1.TOP 15 US DENIM BUYERS FROM VIETNAM

But as mentioned in this previous report , sales Super of Premium Denim Jeans ( $200 + Jeans) in the US has taken a knock. And the same is reflected in lower production of Premium Denim Jeans in US and thus lower imports of denim fabrics . Lets analyze these figures :

Consolidated Data for Denim fabrics:

                                    Jan-May 2008            Jan- May 2009

Imports in US

(Linear mtrs)         13 Million Mtrs          8.6 Million Mtrs

Here I am giving the figures of  denim fabrics reflecting the exports of Denim Fabrics from various countries during this period.

Imports of Denim Fabrics In USA in Jan- May 2009

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Int’l Trade Commission.However
square mtr figures have been converted to Linear mtrs(1m=1.55sq m average) for easy understanding.

This fall in the imports of Denim fabrics into US coincides with an increase

in sales of Jeans. This can indicate the following:

a) Manufacturing of Premium jeans in US has taken a knock.
b)Some of the Premium Denim Brands may have actually shifted part of their productions overseas to reduce costs.

It is also interesting to see that where countries like China , Italy  and Turkey have lost substantial volumes, others like  Taiwan, Mexico and Japan have gained .  Here, however, it should be noted that Premium Denim brands have a marked preference for Japanese denim fabrics . However, these fabrics may not always come directly from Japan only.They are sometimes  routed through China and Hongkong also .

Taiwan is a quiet but regular exporter of denim fabrics. It does not figure anywhere as a large denim manufacturing country  , but it does manufacture very specialized denim fabrics and US has always been its regular buyer . And for the last few years, Premium Denim manufacturers have been using its fabrics in volumes.

Italy and Turkey are two other major countries to have their exports reduced.  However, with improving market in US, their exports might pick up a bit.

Other countries are really so small in their export figures that % changes in their figures hardly make a difference.

The year 2008 has again shown a drop of over 10% over 2007 and the net imports stand at 41 million mtrs. Perhaps a sign of times to come in this era of recession..

A report by CottonInc brings out the latest facts and trends in the jeans consumption in the US. It corroborates our previous report that the consumption and imports of Jeans in the US in 2008 was about 5% more than that in 2007.

Here are some interesting facts from the report:

a) US consumers:Own about 15 denim garments each on an average.
Out of these are 7 pairs of jeans.
Of all apparel purchased , denim formed 17% ( remember ,denim is the highest selling
clothing item in the world.
Are buying more of denim especially now since denim is more value for money.

b)Brand loyalty: Brand loyalty is quite high across genders,income levels and age groups.
73% of the consumers preferred to buy the same brand of jeans they owned.
64% of men and 45% of women preferred the same brand of jeans for 6 years.
What is interesting to note is that brand loyalty has been generated due to product
features rather than brand name. 66% consumers listed fit as the most important factor
for buying a jeans rather than its name (1%)

c)Price sensitivity:Price senstivity is going to increase in the year 2009. Though only 9% respondents
mentioned price as the reason to buy a brand, over 26% mention price will be the most
imp factor in the next purchase. With the economy slowing down, we should not be
surprised if this figure increases further.
Average price that a consumers were willing to pay for a good fitting jeans fell down from
$36.10 in January 2008 to $ 32.13 in October 2008.

d) Denim Imports:Mexico , China and Bangladesh remained the top three exporters of jeans to US in
2008.They exported (till September 2009) the following million units of jeans :
Mexico – 92.8 million units
China – 55.6 million units
Bangladesh – 39.1 million units
Egypt – 23.4 million units
Hongkong – 23.2 million units
Out of these, Bangaldesh had the lowest average price of jeans exported – $5.07 against
a world average export price of $ 7.45

Going by these figures and previous reports coming in regarding denim consumption in the US, we get the indications that the consumption of denim/jeans would perhaps not experience the serious fall in consumption as expected in other clothing (esp fashion products) items. The reason is clear – consumers want to invest in jeans as – it lasts longer, can be worn at wide variety of occasions, offers wide price ranges and remains its fashion appeal. Will we see the market share of some clothing items cannabalised by
Jeans ?.
Another lesson , oft repeated, for jeans producers is that FIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT factor consumers . Identify your target consumers and give them the best fits possible.Though quality of denim, wash, brand name all are important, they are secondary to THE FIT ..

Download the full report on denim jeans consumption in US here – right click and ‘Save link as’

Figures of Imports of Jeans into USA in 2007 and 2008

Source:US customs

These figures seem to defy logic as we get continuous reports of falling consumption levels in US esp since the first quarter of 2008 showed reduced imports and we have seen the growth come only in 2nd and 3rd quarters. But we still have one quarter left in 2008 and we might see some fall here. Another possibilty is that the imports of cheaper denims might be slowly replacing that of more expensive ones and it might be causing some shift in volumes to the former category and affecting overall volumes positively. But I am sure that in the coming quarters we will see some impact of the recession on the imports of Jeans into US..

Related Posts:

US Denim imports in 2007 & 2006

Mens Jeans Imports into US 2007 & 2008 – Quarter wiseNew Page 1

The third and the fourth quarters are the main quarters when we see the volumes jumping. We will have a much better idea only at the end of the third quarter. But if my guess is correct , the imports in the third quarter may register a fall and the improvement that we see in the second quarter is temporary.

Related Posts:

• Men’s Jeans imports in 2007
• Countrywise imports of Men’s Jeans into US
• Effect of Rupee appreciation on jeans imports

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Country

Total Imports of Mens Jeans in 2007:: 273.93 million pcs
Source:US Customs

Some points are worth noting from the table:
a)Mexico still retains its position as number 1 exporter despite falling share.But that is expected to fall.
b)China is yet to make a significant mark in the US men’s jeans market.Though it will definitely.
c)Bangladesh has continued to make progress and has aquired a sizeable 9% share of the market.
However, its neighbour India still has an insignificant share of 0.67% and it shows that India is absolutely uncompetitive in Men’s Jeans.
d)Small countries like Lesotho have made great use of Sub-saharan treaties to increase exports to US
e)Egypt has gained a great share at the cost of Jordan due to benefits extended to it. Jordan has lost the share due to its rising costs.This is continue to grow and more and more of factories are expected to shift to Egypt.

The fall in the jeans imports is perhaps consistent with the fall in growth rate of denim consumption..

Related Posts: Imports of Jeans continues to decline in 2008.

                              Rebound in US Men’s Jeans Imports in second qarter.

                             Imports of Jeans in US –2007 and 2008

Sea Washed(!) : The jeans have been hand washed in the sea and dried on the rocks nearby.This means that the washing effects will be subtle and denim will be hard (no chemicals to soften the denim are used).’Whiskering’ and ‘honeycombing’ will come with time as the jeans wears out..Exclusive tailoring is used whereby each jeans is tailored by a single operator who signs each completed pair(if I am correct -Earnest Sewn also uses such tailoring techniques to ensure quality).
The overall effect of all the above mentioned techniques would probably give a clean ,natural looking jeans with somewhat trouser looks. Here is a Evisu’s SS09 Milan Spring Summer Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWgbzmh-QQ&eurl=http://www.evisu.com/blog/2008/07/09/evisus-ss09-milan-spring-summer-video/]

Related Links on Evisu:
Evisu Autumn Winter ’08 Milan Men’s Show
Evisu Autumn Winter’08 Milan Show Video
Backstage photos at Milan ’09 Show

Exports of Mens/Boys jeans from India and Bangladesh to USA in 2006 and 2007

Source :US customs

From the figures given above , we can see that the exports of jeans from India registered a fall of 8% in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. However, the second and the third quarter have seen a steady increase in exports of jeans to US inspite of the appreciation of rupee.
On the other hand, the exports from Bangladesh continue to register a robust increase in all the three quarters of 2007..Bangladesh,in any case, has a huge lead over India in exports of Jeans and it seems to be increasing the gap further.
What is interesting is that the exports from India have not registered a fall despite the huge appreciation of rupee. This signifies that the additional capacities of jeans manufacturing have been created in India and the increase in exports would have been very significant, had the rupee not appreciated so much.
However, the next 2 quarters would show whether the Indian companies can sustain the growth in exports despite rupee appreciation or not – though i believe that the exports may grow stably given the excess capacities available in the industry..

All figures are in Million Dozens.

Source : US Customs

Interesting…