Ecommerce will dominate Chinese kidswear market: Analysts

11 Feb '14

2 min read

Children’s clothing market in China has a great potential, and hence several garment enterprises are trying to become a new force, but the next wave of children’s clothing market would be dominated by ecommerce, according to analysts.

The Chinese Government recently eased its ‘one-child policy’ allowing couples to have two children if either parent is an only child. This policy brings new opportunities for the development of the Chinese clothing industry.

Industry analysts believe that relaxation of the one-child policy is a favourable development for the Chinese apparel industry, but the requirements of children’s clothing would be higher than adult clothing, in terms of comfort and safety features.

In 2010, the Chinese infant apparel market touched 34.8 billion yuan, and the market is expected to maintain strong growth over the next few years due to the continued growth in number of children.

The ‘Kids Industry Report 2012-15’, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, shows that the output growth rate of the Chinese kidswear industry is expected to increase to 25-30 percent by 2015, and the country’s infant clothing market capacity will reach 227.98 billion yuan, due to people having two children, instead of the earlier one.

To take advantage of the situation, domestic Chinese brands like Semir, Anta, 361, Li Ning and many others have already prepared relevant policies. In order to not to miss out on this huge market, several international brands, including H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Gucci, Dior, etc., would also significantly accelerate their expansion of clothing retail network in the country.

In addition to rapid growth, the profit margin in children’s clothing is much higher than adult clothing, which is also one of the reasons for adult clothing brands venturing into kidswear.

However, the current development of children’s clothing in China is still in its infancy. It is because the market has different characteristics from adult apparel market, as comfort and safety are among the quality requirements.

Parents of children born in the next round would be even more demanding in terms of fabric, style, safety, comfort, color matching and other factors, according to market analysts.

They aver that ecommerce would dominate the next round of children’s clothing market, as the online retailer can trace back sales and production, which would be a big parameter for the future development of the Chinese kidswear industry.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Apparel/Garments News - China...