Apparel shopping goes phut in COVID-19 crisis

Ahmedabad: No more in the “want” list of consumers locked indoors by the COVID-19 pandemic, apparels have dropped off the shopping list. Despite online retailers trying to entice buyers with lockdown sales and offline retailers hoping to win-back consumers post-lockdown, consumers might not be too keen to open their wallets to apparels anytime sooner, industry observers anticipate.

Consumers may hesitate to go shopping apparels even after stores open after the lockdown, anticipates management consultant Harminder Sahni of Wazir Advisors. “Sales are zero now. Even when the partial opening will start, apparel won’t be the first category to be on the shopping list,” he notes.

The Indian apparel industry clocking a sales turnover of USD 74 bn might just take a hit of 10-15% in 2020, he predicts.

A report entitled “Impact of COVID-19 Scenario on European and the US Apparel Market” released by Wazir Advisors this week said the combined apparel consumption of EU and the US might fall about USD 308 bn, 40-45% lower than the 2020 projected consumptions.

Post COVID-19 crisis, consumers will be uncomfortable to touch and feel garments in retail stores anxious about who would have touched it before them, says Spanish sustainable textile technology provider Jeanologia’s founder Enrique Silla whose team is developing sanitisation solutions for the global apparel industry.

Silla, who has developed an ozone-based technology for sanitisation and disinfecting face protection masks, says, “The world will not be the same after COVID-19. For the textile industry is very important to recover the trust of consumer. Only through sanitizing, brands will be able to speed up regaining consumers’ trust, guaranteeing the fast recovery of our industry.”

The Clothing Manufactures Association of India has said the current crisis will certainly put a short brake in consumer spending. “Demand in apparels may shrink by almost 40% in 2020,” notes CMAI president Rahul Mehta. The existing online to offline buying of apparel 8% to 92% however, would tilt in favour of online apparel buys by 12% in coming years.

An internal report by CMAI has found that domestic apparel industry could take a hit of about Rs 1 lakh cr due to the lockdown. 81% of manufacturers have received cancellation orders from their buyers, he said.

Denim exponent Sandeep Agarwal who collaborates with global players in the supply chain notes retailers and buyers are cancelling billions of orders globally as consumers are not buying. “There have been talks of fall of over 50% in consumption of apparel globally, especially in denim.”

Although Agarwal talks of revenge shopping by the consumer post-lockdown, Silla says unless brands do more than profits, it would be a long journey for them to win back the consumer.