Executive Summary
Key Note estimates that the apparent UK market for sales of clothing in the UK reached £10.35bn in 1997, compared with £8.24bn in 1993. This represents a total increase of 25.6% over the 5-year period.
Retail sales, at market prices, increased during the same period from £17.49bn in 1993 to £22.05bn in 1997, which represents a total increase of 26.1%. Domestic market demand continued to expand the share held by UK manufacturers in 1997, accounting for 64.7% of apparent UK demand compared with 70.9% in 1993, due to the steep increase in both the value and volume of imports, with only a moderate increase in exports.
Many of the biggest clothing manufacturers in the UK have decided to reduce both the number and capacity of their factories in the UK in favour of cheaper production locations overseas. The transfer of mainstream production to countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, China, etc., is expected to continue, as the cost advantages in these countries are considered to be irreversible. This phenomenon is not unique to the UK. Germany has transferred most of its clothing manufacturing plant into neighbouring countries, in central and eastern Europe, and French manufacturers have a similar outsourcing policy, with new production facilities in Morocco and Tunisia.
There will always be a market for bespoke tailoring, high-quality clothing and specialist clothing which requires domestic manufacture. However, over the short, medium and long term, it is clearly evident from existing trends that the manufacture of mass-produced clothing in Britain will continue to fall. The manufacturing base will become much smaller and more compact with production units concentrated on fewer sites.
Total retail sales are expected to increase from £23.08bn at 1998 retail selling price (rsp) to £27.39bn between 1998 and the year 2002. The apparent UK market at 1998 manufacturers’ selling price (msp) is expected to grow from £10.50bn to £11.09bn over the same period. UK manufacturers’ sales are expected to fall by around 20.3% from an estimated £6.36bn in 1998 to £5.07bn in 2002, as most British companies who intend to close UK plants will have completed operational plans to transfer production to their overseas plants.
Eleventh Edition 1998
Edited by Lisa Morrison
ISBN 1-85765-878-7
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