Supply problems from China have emerged this year in the local clothing industry with smaller orders put on hold as the Chinese deal with larger volumes from the US and Europe.
Supply problems from China have emerged this year in the local clothing industry with smaller orders put on hold as the Chinese deal with larger volumes from the US and Europe.
For the past 20 years China has been preparing itself to be the dominant force in textile manufacturing in the areas of weaving, dyeing and printing, with quality now considered to be of a high standard.
But a flood of orders from the US and Europe following lifting of trade restrictions by governments in January, in response to a World Trade Organisation agreement, has caused a shift in the priority given to the smaller Australian market, according to local industry representatives.
South Australian fashion label George Gross & Harry Who was last month forced to cancel the delivery of knitwear stock to retailers after a shipment from China was delayed due to the priority given to larger orders from the US.
In a letter to its clients, GGHW said: “This is the first time in 32 years of business we have received such delays on our production”.
The letter added that the company had secured the services of a much smaller specialised knitwear factory for its future orders.
Well-established Perth fashion designer Liz Davenport said “as long as you’re able to meet their [Chinese] minimum then the world is your oyster”.
Ms Davenport, who regularly places orders of more than 1,000 yards of fabric from China, said that smaller groups were more at risk from the squeeze but that good supply relationships were the best way to ensure the filling of orders.
According to US trade data, textile imports to the US from China have risen by 55 per cent since quotas were lifted. In the six months to July this year, the value of US textile imports from China was more than $15 billion, up from $9.6 billion in the previous corresponding period.
Greg Day, general manager at Burswood-based fashion importer and wholesaler Zip Fashion House, said the delays were just part of the problem.
He said the cost of textiles from China had also risen after the removal of trade restrictions, as it cost the Chinese more to process smaller orders.
“Some supply costs have gone up by as much as 30 per cent since February,” Mr Day said.
Despite Zip operating its own factory in China, the cost of importing from had risen substantially after the cost of fuel was factored into freight costs, he told WA Business News.
But it is the smaller end of WA’s fashion design market that is being hardest hit, according to Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Resource Centre WA manager, Carol Hanlon.
For major groups like Target, Coles and Big W the supply issue is not such a concern, she said, as often they had their own factories in China.
Rather, it was causing a lot of firms at the designer end of the market to rethink where they source their stock.
Ms Hanlon recently hosted a trade mission from Thailand, which is promoting itself to attract Australian boutique designers.
About 96 per cent of the TCF industry in WA is comprised of small businesses, she said.
