MUMBAI: Clothing sales in the upcoming festive season may remain stagnant or even decline when compared to last year's sales, said CMAI (Clothing Manufacturers Association of India) on Friday after carrying out an annual survey of its members.
CMAI, which has over 5000 members and serves more than 35,000 retailers across the country, said that 63% of the survey respondents are expecting to see the same or lower sales of clothing and apparel as compared to last year. Of these, nearly 25% are expecting the sales to be as low as 75% of the previous year.
Rajesh Masand, President of CMAI, said, "Considering the sluggish business environment that our industry has experienced in the past six months, the trends are not surprising. Yet, we are hopeful of not missing out on the Festive spending and expect demand to gradually surge considering the Wedding season later in the year."
Whilst the reasons for such low expectancy varied, the biggest factor impacting the low sentiments appeared to be the significant shift in larger wallet share of the consumer spending moving towards other avenues of lifestyle – with 35% of the respondents attributing their low expectations to this factor.
Another sizeable portion of 24% respondents attributed a slowing economy and inflation to be the top challenges at the moment.
Amongst the apparel categories, men’s wear seems to have been the worst affected, with a 75% of the respondents expecting women’s wear and kids wear to perform better in terms of demand during this Festive Season.