Hosiery in Israel

2020 IMPACT

Home seclusion trend in 2020 negatively impacts demand for hosiery

While overall hosiery experienced declining demand due to the home seclusion trend in 2020, sheer hosiery recorded the weaker performance. This category tends to be supported by demand from female consumers in Israel, and as they were unable to leave their homes to work or socialise, demand was much lower compared to previous years.

Stronger presence of non-sheer hosiery due to wider consumer reach including religious groups

Non-sheer hosiery has a stronger presence in Israel, due to greater year-round usage by religious and orthodox populations, with the latter continuing to grow. Many groups of religious women always tend to cover their legs for modesty even during the heat of the summer.

Delta Galil retains convincing leadership in 2020, but smaller players regain lost share

Delta Galil Industries Ltd retained its convincing leadership of hosiery at a considerable distance ahead of its nearest competitors Nike and adidas. Delta is a well-known and popular brand in Israel appreciated for its quality, while catering to the hosiery needs of men, women, and children.

RECOVERY AND OPPORTUNITIES

Despite return to greater levels of normality over the forecast period, hosiery will struggle to fully recover by 2025

While hosiery is predicted to return to positive growth from 2021 onwards, the rates of growth are unlikely to be as high as the review period prior to the pandemic. Therefore, despite the practical and essential nature of non-sheer socks for sports (placing an emphasis on both practicality and fashion), school and the workplace amongst other factors, overall hosiery will struggle to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2025 in both volume and value terms (at constant 2020 prices) due to the significant declines during the pandemic.

Further changes in seasonality could dampen further demand for sheer hosiery

Towards the end of the review period, the weather in Israel had become increasingly unpredictable with winters generally becoming shorter and milder. For most areas in Israel, winters do not get particularly cold anyway, so the need for hosiery is not as high, particularly impacting demand for tights from women and children.

Fragmentation likely to remain within hosiery

Hosiery is fairly fragmented and offers a high proportion of unbranded socks and sheer hosiery which tend to be sold in a wide range of stores including low-priced beauty specialists. This trend is expected to continue, with no solid differentiation offered between products, and therefore many consumers will continue to be governed by price, certainly in the early part of the forecast period.