Childrenswear in Hong Kong, China

2020 IMPACT

Despite steep declines, childrenswear is less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than menswear and womenswear

Although childrenswear recorded steep declines during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the falls were not quite as severe as those witnessed in womenswear and menswear, as children tend to wear out and grow out of clothes with greater frequency than adults and, even during the pandemic, many needed new items of apparel. This is especially true within baby and toddler wear, which was the least severely affected area in childrenswear in 2020.

The leading companies retain their positions in a fragmented area

Chickeeduck Retail (Hong Kong) retained its leading position in company and brand terms in 2020 thanks to its strong heritage and distribution networks. Founded in 1990, Chickeeduck Retail (Hong Kong) has been in Hong Kong, China for 30 years with its Chickeeduck brand and enjoys a strong and trusted reputation among its loyal customers.

Strong growth for e-commerce during the pandemic

E-commerce recorded outstanding growth in apparel during the COVID-19 pandemic and this included sales of childrenswear. Unlike in adult apparel, most parents needed to continue to purchase new clothes for their children and babies as they continued to grow during the pandemic.

RECOVERY AND OPPORTUNITIES

A strong rebound for childrenswear in 2021

Childrenswear is expected to rebound strongly and rapidly from the steep declines in sales witnessed in 2020, with double-digit constant 2020 retail value and volume growth likely for 2021. The recovery will be so strong that actual constant 2020 retail value sales will already exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2021.

Players will continue to invest in e-commerce

Local premium brands such as Kingkow, Chickeeduck and many others showed great resilience during the pandemic by introducing online sales in 2020. Kingkow and others expanded to HKTVmall, for instance, which increased the number of its collection points from 75 to 100 during the crisis.

Low-priced crossover collections may lead to fast fashion price competition

Even though the premiumisation trend was strongly evident within childrenswear prior to the epidemic, the severe financial impacts of the crisis may dampen this trend among many parents going forward as they attempt to rein in their spending for some time to come. This may lead to rapid growth of fast fashion brands which provide a lower-priced and expanding range of apparel for children.