A recent report‘Road to 2025: Textile and apparel sector report’, China and India will be the major growth centres for apparel consumption by 2025. The combined size of the Chinese and Indian apparel markets is slated to become bigger than that of US and European Union (EU).“The combined apparel market size of China and India will become $740 billion by 2025, and is expected to surpass the combined market size of US and Europe, which will be $725 billion in 2025,” states the report.

At present the size of apparel market in China and India is estimated at $150 billion and $45 billion, respectively. Both have shown robust growth, despite global uncertainties and slackened demand, says the report.

From 2007 to 2012, the Chinese market posted an annualized growth of 15 per cent whereas the Indian market registered a somewhat lower growth at 12 per cent. However, both have performed better than the other major consumption regions (US, EU and Japan) where the economic conditions led to lower growth in demand.

“Asia has already emerged as the largest manufacturer-supplier hub for textile and apparel products to the world, and the region is on the verge of entering into a new phase wherein its own consumption of textile and apparel products would become large,” the report states.

It goes on to say the key reasons for apparel consumption in the two countries to grow are high economy growth, and consumer income, market development supported by expansion of domestic brands, which have the bandwidth and exposure to go deep into the markets, and high growth of online retail in these countries.

The report also suggests that the consumption level in countries would grow, as the Chinese consumer’s changing preference to buy more for fashion than replacement purpose would increase and Indian consumer’s growing exposure to organized retail and branded merchandise would also increase.