The size of the Korean apparel market has experienced negative growth for two consecutive years

Affected by the new crown epidemic, the Korean apparel market experienced negative growth last year. According to the "Korea Apparel Market Trend" report released by the Korea Fiber Industry Federation on the 11th, the Korean apparel market was 40.8 trillion won last year, a year-on-year decrease of 2%, and negative growth for two consecutive years after 2019.

Under the new crown epidemic, working from home has become the new normal, and a large number of external activities have been canceled or scaled down, resulting in a reduction of 17.5% and 9.9% in the market size of women's formal wear and men's formal wear, respectively. The children's clothing market has become mainstream due to online teaching and the continuous reduction of children's population. The market size has dropped by 22.4% to only 800 billion won. The market size of sportswear and underwear has decreased by 7.6% and 3.5% respectively.

In contrast, the casual clothing market increased by 1.9% year-on-year to 15.9 trillion won, accounting for 38.9% of the overall clothing market. The analysis said that it was mainly due to the increase in the sales of casual clothing driven by home office. The sneaker market, whose main source is young people, also grew by 5.7% year-on-year to 6.6 trillion won. Luggage sales hit a record high, up 8.8% year-on-year to 3.2 trillion won.

The Bank of Korea (Central Bank) recently predicted that South Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 3% this year. On this basis, the Korea Textile Industry Federation predicts that the Korean clothing market is expected to increase by 1.3% this year, reaching 41.3 trillion won. The main basis is the "retaliatory consumption" after the new crown epidemic and the substantial increase in high-end consumption such as luxury goods.