioning is emphasized, showcasing strategies employed by leading vendors such as Gildan Activewear SRL, Spanx LLC, and Wells Hosiery and Apparel USA. 

Driving market growth are factors such as the high demand for designer and soft hosiery products, especially those made from organic and natural materials. Additionally, the report identifies a significant trend of increasing demand for socks in the healthcare industry due to the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. 

However, changes in trade policies pose challenges to market growth, particularly with the influence of China as a major market contributor. 

Despite the US remaining the primary market for Cambodian textile and garment exports, the country experienced a significant drop in apparel exports during the initial four months of 2023. Cambodia's apparel exports to the US amounted to $643.886 million, accounting for 26.50% of the country's total exports worth $2,807.546 million during this period. 

However, this figure represents a substantial 50.32% decline compared to the corresponding period in 2022. In the first four months of 2022, Cambodia exported garments worth $1,497.387 million, while the figures for January to April in 2021, 2020, and 2019 were $1,097.180 million, $977.303 million, and $819.210 million, respectively. 

Analyzing the product breakdown, trousers and shorts emerged as the leading apparel exports, generating $230.292 million and constituting 31.39% of the total garment exports. Jerseys followed with $122.014 million (16.63%), shirts with $67.086 million (9.14%), baby wear with $47.581 million (6.48%), T-shirts with $43.340 million (5.91%), nightwear with $33.623 million (4.58%), and dresses with $31.846 million (4.34%). 

While the US continues to be Cambodia's largest export market for textiles and garments, the notable decline in apparel exports raises concerns for the industry's performance in 2023.