The imagery of hosiery is historical indeed and is deeply grafted into the momentous background of mankind. The idea was initially ingrained and associated with leg wear only, but with innovation and understanding the same received an upward thrust and any knitted piece of underclothing began to be grouped under the category – Hosiery.
China, today is the largest producer of hosiery products globally. However, the Indian sub continent too is on the growth curve and is on a rise. The Indian Hosiery market has held a great market potential in the field of textiles for quite sometime now. The garment sector alone enjoys a giant share within India’s total export arena. But this is not to say that the inherent potential has been tapped to the fullest. India’s garment exports to the world market amount to just 2% of the total garment business, besides the large demand by developed and south East Asian countries the Gulf countries too are accounted to have a large demand. The unit manufacturing cotton knitted garments too showcase a prospective future.
Rising disposable incomes and economic recovery led to a strong growth in the hosiery market. With rising income levels, consumers are now buying branded hosiery products as compared to the earlier trend of buying from the informal market. Also, hosiery items are now available across a number of apparel retailers, which makes it easier to buy hosiery products along with other apparel purchases. The hosiery business in India has progressed through strengths to transform from a solely trading mechanism to the one that rested on the backbone of manufacturing. Mapping the progress of the industry through time, we have segmented the Indian Hosiery landscape state wise to compare and understand the movement in the industry and the progressing market.
To read more Turn to Pg 86 of the April issue…
