Abstract
Why buy this report
- Get insight into trends in market performance
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
- Identify market and brand leaders and understand the competitive
environment
Product coverage
Clothing; Footwear
Executive summary
Clothing and footwear: a mature market
The UK clothing and footwear market is essentially mature. Although a
necessary requirement of life and particularly influenced by fashion trends,
both clothing and footwear were by hit by price discounting during recent
years. Increased competition at retail level, particularly due to the growing
involvement of grocery retailers, caused price deflation in most clothing and
footwear. This situation was exacerbated by the growing globalisation of
product supply, with UK production increasingly relocated to low-cost centres
in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Grocery retailers are becoming important
The profile of UK distribution channels for clothing and footwear changed
during the 1990s. There was a major shift away from traditional outlets, such
as department stores, clothing independents and variety stores, in favour of
grocery retailers and discounters. This reflects both the growing importance
of casual formats and the downward pressure of cheaper, imported products on
retail price levels. Additionally, shopping is increasingly moving away from
traditional high street locations to out-of-town shopping centres, where
families may spend a good part of the day browsing and shopping in a wide
range of stores.
Designing "in", manufacturing "out"
There was a major shift in production of both clothing and footwear away from
the UK to low-cost production centres, primarily in Asia or Eastern Europe.
For example, Marks & Spencer abandoned its previous strategy of sourcing the
majority of its products from UK production in 2005 and it now sources around
17% of clothing materials from India and 44% from Asia. To compensate for this
shift in production, leading UK manufacturers began to emphasise their
expertise in product design in order to add value to the finished product.
Buy fashionable items, dress them, and buy again
The UK consumer increasingly regards an item of clothing or footwear as
disposable, rather than an investment. Quality remains important, but fashion
plays a much greater role in everyday purchasing, so that an item may not be
expected to last longer than one season. This placed an emphasis on price
levels and significantly increased availability of ' value' brands in
supermarkets and discounters, which stimulated volume sales without
contributing to value sales development.
Casual formats became the rule
Although, formal clothing and footwear are normally seen as a symbol of
success, taste and sophistication, casual clothing strengthened its position
as the most important format. Companies are in general flexible in their dress
codes and casual clothes gradually gained position on formal formats.
Moreover, in social events such as business meetings, conferences, restaurants
or parties, the ' smart casual' dress code is typically the norm. There is also
a growing emphasis on purchasing clothing and footwear for evening and sports,
as lifestyles changed.
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