Garment exports save the day for manufacturers

Exports of fashion and lifestyle products from India have started seeing an uptick as demand in the UK and the United States is picking up, said suppliers to international brands such as Zara, H&M and Primark.

“As demand in the north American region and Britain starts to grow, our business has started to pick up," said Sanjay Jain, chief executive of PDS Multinational Fashions which supplies to brands including Zara, Walmart, Mango and Superdry.

Pent-up demand and increased online sales are expected to give a boost to exports, he said.

“Despite some problems related to migration of workers, exports are doing well,” said Rahul Mehta, chief mentor at the Clothing Manufacturers Association.

This comes months after shipments were kept on hold, orders cancelled and payments were stalled, as global retailers were in distress due to the high number of Covid-19 cases in most countries which led to lockdowns and low shopper turnout.

“We sent our first order for the summer collection last week,” said an executive at one of the largest apparel exporters to brands such as H&M and Zara, requesting anonymity.

The order volume, however, is nowhere close to the pre-pandemic level as brands want to mitigate risk, said exporters.

Global brands, which have been relying on e-commerce for most of their sales until now, are expecting shoppers to be back in stores as vaccination for Covid-19 has been rolled out and quite a few have taken the jab in the past few weeks.

According to industry estimates, the global textile and apparel market was worth $1.9 trillion in 2019 and was projected to reach $3.3 trillion in 2030. Europe and the US contribute about 30% to the total apparel market and hence the launch of vaccination in these two regions has led to the increase in international orders, said exporters.