News Flash

Wool apparel trend in Oct 2005

28 Jan '06

2 min read

Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) reported that apparel sales at major department stores rose significantly in value terms in October, following the trend seen for most of the year.

The strong growth during October has been supported by a rise in fashion conscious middle to upper class consumers, coupled with the popularity of higher priced wool apparel (except suits).

There has been growing popularity for cashmere/wool blended knitwear which assisted the lift in volumes during October.

This fashion trend is likely to boost future retail demand for wool/cashmere blended products (generally 9:1 blend ratio) during the Autumn/Winter season.

Given that wool is the primary fibre in these blends and the knitwear segment is the largest volume market for wool in China, this trend is quite positive for wool demand.
Sales of jackets during the month lifted to the highest level seen since February this year.

Curiously, this may be the result of the avian flu crisis in Asia. The price of feathers increased by as much as 60%, severely affecting the cost of producing down-wear.

The raw material cost has not yet filtered through to the consumer, but health conscious and fearful consumers are probably substituting their purchases of feather down jackets for wool.

Unfortunately, men's suits, one of the key wool segments in the Chinese domestic market noted a year-on-year decline during October.

This drop is on the back of many months of increases which left the year-to-date figure still above that of 2004.

Australian Wool Innovation Limited

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