Home » Business » Fashion, with Covid revenues down by 27.5%. But Made in Italy thinks about restarting: “China and the digital market can be the salvation”

Fashion, with Covid revenues down by 27.5%. But Made in Italy thinks about restarting: “China and the digital market can be the salvation”

An average decrease in turnover equal to 27.5% in the third quarter of the year, with peaks of 32% for tanneries. These are the numbers of the crisis that the coronavirus pandemic has induced in the second Italian industry, capable of invoicing in 2019 over 100 billion euros, and which is now called to roll up her sleeves to start again, relying on that uniqueness that has made her famous all over the world. We are talking about the fashion and luxury sector, whose portrait that emerges from the “Third Survey on the impact of Covid-19 on companies in the sector”, By the study center of Confindustria Moda, it is far from positive. The recovery, compared to the dark period of the first lockdown, has taken place, mainly driven by Asian markets and e-commerce, but the new closures and the global uncertainty do not help.

“The companies that make up our supply chains are generally small and medium-sized enterprises: the trend in turnover in the third quarter confirms one more marked weakness than in other sectors, due on the one hand to the decrease in the domestic market, and on the other to the great difficulties in exports, an activity that has historically helped all the Made in Italy. Proof of this is massive use of layoffs which for 1 in 2 companies concerns over 60% of employees ”, he explains Cirillo Marcolin, president of Confindustria Moda. The fashion industry has already lost the spring season, with the goods delivered just before the lockdown and left on the shelves, and now we risk losing Christmas, the most profitable season. The parenthesis of summer openings, traders say, was not enough to give relief to the sector. But the operators in the sector are optimistic and already projected into 2021, the year in which they foresee a significant restart in consumption, in the wake of what is already happening in Asian countries where the pandemic is now under control.

The subcontractors of fashion“The second quarter of this year was the most difficult. We have recorded over 35% decrease in turnover compared to the same period in 2019. But then there was one sensitive recovery, we got back to work and we managed to smooth out the losses around 20% less and now we plan to close 2020 with a -20-25% ”, Explains a Ilfattoquotidiano.it Fabio Blanco, product manager of Sps Manifatture, a Salento company that designs and manufactures garments for fashion shows and entire women’s prêt-à-porter and couture collections for the major international luxury brands. “We were able to find agreements with customers who had not paid us their invoices in March and April and the payments have now arrived. But as important as this recovery that began with the summer has been, the minus sign will continue for a long time, I expect at least until the entire first quarter of 2021. We have put 50% of employees on layoffs but, even if as orders increase we are calling them to work, the fact remains that with the current production drops we have redundant staff. Brands make orders much more calm, before there was always a bit more to keep in stock, instead now they commission us only the indispensable quantities to the shops, those who already know they are selling without fail. And continuing like this, if in March 2021 the layoffs are not extended, we will be forced to fire someone – explains Blanco -. On the other hand, it is a dog that bites its own tail: the lockdown affects the sales of the shops and these, in turn, on the orders of the brands and therefore on our production. Moreover, these new closures arrive in November and December, the two crucial months for the whole world of fashion. We are only saving ourselves thanks to the Asian markets who have resumed consumption in a big way, above all driving luxury: high fashion sells more and better because the customer buys the brand or the trendy object of the moment rather than the single product as such – he continues -. But as long as oriental buyers do not return to shop in Italy, we will not be able to return to pre-crisis levels “. In the meantime, digital is proving to be a valid alternative and also the last Fashion Week gave his results: “Now we are producing the samples of the fall / winter ’21 -’22 and of course, there are many difficulties but I am convinced that, despite this situation of uncertainty and intermittent closures, it will go on for a long time, then in 2022 there will be a recovery and it will be considerable. Already having now recovered 10% of the losses at the beginning of the year is important, the redundancy fund in this sense was crucial, but we need even greater certainty and clear rules ”, concludes Fabio Blanco.

Leather and tanneries – Among the sectors most affected by the crisis is that of the tanning industry: the latest Istat estimates speak of a 32% drop in turnover seasonal and 24% of the production volume only in the first five months of the year, compared to 2019. And exports do not help: the drops are 35% in value and 26% in volume. “In July there was a slight recovery but this November will be heavy. Our companies, despite the huge losses, are continuing to work but live for the day, they are unable to plan. Today they have orders, no one knows tomorrow. In this climate of uncertainty, of schizophrenia, everything is more difficult ”, explains a Ilfattoquotidiano.it Fulvia Bacchi, general manager of UNIC – Italian Tanneries and CEO of Lineapelle. “Our industry matters 18 thousand employees, all super-qualified: at the moment employment is stable but because in any case the companies have resorted to layoffs and, moreover, there is a block on layoffs. We have to wait for the end of everything to draw conclusions even if, however, I am optimistic since the cost of labor only affects the balance sheets of our companies for 13/14%. Now we wait to see how December will go, a month that will be crucial due to Christmas purchases: we already expected a recovery for that period but things are going differently and this second lockdown penalizes direct sales a lot – continues Fulvia Bacchi -. Moreover, for some years now leather goods have lost market, for example with the sneakers boom. Our hope now is that leather will be re-evaluated as a very durable material, but it is difficult to forecast without a resumption of travel, tourism and trade fairs. Made in Italy needs foreign buyers and, for us, online cannot replace personal contact, especially for these materials “.

Confindustria Moda data – According to updated estimates, the contraction in overall turnover for 2020 is around -29.7%, against the -32.5% expected in July, for one total loss estimated at 29 billion. Likewise, the order intake in the third quarter recorded a -24.7%, against the -37.3% recorded in the April-June period. About 86% of the panel companies expect losses in annual turnover of more than 10%. 29% of the companies surveyed will see a drop in turnover of between 35% and 50%; a further 15% of the sample will fall by over 50%.

Abroad is not so much better: for 62% of Italian companies, no market is shared, and only one in three entrepreneurs reports a certain dynamism on the part of some strategic countries, namely Germany above all, then France and China. As regards exports, in fact, in the first seven months of the year the export trend of the sectors represented by Confindustria Moda lost -26.4%, against -14.0% of the manufacturing sector as a whole. . “In this sense, also the stop at the fairs in presence is very heavy, an important showcase for our companies that this year has been lacking. But we will leave again, I’m sure. Now the priority is to help companies not to close ”, concludes the president Marcolin.

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