The apparel industry is engaged in a process of reorientation from the production perspective. Local demand in China is becoming evident and hence several labels are looking at other countries for sourcing. South East Asia and Eastern Europe are benefiting from fashion labels looking to bring parts of production closer to the European end consumer market. Locating production near to the final customer contributes to sustainability due to the lower energy costs for transport.

Europe and the US continue to source the lion’s share from Far East as far as sourcing is concerned.  Africa and some Latin American countries are expected to become sourcing destinations in the future. Olaf Schmidt, Vice President, Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition reiterates that local sourcing is the trend said, “In the global textile industry as we go up the buyers’ side companies are looking more towards local sourcing. In Europe, medium to high class garment producers are looking for sourcing platforms in East Europe, North Africa and a bit of Middle East.  The aim is to have shorter delivery and smaller quantities. One reason is the price increase in the Asian region. The difference between sourcing in Asia and in East Europe and North Africa is not as big as it was in the past.  But China remains the largest producer of textiles.”

Apart from China and India all the other consuming economies are expected to grow at less than 5 per cent. If apparel sourcing prices go up and big retailers are not able to mitigate, apparel price rise is inevitable, this will affect fast fashion and consumption patterns.  

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