Imports fall, inventory surplus! US holiday clothing sales will be sluggish!

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, clothing retailers will see a decline in sales during the 2023 holiday shopping season. The decline is partly due to their slowing down of imports while focusing on cutting down the large amount of goods stockpiled during the 2022 supply chain turmoil.

Some U.S. retailers are bracing for sharp declines in clothing and footwear sales in the coming quarters, the report said, sending a signal that better-than-expected retail data could see further declines in the coming months.

U.S. Holiday Shopping Season Apparel Sales Forecast

Data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on June 15 showed that U.S. retail sales increased by 0.3% month-on-month in May, following a 0.4% month-on-month increase in April, better than the expected -0.2%. But the outlook for the end of this year and next year looks bleak. Some factories said that retailers' holiday orders have fallen sharply as consumers have taken an increasingly cautious attitude towards spending. At least one factory working with a brand said that retailers expect the number of goods sold in the spring and summer of 2024 to fall sharply.

It is reported that after the Federal Reserve announced that it would raise interest rates again, the decline in clothing orders is likely to lead to a further recession in the US economy.

U.S. apparel imports fell 31% in the first four months of this year from a year earlier, according to U.S. government trade data.

“Apparel retailers are facing unprecedented anxiety,” said Sheng Lu, associate professor of apparel studies at the University of Delaware.

Weak employment in the apparel industry

According to the latest data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, overall employment in California's apparel manufacturing sector fell 4.6% in April. The state's employment rate began to decline in October last year. Los Angeles County, California, is the center of the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry and has one-third of the country's apparel industry jobs.

The head of retail analytics platform MakerSights said some large retailers in North America and Europe are cutting the merchandise they plan to order from popular American brands for the spring and summer of 2025 by more than 50% compared with the previous year. Normally, this range is around 5%-10%.

Clothing orders may be lower than expected

In a knitwear factory about 20 minutes’ drive from downtown Los Angeles, a worker named “Wei Wang” said that if you just listen to the sparse sound of the automatic knitting machines, you will know that the apparel industry will definitely have a hard time in the coming year. Because usually, the sound is very loud.

Workers also noted that fall and holiday season orders received by the factory this year have fallen by 30% to 40% compared with the same period last year.

Wei, CEO of Andari Fashion Inc., a U.S. company, recently visited his factory in China. The company's China regional manager said they have completed the production of sweaters for the upcoming holiday season. But in previous years, they were very busy before September and October.

"As consumers are more cautious about spending, our customers are placing smaller orders or delaying their orders," Wei said.

Editor ✎ Nicole/

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