Apparel, Clothing and Footwear

Sportswear experienced a double-digit current value decline in 2020 due to the pandemic. Consumers could not go out to enjoy sports or go to gatherings for yoga, for instance, due to home seclusion. However, in 2021 consumers were able to return to…

Overall, sportswear is expected to see healthy growth in retail current value terms in 2023. All categories of sportswear are predicted to continue their retail current value growth trajectories, albeit at a slower rate, compared with 2021 and 2022.…

Sportswear in Indonesia saw buoyant growth for the third consecutive year in 2023, driven by the developing athleisure trend and a growing focus on sports and fitness. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed consumers to pay more attention to their health and…

Sportswear is a winner in 2023, thanks to strong and ongoing athleisure and streetwear fashion trends, such as the popularity of sports-inspired footwear (eg sneakers), and hybrid styles whereby consumers mix sports-inspired apparel with more formal…

There was a notable consumer preference for vintage clothing in 2023, with trends such as “old money fashion vibe” and Levi’s “1955”. Male consumers displayed an interest in clothes worn during older times, such as straight cut jeans, tucked-in basic…

Menswear continues to post healthy current value sales growth, as South Korea fully entered an endemic era from May 2023. Followed by the lifting of social distancing measures in 2022, the South Korea government lifted the mask mandate in April 2023…

After a rebound to growth in 2022, menswear in Japan is set to maintain positive retail volume and current value growth rates in 2023. The category experienced a significant decline in 2020, followed by a year of slower decline in 2021, as COVID-19…

Menswear is set to see a strong single-digit rise in retail current value sales over 2023 to exceed the 2019 pre-pandemic level, following the slump recorded in 2020 due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and fast growth rebounds in both 2021…

The overall rate of retail volume growth in menswear slowed in 2023, compared to the previous two years. The high rate of inflation, at least during the first half of the year, meant that consumers continued to suffer from reduced levels of…

Menswear continues to perform fairly well in 2023, despite seeing lower volume growth than witnessed in the previous two years – which can be attributed to a normalisation effect following the steep declines seen during the era of the pandemic store…

Vintage classic jeans brands are seen to stand the test of time and are known for their quality. The growing popularity of vintage classic jeans in the Philippines has been due to a combination of style preferences, sustainability concerns, cyclical…

Demand for jeans continues to grow in 2023, driven by the ongoing popularity of street casual. The beginning of the endemic era in South Korea and consumers’ increasing outdoor activities are also helping to boost demand for durable jeans. The…

Jeans experienced a significant drop in sales in 2020, followed by a year of stagnation in 2021 as COVID-19 prevailed in the country in these two years. Home seclusion, or “sugomori” in Japanese, was a hot term at this time. As society began to open…

Jeans is expected to see a low single-digit growth in retail current value terms over 2023, to return to the 2019 pre-Coronavirus (COVID-19) level. Jeans started to recover in 2021, having suffered a downturn with the pandemic, as Italians limited…

Following a two-year period of steady growth, demand for both men’s and women’s jeans declined in 2023, as cash-strapped consumers cut back on non-essential expenditure Compared to many other items of apparel, a pair of jeans is less subject to…

Jeans is in a volume slump in 2023, following a strong rebound after the pandemic era declines. This can partly be attributed to budgetary reasons, evidenced by the fact that economy jeans is showing the best performance, along with the fact that…

Filipinos, in general, are not fans of layering. Instead, the tropical climate of the Philippines means that they are usually fairly minimalist in terms of clothing. Hosiery products are widely seen to be too hot and often unnecessary to wear. As an…

With the lifting of the mask mandate in 2023 amid the waning impact of COVID-19 in South Korea, local consumer are enjoying outdoor activities, including participating in sports, without restrictions. In particular, demand for non-sheer hosiery has…

2020 was a year of decline for overall apparel and footwear, but for hosiery it was a disaster. One-third of the category’s volume and value sales vanished in just this year. 2021 and 2022 also saw declines, although at a much slower rate. Even in…

Hosiery continued on its way towards recovery in 2023, after the steep decline in retail volume and current value sales recorded in 2020. The recovery started in 2021 and continued throughout 2022 as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gradually…

Retail volume sales of hosiery in Indonesia managed to achieve only modest growth in 2023, with demand remaining well below pre-pandemic levels. The category saw a better performance in 2021 and 2022, following the return of Indonesians to their…

Hosiery is another category in negative volume growth, while value is better supported by inflationary factors. Both sheer hosiery and non-sheer hosiery are showing such slumps, with sheer hosiery performing slightly better by a tiny margin. That…

The trend towards athletic and sports-inspired footwear in the Philippines reflects a growing desire for comfort, functionality, and a fashion forward approach to the active lifestyles of Filipinos. It combines practicality with style, catering to a…

In 2023, sports footwear continues to post healthy sales growth, as South Korea enters an endemic era where all social restrictions, including the mask mandate, have been fully lifted and consumers have returned to normal outdoor activities. As…

Footwear saw significant declines in retail volume and current value terms in 2020 due to the pandemic, followed by minimal declines in 2021, as many consumers did not need as much new footwear due to spending more time at home. The category saw a…

Footwear is projected to see healthy, if slower than in 2021 and 2022, retail current value growth and a slight, and similarly slower, retail volume increase over 2023. This is set to enable footwear to slightly exceed its 2019 pre-pandemic retail…

Footwear in Indonesia continued to see positive growth in volume terms in 2023, with women’s footwear leading the way. Sales were boosted by the post-pandemic revival of social activities, such as weddings, parties and other gatherings, alongside the…

Footwear volume is managing to stay in very small positive growth in 2023, which is expected to pick up slightly in 2024, then slump again over the forecast period. Meanwhile, value is being better supported by inflationary pressures pushing up unit…

The COVID-19 crisis had a differing impact on birth rates in different countries. In the Philippines, there was a baby boom, as an increased birth rate resulted from families being cooped up in their homes during the period of lockdowns. This has led…

In 2022, the total fertility rate in South Korea reached a new low of 0.78, with the number of newborns also dropping below 250,000 for the first time. The ongoing decline of new births in the country is resulting in falling retail volume sales for…

Childrenswear did not perform well even before the pandemic, as the number of children has been continuously decreasing in Japan. Growth was then hit hard in 2020, experiencing a double-digit decline, followed by a year of little movement in 2021 as…

Childrenswear suffered a disruption, but less so compared with menswear and womenswear, in 2020, in the wake of the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19). This was partly because parents tend to prioritise goods for their children, but also because…

Childrenswear saw more modest growth in retail volume terms in 2023, relative to the two previous years. Compared to other areas of apparel and footwear, such as menswear, womenswear and hosiery, sales were comparatively unaffected by the COVID-19…

One would think that childrenswear would be resilient, due to the necessity of replacement needed for growing infants and children. However, both value and volume sales are in a slump in 2023. One key reason for this is the declining birth rate in…

According to the Philippines Statistics Authority, the Philippines saw a population increase of 1.5% in 2023 compared with the previous year. The growth in the population is expanding the consumer base for apparel and footwear. In addition to this,…

Apparel and footwear is posting positive but slower current value and retail volume growth in 2023 compared to the previous year, as many consumers’ needs/wants for new apparel and footwear have been largely fulfilled following the lifting of social…

The fading of COVID-19 has been a significant turning point for Japanese consumers, who have been leaving their homes and therefore driving the return of footfall in town centres. In May 2023, the Japanese government changed the legitimate…

Apparel and footwear is projected to record strong retail current value growth over 2023, albeit slower than in 2021 and 2022, when sales rebounded from a lower base following the slump caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Nonetheless, most…

Retail sales of apparel and footwear in Indonesia registered relatively modest growth in constant value terms in 2023, when compared to the previous two years. As the country emerged from the pandemic, Indonesians became increasingly keen to travel,…

Apparel and footwear in France is seeing an overall volume slump in 2023, while value is supported by inflation pushing up unit prices, thus giving an artificial perspective of positive performance. Whilst we did see a robust volume uptick in the…

Belts for loose fitting jeans and clothing have developed into a trend in the Philippines due to the demand for contrast and style, personalisation, versatility, and comfort of fit. The contrast between a loose fitting garment and a stylish belt…

As local consumers continue to purchase apparel in 2023, sales of fashionable accessories such as belts, scarves, hats/caps and ties are also increasing. Therefore, these types of accessories continue to post positive retail volume and current value…

Overall apparel accessories is set to register positive current value growth in 2023, although there are expected to be different performances across categories. These movements are due to sales continuing to normalise after the disruption in 2020,…

Apparel accessories is projected to see slight retail volume and strong retail current value growth over 2023, with the recovery of all categories, except for “other” apparel accessories. This category continued to suffer steep declines due to the…

Retail volume sales of apparel accessories plummeted in 2023. This was due to the declining performance of other apparel accessories, following the relaxation of regulations regarding the wearing of face masks in indoor settings in December 2022. The…

Apparel accessories has slumped in volume in 2023, to just under 1% growth. This is in contrast to the more promising performance seen over the past two years, as the category rebounded from the double-digit volume decline seen during the pandemic.…

The United Arab Emirates is home to a highly dynamic retail environment, where a brand’s entry and exit can occur fairly rapidly compared to more mature markets. In 2023, several formerly standalone brands, some of which had previously exited the…

With the end to the zero-COVID policy in the country, and the return to a more normal consumer environment, womenswear is expected to experience a substantial single-digit current value rebound in China in 2023, drawing close to the level of sales…

Nike, adidas, and lululemon are among leading global sportswear brands that are embracing localisation strategies by introducing hijab and modest sportswear to cater for residents in the United Arab Emirates. adidas stands out with its comprehensive…

The massive lockdowns and widespread COVID-19 infections in 2022 weighed down sales of sportswear in China, which registered a slight current value decline in this year. Nevertheless, outdoor apparel and footwear kept outperforming the overall…