German fashion industry sees sales fall almost 20 pct in H1
Source: Xinhua | 2020-08-22
Year-on-year sales in the German clothing trade dropped by almost 20 percent in the first half (H1) of 2020, the industry association GermanFashion said on Friday.
Due to COVID-19 shutdowns and the overall mood caused by the coronavirus, "this figure is not surprising," said Gerd Oliver Seidensticker, president of GermanFashion.
Manufacturers of classic business and event-related clothing were hit particularly hard, most notably men's fashion. "Here the occasions were missing at the time of the shutdown," said Seidensticker, adding that working from home and wearing a suit would not go together well.
Exports, the "success driver" of German companies in the past, also slumped massively. With a drop in export sales of around 10 percent, this was the first time that exports declined in "at least 30 years," said Thomas Lange, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GermanFashion.
China remained the strongest import country for Germany, although imports dropped by almost 18 percent, according to GermanFashion. After China, the main import countries in H1 were Bangladesh, Turkey and India.
The COVID-19 pandemic had plunged the German fashion industry into a "deep crisis," stressed Seidensticker. Many of the companies were dependent on state aid, but insolvencies could still not be avoided in some cases.
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