Hosiery in Colombia

2021 DEVELOPMENTS

Opening of society drives increased value sales

With society opening up in 2021 and people socialising and working in offices more, value sales increased strongly after the severe slump in value sales in 2021. Also, a significant portion of value sales of hosiery are impulse purchases and with consumers spending more time in outlets such as supermarkets, impulse purchases also picked up.

Crystal facing increased competition

Crystal, with its brands Gef and Galax, continued to lead hosiery in 2021 and is continually launching news collections and keeping on track of trends. The company launched a co-branded collection of socks with Postobón, a leading brand in non-cola carbonates.

Non-sheer hosiery registers higher growth.

Non-sheer hosiery accounted for the majority of value sales and also registered the highest current value growth in 2021. Factors such as people being out and about and practising sports more in 2021, as well the increasing acceptance of a less formal dress code in the office, contributed to healthy value sales.

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Moderate value growth over forecast period

Hosiery will register moderate constant value growth over the forecast period. Non sheer hosiery will continue to account for the majority of value sales and will register higher constant value growth than sheer hosiery.

The shift in focus away from low-cost basic products is set to attract new players

In Colombia, hosiery has traditionally been dominated by basic products sold in high volumes at low cost. However, the trend towards more interesting and better designed hosiery will result in the entry of new players as brands and companies seek to cash in on rising demand for more elaborate designs that offer better margins in both sheer hosiery and non-sheer hosiery.

Socks increasingly seen as way of expressing personality.

Socks are increasingly seen as a fashion statement, particularly among men, and are replacing the tie as a way to reflect one’s personality and this bodes well for growth over the forecast period. Socks are likely to feature bold colours and interesting designs, rather than being plain items in single drab colours such as black, white, grey or beige Colourful and humorous socks will continue trending and brands with an online presence such as Bassto (basstoco), It Socks! (itsocks), Stylo Socks (stylosocks), Sockstopia (sockstopia) and Freaky Socks (realfreakysocks) will benefit from the increasing interest in unique socks.