Clothing Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI) conducted a survey among 110 wedding clothing manufacturers to assess the business trends in the wedding season that was recently concluded. As many as 77% of the survey respondents indicated average to poor sales in the past season. More than 60% of the respondents attributed the weak performance to the general economic slowdown, while 14% attributed it to high prices. However, 13% respondents felt the lesser number of auspicious dates as compared to the previous season contributed to the drop in sales.
When compared to the wedding season in the year 2022, a huge majority of 83% of the respondents revealed that there has been ‘No Growth’ as compared to the previous season. Most respondents (40%) indicated a drop in sales between 10% – 25% over the previous year. A large majority of almost 85% of the respondents indicated that economically priced products fared better than the more expensive varieties. Lighter embroideries and pastel colours were more in demand as per the survey results.
Speaking about the domestic apparel industry, Rajesh Masand, President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) said, “Currently the market is seeing a fairly significant slowdown, which has been caused by the overall inflationary conditions in the market. The first quarter of the current financial year is likely to be disappointing for the industry, and the impact is being felt by both the value as well as the upper segments of consumers.”
Speaking about increasing urbanisation of India is leading to change in fashion sensibilities among Indian youth, Mr. Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), “Exposure to western culture with accessibility to content over social media platforms are influencing the dressing patterns, and fashion sense amongst the youth, which is causing a gradual shift from traditional clothing to western clothing especially in the women’s wear segment. On the other hand, some sort of a ‘return to tradition’ is being seen in the men’s wear segment, with more men wanting to wear traditional clothing during festivals and weddings.”
The apparel industry has been growing at a fairly consistent rate of 8-10% per annum. Postpandemic the apparel industry witnessed a revival in the year 2022 with consumers going back to the physical stores and markets, and the year 2022-23 is estimated to have grown by between 15-20%. However, with the costs of raw materials as well over all cost of production having gone up substantially, this growth has been entirely price-led, and the volumes would still be below the previous year by 3-5%.
