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What scene exists in the global textile & clothing vis-a-vis hosiery market? What are keys to brand recall amidst Indian consumer?
Globally T&C performance has been pretty slow. Last year due to sudden rise in raw material prices, there was an apparent pick up in demand which was more due to increased build up of inventory to capture the benefit of rising prices. This year with prices going down from peak level considerably, demand has slowed down significantly and the average growth of last two years would be in very low -single digits. Real consumer demand in this industry has not picked up much; the volatility of demand figures is more to do with the volatility in raw material prices. I don’t see any major pick up in demand of T&C in 2012, though due to low pipeline inventory we could see some spurt in demand in the first half of 2012. This coupled with limited supplies (as capacities are running at low levels) could see some good gains for the sector in the coming months.
Hosiery/knitted segment has grown in importance vis-à-vis wovens over time due to its ease and comfort of use and the strong wear culture of more casual clothing both in India and worldwide. This segment had been reserved for the small scale till a decade ago which lead to many small units thriving and very few organized, large players in the manufacturing segment. This curtailed use of modern technology especially in the domestic segment. However with things changing, a lot of work has been done on up-scaling machinery and on the design front. Hosiery which was just a basic utility has now slowly become a fashion statement and a large range of styles and cuts have been developed to meet the consumer’s ever growing demand for “new & different”.
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Published on: 16/01/2012
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
