In the first four months of this year, China’s textile and apparel exports grew 8.65 per cent Y-o-Y to $95.84 billion, as per a report by The Nation. China’s textile exports grew 11.14 per cent Y-o-Y to $48.82 billion while apparel exports grew 6.17 per cent Y-o-Y to $47.02 billion. In April alone, China’s textile exports surged by 1.63 per cent Y-o-Y to $23.59 billion.

Japan’s textile and apparel imports increased 15.9 per cent to 349.36 billion yen in March this year. Apparel imports increased 15.2 per cent Y-o-Y and 25.6 per cent M-o-M to 247.7 billion yen during the month. Of this, imports from China increased 19.3 per cent Y-o-Y and 32.8 per cent M-o-M to 193.93 billion yen in March,

The Russia-Ukraine conflict had led to over 13 per cent fall in value of Japanese yen against the US dollar in less than two months. This caused the volume and value of Japan’s textile and apparel imports to slip month-on-month and year-on-year in February this year.

As per a CCF Group report, Japan’s textile and apparel imports declined 3.4 per cent Y-o-Y to 277.41 billion yen in February. Its imports from China had declined by 8.8 per cent Y-o-Y to 146 billion yen, Japan’s apparel imports declined by 6.2 per cent Y-o-Y to 197.3 billion yen, of which imports from China declined by 10.6 per cent Y-o-Y to 104 billion yen.

India’s readymade garment exporters have sought a ban on cotton exports as soaring cotton and yarn prices are causing severe liquidity crisis, making it difficult for them to deliver shipments to foreign buyers on time. Cotton prices have grown 40 per cent, and are currently at an 11-year high due to a demand-supply mismatch. The price of a single cotton candy has surged past Rs 100,000 causing a severe liquidity crisis for exporters.

The increase has affected medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) the most as they form almost 80 per cent of production base, says Lalit Thukral, President, Noida Apparel Export Cluster. Cheap imports by Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand are adding to the threat of India’s cotton sector, making ban on exports a necessity, adds Thukral. Raja M Shanmugham, President, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association highlights, around 18 months ago, knitwear units could buy one kg yarn for Rs 200 whereas now the same money can buy only 400 gm of yarn. The Tiruppur garment-export cluster annually exports Rs 35,000 crore worth knitwear garments. Exporters in the cluster believe they would not be able to survive if the problem is not addressed immediately.

As demand for sustainable products rise, luxury re-commerce is emerging as a big opportunity for brands to capture the millennial audience. However, with brands being slow in catching up with this trend, third party platforms such as The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, and ThredUp are fast emerging.

However, a Business of Fashion report suggests experts are now questioning the profitability of these platforms. They point out publicly traded companies like The RealReal are yet to make profits with increased competition, digital processing, authenticating and listing of thousands of unique items, impacting bottomline.

Brand-operated resale over third party platforms

As per a Forbes report, Andy Ruben, Founder and CEO, Trove, however, believes, selling branded luxury items can help retailers like Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino control their intellectual property and retain their newly acquired customers. Earlier reluctant to sell pre-owned luxury items, brands are now embracing the opportunities being offered by luxury recommmerce to retain customers and grow their client base. A recent survey by First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania shows, over 65 per cent American consumers preferred to buy products from brand-operated resellers against third party platforms.

Technology facilitates customer’s shopping experience

Technology is helping brands and third-party platforms sell thousands of pre-loved fashion items every day. Third party platform Vestiaire Collective adds 140,000 new items to their online inventory each week to digitize the entire shopping process and offer consumers a seamless and pleasant experience. Technology also enables brands to position resale as additional revenue channel for fashion and luxury brands. It helps brands convey the benefits of buying pre-loved products to customers. .Trove has launched a technology that allows brands to expand their business without causing any harm to the environment.

With technology, brands can control their own resale channel to offer consumers a better shopping experience than third party sellers. They can form deeper ties with consumers offering them early access to new products besides offering discounts. Technology can also offer brands an invaluable insight into data, enabling them to strengthen their ties with consumers.