Spanish textile sales decline 8% in first half of 2013

15 Jul '13

2 min read

The Spanish textile and apparel sector has seen a decline of 8 percent year-on-year in sales during the first half of 2013, owing to the financial crisis and weather conditions.

This was disclosed by Mr. Borja Oria, president of Spanish Confederation of Trade Textile and Fashion (CECOTEX), while speaking at a conference organized by the Fashion Textile Cluster of Catalonia (ACTM) at 080 Barcelona Fashion.

Mr. Oria said the textile and apparel sales have declined by about 30 percent since the global financial crisis of 2007, when the sector recorded sales of €22 billion.

The dramatic reductions in sales are also due to the late arrival of heat this year. The major effects of the crisis that still haunt the textile markets can be seen in the sales of the multi-brand stores which continue to lose market share, Mr. Oria said.

The six-year period since the global financial crisis has resulted in shutting down of 13,000 textile establishments in Spain.

Last year, 230 retail textile and apparel outlets were shut in Spain, taking the total number of existing retail outlets to 60,018.

Similarly, the employment rate in establishments engaged in the textile business fell by 2.33 percent, from 194,554 at the beginning of 2012 to 190,014 workers by the end of the year.

This situation has led to the emergence of stores like ‘factory outlets’, which offer major discounts on garments, where the promotions and offers continue throughout the year and sale seasons hardly exist, resulting in reduction of profit margins for the merchants.

However, Mr. Oria expressed confidence that the second half of 2013 will be better, due to positive weather conditions, without any drastic reductions in sales.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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