Retailers prune winter inventory

 14 December 2022, Mumbai

Amid a significant fall in the number of peak winter days, retailers of winter apparel have cut down on inventory stocks.

Delay in the onset of winters, shorter duration of cold temperatures, and flattening seasonality are forcing makers of seasonality-centric product categories to rework their strategies. Delayed winter has led to a slow offtake of sales of woolen apparel and small appliances like heaters and geysers across the entire northern India belt.

Since winters are not so severe, brands are making more of lighter pre-winter apparel, since those are safer bets, rather than be stuck with heavy winter inventories. Winter is an important period in the fashion life cycle, but the cycle is relatively short in India, for about two months only, and dominated by the northern part of the country.

Winter wear comprises basic sweaters, hoodies, sweat shirts, jackets, shawls, cardigans and trousers. This year the industry is staring at losses due to a significant drop in the offtake of winter wear orders. The economic uncertainty and high inflation are considered to be main reasons keeping customers away from anything which is priced a little higher. Over the last few years, people have built their capacity, but utilisation is not optimum because of the slowdown in demand. Brands catering to the middle class have been hit.

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