Q. Has Europe been able to cope up or circumvent with Chinese competitiveness in terms of production and price?
A. No. China has special advantages concerning the vertical integration of the value chain, low labor costs, high quality standards in comparison to other emerging markets and high felxibility. Europe has some advantages in terms of fashion and design, a short time to market, niche products and high-end quality products like technical textiles. Europe can't beat China when it comes to "clothing utilities" like white t-shirts or underwear.
Q. Countries that have developed into major manufacturers primarily under the protection of the quota regime are at loss now. What is the solution and which markets should they seek in the changed scenario?
A. Some should focus on niche markets like small production numbers. Countries in Eastern Europem, North Africa or Turkey should use their advantage of shorter transport times to their main sales markets in West Europe. The same is true for Mexico and countries in the Carribean with the US. Focus on fashionable clothing is very important here. Many other countries don't have this advantage of proximity. Below the line, T&B industry in these countries will face extreme difficulties.
Q. What steps are European textile manufacturers taking to remain globally competitive?
A. It will remain important to react flexible to the changing global demand and ever shorter fashion cycles. It's also essential to find the reliable and flexible production facilities with low labor costs. Time to market is one decisive factor. It's probably an accepted strategy to reduce own production facilities and to buy from "no-name-producers" in Emerging Markets. Brands and fashion and design allow higher prices and margins in industrialised countries. In the textiles sector, the future for countries with high wages like Western Europe lies in technical textiles.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - Europe
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.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
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