Report looks at European workwear market

A Frost and Sullivan product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 11, 2002

Who will survive? That is the question posed by Emma Smith, Research Analyst with Frost and Sullivan in her market report on the European Workwear market.

Who will survive? That is the question posed by Emma Smith, Research Analyst with Frost and Sullivan in her market report on the European workwear market.

The European workwear market is both large and mature, especially in Northern Europe, and total sales are moving forward only very gradually.

From a user base of over 50 million in 2001, the market was worth $3.59 billion, the equivalent of 306.2 million pieces.

Frost and Sullivan expect the market to achieve compound annual growth of 2.5% between 2001 and 2008, which will take revenues to $4.27 billion by 2008.

In such a market it is difficult to see how the present 650 European suppliers can all survive.

Smith explains: "It is certainly true to say that suppliers to the workwear market in Europe have had to overcome numerous challenges in the recent past in order to stay competitive in what remains a very crowded marketplace.

Not least among these challenges has been the rise in imports of working clothes from countries that command significantly lower operational costs.

The end result of this has been the influx of clothes on the European market at a price that cannot be matched by Western suppliers.

The availability of low cost clothing in Europe was the challenge that was most commonly identified by suppliers interviewed for this report.

I have identified two principal means of surmounting this problem.

The relocation of garment manufacturing facilities to low-cost countries, and the up-grading of product offerings to justify higher prices".

Smith concludes by suggesting that only those companies who adopt a strategic marketing policy of aggressive expansion via acquisition, streamlining of product offering or strategic partnerships will survive and begin to dominate this fragmented marketplace.

The new report provides a comprehensive overview of key trends that impact this market, which includes; general workwear, uniforms and corporate clothing, and is segmented both by these categories and by geography.

It details the drivers and restraints that are expected to affect market growth during the forecast period 2002-2008 and highlights the challenges faced by workwear market suppliers.

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