Speaking at the presentation for the upcoming Milan Fashion Week, Capasa said: “In 2022, we are going to reach and even exceed the level of sales generated before the 2008 crisis, recording the [Italian] fashion industry’s highest revenue in the last 20 years.”
Capasa confirmed this expectation despite ongoing issues affecting the entire fashion supply chain including energy costs, raw material costs, Covid-19 restrictions, problems due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict and further factors.
He added: “Even if the sector was to stop growing in H2, thanks to the record-breaking first six months of the year, we can predict a rise in sales in the region of 10-11% for 2022 as a whole.”
Fashion Network commented that the results are partly explained by price increases across the sector in response to increased costs. A report from the Chamber indicated that “excluding the [consumer] price increase effect, what we might call ‘real’ revenue has grown by over 18% above the level recorded before the 2008 financial crisis”.
Reportedly, Italian fashion sales saw sizeable increases across the first five months of 2022 in the U.S. (59.7%), South Korea (34.1%), Spain (31.5%), France (25.1%), Germany (20.2%) and the UK (22.3%). Overall, Italian fashion exports increased by 21.9% for this period over 2021. Understandably, sales to China, Hong Kong and Russia have dropped significantly, as much 26% for the latter due to widespread retail closures.
Capasa did express some concern over the ongoing energy crisis at the event, saying that “it will have a major impact, because our manufacturing sector is energy hungry. Previously, energy costs amounted to 10% of a textile producer’s revenue. Now, they have reached the 30% threshold, and beyond. If prices will continue to rise, many companies may be forced to stop producing”.
Source: Fashion Network
