Apparel and footwear was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while recovery gathered steam quicker than initially expected, high inflation, the war in Ukraine and China’s COVID situation further disrupted the global economy, forcing market players to reassess their priorities. Those banking on personalisation, experiential shopping and sustainability, while diversifying their supplier base and investing in automation and big data, will be best positioned in such a volatile environment.
This report comes in PPT.
While global sales of apparel and footwear bounced back quicker than previously expected, the war in Ukraine, all time high inflation and China’s strict COVID policies have further disrupted the global economy, forcing market players to reassess their priorities and operating procedures – from which markets to expand, to distribution channels and where to produce.
Strict COVID-19 policies and the “guochao” trend in China (Chinese consumers increasingly embracing domestic brands), combined with the poor economic outlook and political instability in Europe, have led international fashion players to diversify their retail markets in a bid to drive their global growth.
Already heavily disrupted by the global pandemic, supply chains are now challenged by the current market volatility. This is reshaping the global production landscape, as market players invest in AI and automation, vertical integration and diversification of suppliers to mitigate their risks and predict demand.
Following the pandemic and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, social justice and climate change have come to the fore for a growing number of consumers and fashion players need to reprioritise their ESG and DEI commitments as part of their core values, all the more since regulation in that regard is evolving, for example the EU Green Deal.
Consumers increasingly demand a personal and seamless experience from the brands they buy, and the option to engage with them on or offline as and when it suits them best. Hence companies continue to invest in their omnichannel transformation, from digitally-enhanced stores to NFTs, as they need to achieve greater efficiency, improve the customer experience and stay relevant for new generations.
Apparel is the aggregation of clothing and footwear. This dataset covers retail sales of apparel through both store-based retailers and non-store retailers. Excludes black market sales (i.e. untaxed, generated within informal retailing)and duty free sales (travel retail). Items must be new when sold to the consumer; second-hand/used items are excluded. Antique and/or vintage clothing and footwear is also excluded.
See All of Our DefinitionsIf you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extraction Free!