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The US has captured a significant 40% share in the plus size clothing sector, becoming the leader in 2023. This achievement is primarily attributed to the country's large population grappling with obesity and increased spending on plus size apparel. The market's growth is further driven by the rising calorie intake in middle and high-income households, which creates a demand for inclusive clothing options.
Additionally, the market benefits from fashion-forward trends and a strong emphasis on body positivity, generating a desire for fashionable plus size fashion. Projections indicate a 5.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the plus size clothing market. By 2032, it is estimated to reach a value of US$1,044.3 billion compared to US$601.7 billion in 2022.
Despite the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a decline in sales due to labor shortages, production issues, and reduced consumer spending, the demand for plus size clothing is expected to rebound. Sales in this segment are predicted to experience the fastest growth rate during the forecast period, driven by the increasing need for high-quality and luxurious products catering to customers of all sizes.
Retailers are actively responding to the surging demand by launching new plus size apparel lines. Walmart, for example, introduced its Terra and Sky plus-size brand in 2018 to expand its customer base. Other notable retailers, including River Island, Marks & Spencer, and New Look, have also expanded their plus size offerings to meet the growing market demand.
The upward trajectory of the plus size clothing market is supported by factors such as the rising prevalence of obesity and overweight issues, the growing desire for fashionable plus size apparel, and the positive influence of celebrity endorsements and media representation.
The FASHION CHINA pavilion at Who's Next in Paris will host CHIC (China International Fashion Fair) from September 2 to 4, 2023. The event will showcase twenty leading Chinese fashion brands across 900 sqm of space. Chinese designers will display an impressive selection of women's wear, men's wear, sportswear, and hats.
Renowned brands like Ellassay, Laurèl, JNBY, LUO ZHENG, RAXXY, KEYONE, Thread & Story, MAY D.WANG Cashmere & Silk, Yvonne CHOI, SE JIE, VAN SUNSUN, SELAH, EXTENDED, ARYA CASH, JORE BAUDRY, CANMADE, and HEMPEL International will present their exceptional designs.
Notable names in men's wear include KB Hong by K-BOXING and JOEONE, while FENGGY will showcase exclusive sportswear. Luo Zheng and Hong Boming have been honored with the prestigious Top China Fashion Designer "Jinding Award." Luo Zheng became the first Chinese women's wear designer to showcase at New York Fashion Week, and KB Hong has been organizing shows at Milan Fashion Week. JOEONE and RAXXY will also make appearances at Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks, respectively.
The event serves as a preview of CHIC's future international presentations and its goal to become a hub for Chinese fashion brands.
According to recent data from the Commerce Department, apparel and textiles imports into the U.S. experienced a significant drop in May. The Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA) reported a 17.6 percent decline, with total imports reaching approximately 8.8 billion square meters equivalent (SME) compared to the same period last year.
Textile imports fell by 13.9 percent to 6.8 billion SME, while apparel shipments slumped by 28.1 percent to 1.99 billion SME. Overall, year-to-date imports of textiles and apparel through May registered a 22.4 percent decline, totaling 36.4 billion SME.
Textile imports fared better, experiencing a 19.1 percent decline to 26.8 billion SME, while apparel shipments plummeted by 30.5 percent to around 9.6 billion SME. Notably, major Asian textile and garment producers faced significant losses. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam witnessed declines of 36.3 percent, 34.6 percent, 33.3 percent, and 33.1 percent, respectively.
In contrast, China experienced a milder drop of 15.4 percent but maintained its position as the leading trading partner with the U.S., surpassing India by more than threefold.
Nearshoring efforts were evident in Mexico, which saw a substantial increase of 210.5 percent in apparel shipments, and the Czech Republic, with a significant surge of 265.2 percent. These gains may be attributed to retailers' desire to reduce dependence on China and mitigate supply chain disruptions.
Better Cotton, the world's largest cotton sustainability initiative, has pledged its commitment to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Sustainability Pledge. This open-source initiative provides policy recommendations and standards to authenticate sustainability claims in the industry.
The aim is to create a Community of Practice focused on traceability and transparency, crucial elements for promoting sustainability and circularity. By endorsing legitimate tools and projects that enhance supply chain traceability, the pledge benefits policymakers, companies, workers, and consumers alike.
Better Cotton joins over 90 businesses, including Inditex, Vivienne Westwood, WWF, Retraced, and FibreTrace, in committing to the pledge. Better Cotton's Traceability Solution, developed as part of its 2030 Strategy, allows Retailer and Brand Members to verify the origin of Physical Better Cotton in their products.
It also facilitates farmers and suppliers in accessing regulated international value chains, supporting livelihoods in cotton farming communities. Extensive consultation with stakeholders, including suppliers, members, and industry consultants, has shaped the development of Better Cotton's Traceability Solution.
The solution's phased roll-out will enable supply chain actors to comply with chain of custody requirements for traceability by 2025. This initiative is particularly relevant in the fashion and textile sectors, where regulatory pressure is mounting to combat greenwashing.
Better Cotton's forthcoming Traceability Solution will establish the provenance and lifecycle of cotton, starting at the country level and aiming to enhance data granularity in the future.
According to data compiled by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh's garment export to India has crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in the fiscal year 2022-23. The shipments experienced a remarkable 42 percent year-on-year increase, reaching $1,012 million during the July-June period.
The duty-free benefit under the South Asian Free Trade Area has significantly contributed to the recent growth, with exports nearly doubling from $421 million in fiscal year 2020-21 to the current level.
Furthermore, Bangladesh's garment exports to Australia also reached the $1 billion milestone in the last fiscal year, demonstrating the potential for further expansion in that market.
Additionally, Japan has emerged as a promising destination, with shipments surging 46 percent year-on-year to $1,599 million in fiscal year 2022-23. Despite slower exports to traditional markets, such as the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Bangladesh experienced a notable 31 percent year-on-year growth in garment exports to non-traditional markets.
This expansion accounted for 18 percent of the total receipts of approximately $47 billion in fiscal year 2022-23, reflecting a three-percentage point increase from the previous year. Factors like high inflation, overstocking of apparel, and the impact of the Ukrainian war were cited as reasons behind the slowdown in traditional market exports, according to Mohiuddin Rubel, a director of the BGMEA.
ICRA predicts a 7% revenue decline for Indian cotton spinners in FY2024 due to lower cotton prices. This decline will also impact cash accruals, signaling a challenging year ahead. Despite the revenue decline, there is a silver lining for spinners. ICRA expects operating margins to improve as higher volumes and reduced logistics expenses contribute to better profitability. Additionally, spinners' borrowings are forecasted to decrease, leading to improved debt coverage ratios and capital structure.
Potential for Increased Capital Expenditure in FY2025 Looking beyond FY2024, the industry may experience a boost in capital expenditure announcements. Factors such as machinery modernization, demand from the "China Plus One" movement, and growing interest from EU and North American consumers are expected to drive investment plans.
Cotton prices experienced a significant decline in H2 CY2022 and continued to decrease by 20% in May 2023. Despite this, domestic cotton production is projected to increase by 10% in CY2023, although slow progress in sowing due to a delayed monsoon has been observed in Maharashtra and southern states.
Steady Yarn Prices and Contraction in Gross Contribution Margins Yarn prices are expected to remain stable in the near term, with a slight increase anticipated in H2 FY2024 as downstream companies' demand picks up. However, despite this, spinners are likely to face a contraction of approximately 5% in gross contribution margins for FY2024 due to unfavorable movements in cotton fiber and yarn prices.
Recovery Exports account for a significant portion of India's cotton yarn production, but FY2023 witnessed a substantial decline in exports. Although there is projected to be a 15-17% increase in cotton yarn production for FY2024, both production and exports are expected to remain below the historical highs seen in CY2022.
Wool in itself isn’t as large a natural material source cotton and traditionally wool has only been recycled when there was natural calamity that decreased the production of fleece from livestock. However, with climate change a hard-hitting reality, major wool producing countries like New Zealand and Australia are struggling with fleece production, leading to a renewed interest in recycling wool, globally.
Historically, the global recycling of wool has been driven by economic opportunity and necessity. Now, environmental concerns are spurring demand for recycled wool as consumers seek out clothes made primarily of reused natural fibers instead of synthetic materials, many of which can be recycled only through expensive, complex processes that involve chemicals.
Wool recycling model for circularity in fashion
Manteco SpA, an Italian fabric manufacturer that solely uses recycled wool is a case in point. The factory in Prato, Tuscany’s second largest city makes new fabric from used wool and has a simple process. The garments are manually stripped, and the scraps are mechanically shredded. Next, the fibers are blended with color to get the desired hue. After a carding machine untangles and aligns the fibers in one direction, the material is spun into yarn and undergoes quality tests before being woven on a loom into a textile. Prato counts more than 7,000 companies that specialize in some part of the city’s clothing and textile industries, of which wool recycling plays a major role.
When making textile from recycled wool, the quality of old wool determines the amount of virgin fleece wool that is required to make the yarn tensile enough for textile manufacturing. In some cases, virgin nylon is used instead of virgin wool to give the old wool more tensile strength. For example, using different ratios of recycled wool and virgin wool or virgin nylon, Manteco maintains a strict adherence to the best practices of recycled wool to textile process and is able to produce even the finest quality of woolen fabrics. Lately, technology is helping Manteco with innovative yarn and textile manufacturing processes that are reducing manual labour and energy costs and saving further on emissions. Manteco states its recycled wool has a significantly lower carbon footprint than those of virgin wool and many other textiles.
Producing a kg of MWool generates 0.62 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent—a measurement used to compare various greenhouse gases—while the same amount of fleece sheared from a sheep creates 75.8kg of CO2e, the company says in its life-cycle assessment study. Cotton and polyester generate 4.69kg of CO2e and 4.31kg of CO2e, respectively, the company says, citing data from life-cycle inventory database provider Ecoinvent. However, recycling of wool is limited to a number of times as every recycling produces shorter fiber length. This then can only be fixed by adding greater quantities of virgin wool or nylon. This extends the life of the existing materials but doesn’t fully replace the need for new fibers.
Different fibers, different recycling
The founder of Karachi-based Datini Fibres, Hasnain Lillani says to boost textile recycling, clothing designers and apparel brands need to communicate better about how to increase the circularity of materials and supply chains. Identifying which materials are best for the environment isn’t straightforward, as the impacts of processes and supply chains aren’t always comparable, and recyclability is just one element to consider when assessing sustainability. For example, while wool can be recycled mechanically, the more than 1 billion sheep involved in its production globally produce burps containing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Synthetic materials, on top of not being easily recycled, can shed microplastics in the wash, a menace to ocean creatures that’s not an issue with natural fibers.
With the commencement of cotton exports in the current season, Pakistan's textile industry is off to a promising start. A significant cotton ginner in Sindh has sealed agreements to export 600 tonnes of cotton to Indonesia and Vietnam, with shipments scheduled for early August.
Improved cotton quality, attributed to favorable weather conditions including optimal temperatures and minimal rainfall during sowing and picking seasons in Sindh's coastal areas, has garnered early export orders, indicating the potential for record-breaking figures this year.
However, a delay in cotton procurement has led to a rapid increase in prices, with Punjab witnessing prices surge to Rs17,500 per maund after a recent hike of Rs500, while Sindh recorded prices of Rs17,000 per maund.
The fluctuating dollar value adds uncertainty to future price trends. Citing the conducive weather conditions, Pakistan could produce over one crore bales of cotton in the upcoming year, bolstering the textile sector and emphasizing the nation's robust cotton industry potential.
A comprehensive report has been released, analyzing the consequences of Brexit on the fashion, textile, and technology (FTT) industry in the UK. It provides valuable insights and presents five key recommendations aimed at supporting the sector's future growth.
Jointly published by the Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology (BFTT), led by the University of the Arts London, and the Future Fashion Factory (FFF), led by the University of Leeds, the report was chaired by Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT. Mansell highlighted the significant impact of the UK's departure from the EU, emphasizing the complex trading relationship that emerged.
The report emphasizes the challenges faced by the FTT industry, particularly for SMEs and micro businesses. However, it also underscores the resilience and adaptability of UK fashion and textile companies.
The report's key recommendations focus on reducing trade costs and complexity, enhancing the sector's capacity and competency, building post-Covid resilience, driving digital innovation, and prioritizing sustainable and ethical practices. These proposals encompass tax breaks, business development support, training programs, subsidies, grants, and government incentives.
Despite the challenges, the report presents a hopeful outlook, emphasizing the industry's potential for sustainable growth through innovation, skilled workforce, and an unwavering commitment to sustainability. With increased support and investment from organizations like UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK FTT sector can seize significant opportunities for a prosperous future.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh's Ready-Made Garments (RMG) exports to the European Union (EU) experienced a robust growth of 9.93% during the fiscal year 2022-23. The exports surged from $21.40 billion in FY 2021-22 to $23.52 billion in FY 2022-23.
However, BGMEA director Mohiuddin Rubel highlighted a significant decline in exports to major EU markets like Germany and Poland. The apparel exports to Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, and the Netherlands in FY 2022-23 were valued at $3.37 billion, $2.94 billion, $2.27 billion, $1.28 billion, and $1.85 billion, respectively.
In the same period, apparel exports to the United States, Bangladesh's primary apparel export destination, dropped by 5.51% to $8.51 billion compared to $9.01 billion in FY 2021-22. On a positive note, RMG exports to the United Kingdom and Canada witnessed significant growth, increasing by 11.78% and 16.55% respectively.
Furthermore, Bangladesh's exports to non-traditional markets, including Japan, Australia, and India, crossed the billion-dollar milestone, achieving a remarkable growth of 31.38%. Consequently, the share of non-traditional markets in total RMG exports surged to 17.82% in FY 2022-23, up from 14.96% in FY 2021-22.
