Changing Fashions: A Look at the UK Fashion Industry
Glyn Barlow
The UK high street fashion industry is worth an estimated £44.5
billion. In 1960 10% of household expenditure was spent on
clothing and footwear. Today, thanks to discounted prices, lower
production costs abroad and a flood of Chinese imports, only 6%
of household expenditure is spent on keeping us fashionable.
Encouragingly for the consumer, between 2001 and 2005 average
clothing and footwear prices fell 14.4% whilst the cost of
living has risen by 12.6%.
Discounting is rife in the ultra-competitive UK fashion market.
Marks & Spencer remains the market leader in the sale of high
street fashion, but faces fierce competition from discount
fashion specialists such as Primark and TK Maxx. Increasingly,
affluent younger consumers are buying formerly exclusive high
fashion brands such as; Prada (Italy), Chloe (France), Hugo Boss
(Germany), Burberry (UK) and Donna Karan (U.S) to mention but a
few.
The rise of cheap imports has nearly wiped out UK manufacturing.
These days UK manufacturing concentrates on specialist fashion
clothing or luxury products, mostly made for wealthy consumer in
other developed countries. A continued trend in the fashion
industry is the integration of manufacturers and retailers. The
top three fashion retailers in UK; Next, Marks & Spencer and
Arcadia (Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, BHS etc.), are all
manufacturing and retailing their own fashion brands. Exceptions
to this vertical integration are the street fashion brands of
Nike, Adidas and Reebok, who prefer specialist retailers.
To conclude, the UK fashion market will continue to be driven by
retailers rather than manufacturers with a polarisation between
discounters and full-price retailers. The full-price retailers
will capitalise on young consumer demand for couture-house
designs, quality materials and individual styles sold as "fast
fashion" with items offered for a limited time before new styles
are released. Forecasts to 2010 are for the women's, girls and
infants fashion market to grow by 23% with a 15.6% growth for
the men's and boys fashion market.
View the range of
handbags & Fashion from Fashion Shop UK
About the author:
Glyn Barlow is a director of Fashion Shop Uk, an online fashion
house stocking a wide range of handbags and fashion accessories.
View the range of
handbags from Fashion Shop UK
The UK high street fashion industry is worth an estimated £44.5
billion. In 1960 10% of household expenditure was spent on
clothing and footwear. Today, thanks to discounted prices, lower
production costs abroad and a flood of Chinese imports, only 6%
of household expenditure is spent on keeping us fashionable.
Encouragingly for the consumer, between 2001 and 2005 average
clothing and footwear prices fell 14.4% whilst the cost of
living has risen by 12.6%.
Discounting is rife in the ultra-competitive UK fashion market.
Marks & Spencer remains the market leader in the sale of high
street fashion, but faces fierce competition from discount
fashion specialists such as Primark and TK Maxx. Increasingly,
affluent younger consumers are buying formerly exclusive high
fashion brands such as; Prada (Italy), Chloe (France), Hugo Boss
(Germany), Burberry (UK) and Donna Karan (U.S) to mention but a
few.
The rise of cheap imports has nearly wiped out UK manufacturing.
These days UK manufacturing concentrates on specialist fashion
clothing or luxury products, mostly made for wealthy consumer in
other developed countries. A continued trend in the fashion
industry is the integration of manufacturers and retailers. The
top three fashion retailers in UK; Next, Marks & Spencer and
Arcadia (Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, BHS etc.), are all
manufacturing and retailing their own fashion brands. Exceptions
to this vertical integration are the street fashion brands of
Nike, Adidas and Reebok, who prefer specialist retailers.
To conclude, the UK fashion market will continue to be driven by
retailers rather than manufacturers with a polarisation between
discounters and full-price retailers. The full-price retailers
will capitalise on young consumer demand for couture-house
designs, quality materials and individual styles sold as "fast
fashion" with items offered for a limited time before new styles
are released. Forecasts to 2010 are for the women's, girls and
infants fashion market to grow by 23% with a 15.6% growth for
the men's and boys fashion market.
View the range of
handbags & Fashion from Fashion Shop UK
About the author:
Glyn Barlow is a director of Fashion Shop Uk, an online fashion
house stocking a wide range of handbags and fashion accessories.
View the range of
handbags from Fashion Shop UK
posted by The Editor at
5:50 AM
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