CMAI’s pre-festive season survey indicates weak sentiments for clothing demand

As many as 63 per cent of the respondents are expecting to see the same or lower sales of Clothing and Apparel as compared to the last year.

In its Annual Survey of members carried out by Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) to get a sense of what to expect from the retail market before the festive season, the overall sentiments continue to remain weak.

Notably, as many as 63 per cent of the respondents are expecting to see the same or lower sales of Clothing and Apparel as compared to the last year. Of these, nearly 25 per cent are expecting the sales to be as low as 75 per cent of the previous year.

Whilst the reasons for such low expectancy varied, the biggest factor impacting the low sentiments appeared to be the significant shift in larger wallet share of the consumer spending moving towards other avenues of lifestyle – with 35 per cent of the respondents attributing their low expectations to this factor. Another sizeable portion of 24 per cent respondents attributed a slowing economy and inflation to be the top challenges at the moment.

Amongst the apparel categories, men’s wear seems to have been the worst affected, with a 75 per cent of the respondents expecting women’s wear and kids wear to perform better in terms of demand during this festive season.

Another interesting insight emerging from the Survey was that an overwhelming 75 per cent of the respondents felt that the mid-priced Brands would do the best during the season, whilst only 18 per cent felt that low-priced brands would do better – clearly indicating the Indian Consumer’s growing Maturity in not just considering price points, but also inclination to pay a premium for quality. Not surprisingly, 52 per cent of the respondents anticipate demand for Indian wear to perform well followed by  casual wear whereas formal wear seems to be out of favour.

Furthermore, the survey shows an encouraging 75.5 per cent preference for offline retail against 24.5 per cent for online retail despite growing penetration of e-commerce industry in India.

Commenting on the outcome of the survey, Rajesh Masand, President, CMAI, said, “Considering the sluggish business environment that our industry has experienced in the past six months, the trends are not surprising. Yet, we are hopeful of not missing out on the Festive spending and expect demand to gradually surge considering the Wedding season later in the year”.

The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) is the most representative association of the Indian apparel industry having over 5000 members and serving more than 35,000 retailers across the country. Its membership consists of manufacturers, exporters, brands, and ancillary industry.