Stitch World Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 2

LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR GREAT
BUSINESS SYNERGY IN ASIA
Even as Western markets stagnate, India is
a country where fashion clothing at present
has a massive potential to grow mainly
owing to its young generation’s new-found
economic independence and confidence.
And the number of people who qualify as
young is huge. As per official data, in 2020,
the average age of an Indian will be 29 years,
compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan;
making India the country of the young!
It is imperative to note that while clothing
sales is growing at 6.7 per cent in the US, it
is an impressive 9.7 per cent in India. And
this reality is just the beginning – enough
to give the much-needed impetus to the
intent behind creating a show like Apparel
Sourcing Week 2019.
It is also important to recognise that the
aspiration for fashion is not limited to
the towns and the so-called metropolitan
cities, but is a pan-India phenomenon,
though the interpretation of fashion may be
different. In fact, the growth of retail sector
in smaller cities is outpacing that seen in
the metro cities.
Cities including Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh,
Kochi, Indore, Nagpur and Bhubaneshwar
are the current thriving retail sectors, buoyed
by factors such as increasing population
and rising income levels, as well as cheaper
land prices helping in the construction and
expansion of stores and malls.
Meanwhile, bigger brands such as
H&M and those belonging to large
business conglomerates such as Tata-
owned Trent, Aditya Birla’s Pantaloons
and Future Group’s Big Bazaar and
Easyday as well as the likes of GAP,
Nautica and US Polo are also expanding
in smaller cities.
As of today, the Indian clothing retail market,
worth US $ 49 billion, is fed by mostly Indian
manufacturing besides US $ 700 million
worth of apparels from China and US $ 300
million worth apparels from Bangladesh. But
with the market slated to reach US $ 115
billion by 2026, the Indian market would
require larger number of vendors to fulfil
the retail shelves.
Indian retailers and brands like Future
Group, Reliance Trends, Aditya Birla
Group and Raymond’s, in their bid to
expand further, have already started
developing the vendor base for sourcing
certain products from Bangladesh, Vietnam,
China and Sri Lanka in order to enhance their
competitiveness, locally and internationally.
The influx of international retailers over
the last decade has been a stimulus for
fast tracking the growth in the Indian retail
scenario and today the world is looking
towards India as the next big market
place for fashion. “The fashion segment
is seeing a churn because of the growth in
the industry from unorganised to organised
and new investments from overseas and
domestic investors…,” says Rahul Mehta,
President, CMAI, an industry expert who
has been at the centre of the movement,
underlining how entry of global retailers
has now increased traction to the retail
landscape.
With retailers looking for more products and
reliable partners, the upcoming Apparel
Sourcing Week, India, holds significance for
the Indian and international retailers and
brands to meet the best of the garment
manufacturers from India, Bangladesh,
Vietnam and Sri Lanka to build a long-
term relationship; to understand their
manufacturing capabilities; the quality
and timely delivery standards; and also, to
identify the ways by which the manufacturers
can address their growing needs.
With the right synergy, The Apparel
Sourcing Week, India is slated to become
the best and the widely acclaimed platform
to house the leading and the most popular
clothing and fashion manufacturers. It aims
to become the most visited trade fair in Asia
not only for the growing domestic retail but
also for the export market.
Some of the companies that have already
registered for participation include Energy
Pac; Sonia Sweaters; Pacific Jeans;
Standard Group; Giant Group; Apex
Lingerie; Well Group; Anowara; Pakiza
Group; Epic Group; Lenny Fashions; Laila
2 StitchWorld      FEBRUARY 2019      www.apparelresources.com
Styles; Bando Designs; NIPA; Armana;
Anzir Apparels, among many more!
The retail landscape is indeed very exciting
and dynamic, so, even before you embark
on your journey as a participant, the website
for ASW www.apparelsourcingweek.com
helps you to get an insight into the Indian
retail market, the key players and a small
profile of each of the visiting and registered
retailers. The website is not only for the
exhibits, but it also prepares and pre-
informs the visitors about the participants
and other activities that they can look
forward to during the two-day event.
Besides presenting a complete itinerary of
the event, the companies that are taking
part – their product portfolio and expertise;
list of buyers/retailers/brands that are
expected to throng the sourcing fest to
select new suppliers; ASW’s exhaustive
articles/whitepapers on various topics
by renowned industry experts, relevant
information pertaining to the market,
retailers/experts’ opinions on new and
evolving opportunities and how to exploit
the same, in a nutshell, are sure to help you
chart success with ease!
However, as sourcing events/fairs are
usually very busy places, it is important to
pre-register the visitors and deliver him/
her the passes for an easy and hassle-
free entry. To ensure a seamless and
pleasant experience for our valued visitors/
participants, a very simple form has been
created to help you complete the formalities
from the comfort of your home in advance.
Looking forward to meet you in Bengaluru
in March this year!
ORDER
YOUR
PASS
www.apparelsourcingweek.com